{
  "id": 8828622,
  "title": "Connectivity allometry is a robust organizing principle of the human functional connectome",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/20/connectivity-allometry-is-a-robust-organizing-principle-of-the-human",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-20T00:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "bioRxiv",
    "slug": "biorxiv",
    "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.14.751437v1?rss=1"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The human brain exhibits a striking multiscale organization, integrating localized processes into a cohesive whole-brain network. The source investigates how this global architecture influences local functional organization, employing an allometric scaling framework on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data from diverse datasets. The study reveals that human functional networks follow a robust, spatially heterogeneous connectivity allometry, with regional functional connectivity scaling nonlinearly relative to overall brain connectivity strength. This pattern aligns with the cortical sensorimotor-association hierarchy, exhibiting supralinear scaling in lower-order systems and sublinear scaling in higher-order systems. The connectivity allometry is linked to multiscale neurobiological organization, encompassing regional metabolic properties, neurotransmitter receptor distributions, and gene expression patterns, underscoring its deep biological underpinnings. Remarkably, this scaling pattern and its biological associations prove consistent across independent cross-cultural groups. Furthermore, connectivity allometry remains stable across different working memory conditions, regardless of cognitive load, and emerges by late childhood. The findings persist in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder, despite local alterations, suggesting this principle is fundamental to human brain organization in both health and disease.",
  "summary": "A defining feature of the human brain is its multiscale organization, in which regional processes are integrated into coherent whole-brain network architecture. How local functional organization adapts to variation in this global architecture, however, remains largely unknown. Here, we addressed this question by applying an allometric scaling framework to resting-state functional magnetic…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}