Brains Start Dense, Then Prune: Mouse Study Rewrites Blank-Slate Idea
A mouse study from ISTA shows the hippocampal CA3 network is densely connected and seemingly random at birth, then prunes into a more structured circuit as the animal matures. This supports a pruning model where the brain is born “full” and optimized over time, potentially enabling faster integration of sensory information, though it’s not yet clear if humans follow the same pattern. The findings come from developmental stages spanning birth to adulthood and were published in Nature Communications.
