How Big is Small?

If perspective is your thing and you'd like a mind bending visual reference indicating an interconnectedness that transcends all concepts of scale, here ya go!

• Mark Miller, a doctoral student at Brandies University is researching how particular types of neurons in the brain are connected to one another. By staining thin slices of a mouse's brain, he can identify the connections visually. The image below shows three neuron cells (two red and one yellow) and their connections.
  

• An international group of astrophysicists used a computer simulation to recreate how the universe has grown and evolved. The simulation image below is a snapshot of the present universe that features a large cluster of galaxies (bright yellow) surrounded by thousands of stars, galaxies and dark matter.
  

One is only micrometers wide, the other is billions of light-years across. One shows neurons in a mouses brain, the other is a simulated image of the universe. Together they suggest a surprisingly similar patterns found in vastly different natural phenomena. Life is cool!