So cosmic rays can affect computers and memory can it have the same effect on neural activity in the brain?

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When a cosmic ray strikes a memory chip it can cause a bit flip or memory error can the same event effect electrical activity in the brain?

In: Biology

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Cosmic rays affecting computer memory on earth is largely theoretical. Most don’t make it through the atmosphere, and the ones that do would have to hit a RAM chip in just the right way in order to flip a bit, basically winning the lottery. Even then, computers usually have error correction so it would know something happened and treat it as an error condition.

The human brain is so redundant and holistic and messy, a cosmic ray would have less affect. Individual neurons can *die* without having a profound impact, and misfires happen all the time.

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