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Science 2 April 1999:
Vol. 284. no. 5411, pp. 96 - 98
DOI: 10.1126/science.284.5411.96
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Viewpoint

Complexity and the Nervous System

Christof Koch, 12* Gilles Laurent 1

Advances in the neurosciences have revealed the staggering complexity of even "simple" nervous systems. This is reflected in their function, their evolutionary history, their structure, and the coding schemes they use to represent information. These four viewpoints need all play a role in any future science of "brain complexity."

1 Computation and Neural Systems Program, Division of Biology, and
2 Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: koch{at}klab.caltech.edu

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)