Related papers: An Adaptive Threshold in Mammalian Neocortical Evo…
Mammalian brains span about 4 orders of magnitude in cortical volume and have to operate in different environments that require diverse behavioral skills. Despite these geometric and behavioral diversities, the examination of cerebral…
We consider evolution of a large population, where fitness of each organism is defined by many phenotypical traits. These traits result from expression of many genes. We propose a new model of gene regulation, where gene expression is…
We investigate a network growth model in which the genealogy controls the evolution. In this model, a new node selects a random target node and links either to this target node, or to its parent, or to its grandparent, etc; all nodes from…
Evolution and development operate at different timescales; generations for the one, a lifetime for the other. These two processes, the basis of much of life on earth, interact in many non-trivial ways, but their temporal hierarchy --…
This study investigates the prevalence and implications of nestedness within primate social networks, examining its relationship with cognitive and structural factors. We analysed data from 51 primate groups across 21 species, employing…
It is now generally assumed that the heterogeneity of most networks in nature probably arises via preferential attachment of some sort. However, the origin of various other topological features, such as degree-degree correlations and…
We consider the mechanisms by which folds, or sulci (troughs) and gyri (crests), develop in the brain. This feature, common to many gyrencephalic species including humans, has attracted recent attention from soft matter physicists. It…
Neural development represents not only an exciting and complex field of study, with ongoing progress, but it also became the epicentre of neuroscience and developmental biology, as it strives to describe the underlying cellular and…
Biological genotypes do not code directly for phenotypes; developmental physiology is the control layer that separates genomes from capacities ascertained by selection. A key aspect is competency, as cells are not a passive material but…
Investigating the emergence of a particular cell type is a recurring theme in models of growing cellular populations. The evolution of resistance to therapy is a classic example. Common questions are: when does the cell type first occur,…
The principled design and discovery of biologically- and physically-informed models of neuronal dynamics has been advancing since the mid-twentieth century. Recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI) have accelerated this progress.…
Our understanding of the evolutionary process has gone a long way since the publication, 150 years ago, of "On the origin of species" by Charles R. Darwin. The XXth Century witnessed great efforts to embrace replication, mutation, and…
Biological evolution can be conceptualized as a search process in the space of gene sequences guided by the fitness landscape, a mapping that assigns a measure of reproductive value to each genotype. Here we discuss probabilistic models of…
Adult neurogenesis has long been documented in the vertebrate brain, and recently even in humans. Although it has been conjectured for many years that its functional role is related to the renewing of memories, no clear mechanism as to how…
The spreading of evolutionary novelties across populations is the central element of adaptation. Unless population are well-mixed (like bacteria in a shaken test tube), the spreading dynamics not only depends on fitness differences but also…
The neocortex, a complex system driving multi-region interactions, remains a core puzzle in neuroscience. Despite quantitative insights across brain scales, understanding the mechanisms underlying neural activities is challenging. Advances…
An important question in genome evolution is whether there exist fragile regions (rearrangement hotspots) where chromosomal rearrangements are happening over and over again. Although nearly all recent studies supported the existence of…
There has been a long debate on how new levels of organization have evolved. It might seem unlikely, as cooperation must prevail over competition. One well-studied example is the emergence of autocatalytic sets, which seem to be a…
Study Objectives: Fetal sleep is a vital yet underexplored aspect of prenatal neurodevelopment. Its cyclic organization reflects the maturation of central neural circuits, and disturbances in these patterns may offer some of the earliest…
Spatially-embedded complex networks, such as nervous systems, the Internet and transportation networks, generally have non-trivial topological patterns of connections combined with nearly minimal wiring costs. However the growth rules…