Brain complexity: parts connectivity (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, July 07, 2015, 19:25 (3427 days ago) @ David Turell

89% ideal according to mathematical model. Design or chance?-http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150707120101.htm-"Krioukov, an associate professor in the Department of Physics, studies networks, from those related to massive Internet datasets to those defining our brains. In the new research, he and his co-authors used sophisticated statistical analyses based on Nobel laureate John Nash's contributions to game theory to construct a map of an idealized brain network--one that optimized the transfer of information. They then compared the idealized map of the brain to a map of the brain's real network and asked the question "How close are the two?"-"Remarkably so. They were surprised to learn that 89 percent of the connections in the idealized brain network showed up in the real brain network as well. "That means the brain was evolutionarily designed to be very, very close to what our algorithm shows," says Krioukov.-"The scientists' strategy bucks tradition: It lets function--in this case, navigability--drive the structure of the idealized network, thereby showing which links are essential for optimal navigation. Most researchers in the field, says Krioukov, build models of the real network first, and only then address function, an approach that does not highlight the most crucial links."