To process information efficiently, the brain is believed to operate on a knife-edge between two dynamical phases. At this critical point, networks of neurons are stable enough to store information reliably, but sensitive enough to quickly send signals to other, distant parts of the brain (see Viewpoint: The Brain—as Critical as Possible). Now, using methods adopted from quantum field theory, Moritz Helias, at Jülich Research Centre in Germany, and his colleagues have confirmed the existence of these critical points in a classic model of brain dynamics [1].
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