The Chaos in Your Head
Neuroscience and networks, two topics I can’t resist.
And here they are all wrapped together in an article about how your brain constantly walks on the edge of chaos. Apparently, the chaotic cascades inside your head are what drives intelligence and people who let chaos take over more often (though not too much) are smarter (at least from an IQ perspective).
The neuronal avalanches that Beggs investigated, for example, are perfect for transmitting information across the brain. If the brain was in a more stable state, these avalanches would die out before the message had been transmitted. If it was chaotic, each avalanche could swamp the brain.
Oh, and apparently your brain has 13 degrees of separation. Who knew?