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Cerebral cortex in rats' brains is set up like the Internet
- maljx 11y agoIsn't it the internet that's setup like a rat brain?
- sawwit 11y agoThis kind of network topology of the cortex appears to be also supported by research of hydrocephalus patients: http://boingboing.net/2015/07/28/man-born-with-virtually-no-b.html http://boingboing.net/2015/07/28/man-born-with-virtually-no-...
- appleflaxen 11y agoThe Internet has countless local area networks that then connect with larger, regional networks and ultimately with the backbone of the Internet. The brain operates in a similar way These kinds of "news releases" from universities are really annoying to read. How could the brain be set up any other way than "local network areas connected by a bigger network"? Is that really even notable? These types of "stories" are simply fluff PR for academic research, and (IMO) get more traction on HN than they deserve given the lack of substance.
- svisser 11y agoActually, yes - there are many topologies that a rat's brain could have but apparently doesn't. For example, nature could have favoured more ring or star topologies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_topology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_topology.
- varjag 11y agoWell then it would have been remarkable find indeed, as few would expect neural configurations forming a perfect loop or having a single point of failure.
- T-A 11y agoThere are many possible network topologies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_topology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_topology
- _-__--- 11y agoSaying that the brain is organized like the web is functionally misleading but morphologically correct. Both show strong "small-world" network topologies (short mean path-length, high clustering coefficients) but do not function in very similar ways at all.
- sawwit 11y ago
- transfire 11y agoSo when does the Internet start scurrying around mazes for cheese?