STEMJazz Chalklet with Carina Curto
Abstract
It’s a rare treat when you see the beginnings of something that could be a new organizing principle for a problem that’s bedeviled us for at least a century. That’s what Carina showed us on Thursday past – a way of looking at dynamics in networks of neurons that,
- is supported by the copious mapping studies in neuroscience and
- can provide crisp predictions about behavior without descending into the dynamical weeds.
Carina’s work strips away the details that would choke people looking a differential equation numerical studies or statespace manifolds and reduces networks to the weak/strong inhibition directed graphs that seem ubiquitous in biology. Then, using this new lens, she can determine the network elements that matter – those which are dominated by other elements.
These dominant kernels can be connected together to form oscillating dynamical networks seen in biological systems (without single cell autorhythmicity) in addition to simply having fixed points (like Hopfield’s work). The networks (even at the ganglion level) that control gait are examples. And most excitingly, the idea could prove out theories of the mind as a cacophony of voices (networks) all competing for dominance at any given moment in a dynamically changing landscape.
In short, Carina’s work feels like an explosion that’s about to hit brain science. And the core of the idea is beautifully simple: weak and strong inhibition (as opposed to a persistent trope of excitation in neuroscience) leading to robust network behavior that makes sense in the context of development and evolution. That is, one can imagine such systems of neural communities evolving without invariably falling off dynamical cliffs (which is sorta bad when talking about evolution). And there seem other “evolutionary” contexts where such behavior would be beneficial.
Her work applies to a variety of things the rest of us do. So, I suggest we find ways to hitch to her star since that sort of interaction is what STEMJazz is all about!
Thank you Carina for a beautiful explorative and engaging STEMJazz Chalklet!
