The Economist magazine (Aug. 3, 2013) published the following statement in the article entitled ‘The Machine of a New Soul’:
“An important property of a real brain is that it is what is referred to as a small-world network. Each neuron within it has tens of thousands of synaptic connections with other neurons. This means that, even though a human brain contains about 86 billion neurons, each is within two or three connections of all the others via myriad potential routes.”
Does anyone have a reference for the statement ‘each [neuron] is within two or three connections of all the others via myriad potential routes’?
This phenomenon can be observed in cell culture:
http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pcbi.1002522
Other:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/01/050111115916.htm
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-01/nu-mri010405.php
http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/neuro-tweets-hashtagging-the-brain
http://arxiv.org/abs/0808.0088
Regards,
Joachim
