NEUROSCIENCE
Nature Reviews Neuroscience, July 2006
Variability, compensation and homeostasis in neuron and network function
...each neuron is constantly rebuilding itself from its constituent proteins, using all of the molecular and biochemical machinery of the cell. This allows for plastic changes in development and learning, but also poses the problem of how stable neuronal function is maintained as individual neurons are continuously replacing the proteins that give them their characteristic electrophysiological signatures...
from Conclusions:
Variability and compensation are not specific networks of neurons. Such properties have also been described for biochemical and genetic regulation networks. These networks ...are able to adapt to modifications of their components to maintain the same output, even if one of their components is deleted. This has sometimes been attributed to redundancy, but is much more likely to be a consequence of the potential for compensation among components with different properties. In fact, unlike in engineering, in which redundant systems often consist of two or three copies of identical devices, such as electrical generators or navigation systems, in biological systems there are probably no truly redundant processes, but system robustness and flexibility are achieved simultaneously through overlapping functions and compensation.
Variability, compensation and homeostasis in neuron and network function
...each neuron is constantly rebuilding itself from its constituent proteins, using all of the molecular and biochemical machinery of the cell. This allows for plastic changes in development and learning, but also poses the problem of how stable neuronal function is maintained as individual neurons are continuously replacing the proteins that give them their characteristic electrophysiological signatures...
from Conclusions:
Variability and compensation are not specific networks of neurons. Such properties have also been described for biochemical and genetic regulation networks. These networks ...are able to adapt to modifications of their components to maintain the same output, even if one of their components is deleted. This has sometimes been attributed to redundancy, but is much more likely to be a consequence of the potential for compensation among components with different properties. In fact, unlike in engineering, in which redundant systems often consist of two or three copies of identical devices, such as electrical generators or navigation systems, in biological systems there are probably no truly redundant processes, but system robustness and flexibility are achieved simultaneously through overlapping functions and compensation.