Brains Fold Just Like Paper
Turinboy/ Flickr CC By 2.0Crumpled paper balls don’t just look like brains—they act like them too.Larger brains tend to be more wrinkly than smaller brains, and because of this scientists have long thought that the degree of folding must have something to do with the number of neurons.In a study published today in Science, researchers found that the amount of brain folding actually has nothing to do with the number neurons, and everything to do with the thickness and surface area of the cerebral cortex. The team at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, looked at large datasets comparing the total number of neurons of different species, as well as cortical surface area, thickness, brain volume, and amount of folding. They discovered a single mathematical equation that explains why the brain looks the way it does across mammalian cortexes. The equation showed that when...