Our Brains And The Universe Have Far More In Common Than You Think

The galaxy brain meme is about to come true.

Two Italian scientists have discovered that there are a surprising number of similarities between the human brain and the far-flung galaxy. How so? Complexity and self-organization. 

Franco Vazza from the University of Bologna and Alberto Feletti from the University of Verona published a paper in the journal Frontiers in Physics detailing their findings. 

Some of these include the fact that 70% of the distribution of mass, or energy, is “composed of components playing an apparently passive role.” This takes the form of water in the brain and dark matter in the universe. 

This means that only 30% of each contains things like neurons, in the brain, or galaxies, in the observable universe.

Additionally, neurons in the brain and galaxies both tend to arrange themselves in long “filaments,” or “nodes,” according to a news release by the University of Bologna. 

Interestingly, the clustering of these nodes as well as the number of connections they were capable of were similar between the two subjects once again. 

“Probably, the connectivity within the two networks evolves following similar physical principles, despite the striking and obvious difference between the physical powers regulating galaxies and neurons,” Feletti details. 

“These two complex networks show more similarities than those shared between the cosmic web and a galaxy or a neuronal network and the inside of a neuronal body.”

It’s hoped that, with these results, the researchers’ findings could lead to new analysis in both the fields of cosmology and neurosurgery. Perhaps some more secrets of evolution can be unlocked with time. 

[via Futurism and the University of Bologna, image ID 79582769 © Rastan | Dreamstime.com]