The human brain, with approximately 89 billion neurons and around 7,000 connections on average, is considered the most complex object in the known Universe.
Researchers have discovered that the brains of insects, mammals, and humans exhibit a universal "delicate balance" or critical state, similar to the transition between solid and liquid phases, based on fractal patterns and correlated segment sizes observed in neurons, suggesting a fundamental principle across species.
A study published in Communications Physics, a journal by Nature Portfolio on June 10, found that the brain's structural features are near a similar critical point or structural phase transition, consistent across human, mouse, and fruit fly brains, indicating potential universality.
Despite initial differences in structures, emerging properties in brain tissues of different organisms were surprisingly similar, indicating that brains of different creatures share universal principles governing their structural complexity, potentially due to evolution converging on critical patterns for optimal information processing.
Scientists have identified components of neurons that align with materials undergoing a phase shift, and brain cell structures in humans, mice, and fruit flies exhibit the same critical state signatures.
Different creatures' brains share universal principles governing their structural complexity, and brain tissue at the nanoscale exhibits traits of universal scaling known as criticality, showing characteristics of a material on the verge of transitioning between states.
Brain cells display self-similar fractal patterns at the nanoscale, with broad size distributions among neurons and variations in different segments, and structural patterns in this critical state include fractal-like neuron shapes, correlated segment sizes, and a broad distribution of sizes.
Criticality indicators were found in rat, fruit fly, and human brains, suggesting a potential universal phase change quality of all brains, and the brain's critical point is essential for processing complex information.
The findings suggest a simplifying principle underlying brain complexity and potential generative computational models.
This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq
Sources: ScienceAlert, NDTV, StudyFinds, New Atlas, Northwestern News, and GOV.AU.