Recently, I have been trying to analyze calcium imaging data from cortical neurons in a mouse. The patterns of activity in these data were astonishing. In front of me were hundreds of blob-like neurons, periodically bursting in a slow, greenish glow, illuminating the sinewy connections between them. It was as if these cells were collectively breathing, as if they were a giant mass of organized chaos, little starlings flocking and unflocking, under no central command, loosely maintaining order. The most beautiful patterns emerge during a massive migration of birds, and they emerge simply from local interactions between the component parts of the system. This observation can be powerfully described using principles from complexity science and methods from network science, both of which have also richly informed the study of neuroscience in recent years. It is an exciting time to be a scientist, and I have tried to convey my own excitement in the details of every single part of this piece.
My name is Brennan Klein, and I'm a 2nd year PhD student in Network Science at Northeastern University.