The Morphogenic Mapping of the Brain and the Design of the Nervous System

• Published in: International Journal of Brain Science 2014-01, Vol.2014 (2014), p.1-7
• Main Authors: Sheesley, Peter, McMenamin, Mark, Kusyk, Janusz, Pivar, Stuart
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2356-6965; 2314-7016
• DOI: 10.1155/2014/424718

This paper reports the discovery of a geometrical algorithm that provides a coherent step by step mechanical account of the structure of the nervous system, including the vertebrate brain, the spinal cord, the vertebral column, and the spinal nerves. The morphology of these organs and the observed steps of neural development are well described, consequent of centuries of study. But morphogenesis, the origin and cause of these forms, has not been studied since the last half of the nineteenth century. Neurology does not teach how the brain gained its shape, nor have any causative theories of brain formation been published in recent times. This paper proposes a hypothetical construction based on the discovery of a simple algorithm which generates topologically the form of the brain, the spinal cord, and the vertebral column by the deformation of a gridded segmented sphere by the inversion of its surface. The hypothetical model is in close analogy with nature: the blastula is a segmented gridded sphere which results from the subdivision of the egg. The first step of embryogenesis is gastrulation, where blastula is pressed to enter its own interior, pulling the surface inside out, forming the embryo.