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Biophysics

Unfolding the brain

The folded surface of the human brain, although striking, continues to evade understanding. Experiments with swelling gels now fuel the notion that brain folding is modulated by physical forces, and not by genetic, biological or chemical events alone.

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Figure 1: The work of Tallinen et al.2 provides insight into the growth and form of cortical convolutions through physics-based modelling, simulation and experiment.

JORGE CHAM

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Correspondence to Ellen Kuhl.

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Kuhl, E. Unfolding the brain. Nature Phys 12, 533–534 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3641

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