New research replicates a folding human brain in 3D
The distinctive troughs and crests of the human brain are not present in most animals; highly folded brains are seen only in a handful of species, including some primates, dolphins, elephants and pigs. In humans, folding begins in fetal brains around the 20th week of gestation and is completed only when the child is about a year and a half.
Why the brain is folded can be rationalized easily from an evolutionary perspective; folded brains likely evolved to fit a large cortex into a small volume with the benefit of reducing neuronal wiring length and improving cognitive function.
Less understood is how the brain folds. Several hypotheses have been proposed but none have been directly used to make testable predictions. Now, researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences collaborating with scientists in Finland and France have shown that while many molecular processes are important in determining cellular events, what ultimately causes the brain to fold is a simple mechanical instability associated with buckling.
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