The new finding shows that the human brain can create 11-dimensional space

With about 86 billion neurons, the human brain is the most complex structure in nature that we still don't fully understand.

Since 2017, neuroscientists have improved a classical mathematical method that describes the structure of our brains. This method shows that the brain is filled with multi-dimensional geometric structures operating in 11-dimensional space.

We often assume that the world has only 3 dimensions (length, width, height), so it's difficult to describe the 11-dimensional structure. However, this research could be the next important step in understanding the human brain - the most complex structure we have ever known.

The most complex structure of nature

A mathematical model for the brain described by a team of Swiss Blue Brain Project researchers, devoted to building supercomputers based on the human brain.

The team used algebraic topology, a branch of mathematics used to describe properties of objects and spaces, regardless of how they change shape.

This image illustrates a multi-dimensional spatial structure, below is an illustration of the cerebral cortex - the most evolved region of the brain, while above are various geometric structures representing spatial dimensions.The black hole in the middle represents a complex of multidimensional spaces.(Photo: Blue Brain Project).

They found that groups of neurons connect into clusters, the number of neurons in a cluster determines the number of dimensions of the cluster (mathematical, not spatial or temporal).

"We have found a world that no one else could have imagined before," says neuroscientist Henry Markram from the Swiss EPFL institute. "There are tens of millions of neuron clusters in a small piece of the brain, up to 7 dimensions in size. In some networks, we even find 11-dimensional structures."

This is not the dimension of space (our universe has three spatial dimensions plus one dimension of time), instead it refers to the number of ways the neuron clusters connect to each other, each one being one-dimensional.

' Neural networks are analyzed based on fully linked neuron groups. Each of these groups is called a cluster, there are links between these clusters in the brain. The number of neurons in a cluster determines its size, in other words its dimensions , 'the team explained.

The human brain is estimated to have about 86 billion neurons, neuronal connections growing across the direction to form the neural network, allowing us to think and perceive.

Due to the sheer number of connections, we still don't fully understand how the brain works. However, a mathematical model can help us create a 'digital' brain that mimics our own brain.

To test the accuracy of the mathematical model, the team used a detailed brain model that Blue Brain Project published in 2015. The brain cortex is arguably the most developed part of our brain and is involved. involves some higher order functions like perception and feeling.

An American brain warrior simulation.(Photo: The Atlantic).

After developing mathematical models and experimenting on a number of computer simulations, the team confirmed their results were true to reality on mouse brain tissue. According to them, math and simulation tools allow us to look at the cellular level of individual neurons and the entire brain structure.

Using mathematical simulations, the team sees the links between the clusters and their gaps in our brains."We found significant numbers of multidimensional groups and holes, something that had never been seen before in neural networks, whether biological or artificial , " the team said.

'Algebraic topology is like a microscope and telescope combined into one,' says mathematician Kathryn Hess from EPFL: 'It can look deep into the tiny micro structure hidden inside, like each leaf on the tree, the gaps, the larger structure '.

Materialize information

Gaps in the brain can play a very important role. When scientists conducted a numerical simulation, they found that nerve cells responded to these gaps in a very organized way.

"It's like our brain responds to a signal by creating many multidimensional structures that describe that signal, then destroying those structures. Multidimensional blocks begin with rods (1Dimension) , then the plane (2D), the shape (3D), the more complex geometry with 4D, 5D, . " , said mathematician Ran Levi from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland.

Gaps in the brain can play a very important role that we don't fully understand.(Photo: Itsastrangeworld)

"The brain works like it continually builds a multi-dimensional 'sand castle', a way of materializing information, then processing and destroying it. This process is repeated over and over , " he said.

The findings provide an enchanting new picture of how the brain processes information, but the researchers point out that it is still unclear what drives clusters and holes.

It will take more work to determine the complexity of the multi-dimensional geometric structures formed by our neurons that correspond to the complexity of various cognitive tasks, but here Definitely a new step towards understanding the 'soul' of mankind - the brain.