NUGAE (NUTS)

For years, I have published across diverse academic journals and disciplines, including mathematics, physics, biology, neuroscience, medicine, philosophy, literature. Now, having no further need to expand my scientific output or advance my academic standing, I have chosen to shift my approach.  Instead of writing full-length articles for peer review, I now focus on recording and sharing original ideas, i.e., conceptual insights and hypotheses that I hope might inspire experimental work by researchers more capable than myself.  I refer to these short pieces as nugae, a Latin word meaning “trifles”, “nuts” or “playful thoughts”.  

I invite you to use these ideas as you wish, in any way you find helpful.  I ask only that you kindly cite my writings, which are accompanied by a DOI for proper referencing.

 

As a scientist, I've always ignored my teachers' advice: "stay focused!" 

A SUMMARY OF MY IDEAS & two short movies
A SUMMARY OF MY IDEAS & two short movies
 
 
 
My teachers used to tell me: “Tozzi, be on focus”.  But I never liked “to be on focus”: I like a lot to play with hidden, unexpected multidisciplinary relationships.  Despite my harsh criticism to current attitudes toward scientific issues, I never take a full sceptic turn: I engage in “pragmaticistic” active outreach, showing how fresh interpretation of everlasting questions sheds new light on countless scientific issues.  Here I try to provide scientific… questions to classical answers through the unusual format of the Quodlibets.  The Medieval quodlibetal (quodlibet= any whatever) questions consisted in raising issues or objections about anything from basic Christian issues to heretic controversies.  Open to a broader public - masters, students from different schools, ecclesiastical and civil authorities - these questions could be posed by any member of the audience without any prior notice.  While Medieval philosophers favoured a methodology consisting of the Aristotelian deductive logic, I will use a twofold approach to my quodlibetal questions: 1) the Galilean inductive method distinctive of the current scientific attitude; 2) a metatheoretic starting point that I term “testable rationalism”: sharp experimental previsions arising from top-down, deductive mathematical/topological approaches.  In this paper, going through physical, biological, neuroscientific and philosophical issues, I do hope that the reader will forgive me.  
 
N.B: a long list of keywords can be found in the footnotes.   
 
…and, of course, thanks to my friend James Peters and his enthusiasm.               PDF 
 
 
 
 
 
TOPOLOGY OF THE BRAIN WAVES
Novel methodological approaches to assess topological mappings and projections between biophysical phase spaces have been recently introduced in neuroscience. In this brief survey of our published manuscripts, we discuss how the “unreasonable power” of algebraic topology permits an experimentally testable top-down inquiry of the brain activity.                               PDF
 
 
 
 
A comment on my paper by NEUROSKEPTIC: The Four dimensional brain?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
TWO USEFUL, SHORT MOVIES
 
Topology: Borsuk-Ulam theorem and its variants
A mathematical theorem stands for a general principle that explains physical and biological issues.
 
 
 
 
Our mind is multidimensional
A possible solution of the mind/body problem, based on recently published neuroscientific proof
I look for hidden links between disciplines and have been lucky to publish with researchers around the world. 
My approach, which I call testable rationalism, uses top-down mathematical and topological reasoning to make predictions that can be experimentally tested. A common thread in my work is that complex systems don’t evolve by chance or simple cause and effect, but through deeper patterns built into space, time and nature.  Here are two CONCISE SUMMARIES of my IDEAS AND PROJECTS along with two short videos: Borsuk-Ulam theorem and its variants &  Our mind is multidimensional.
 

Bibliography Arranged by Subject and Date:  Here

The PDFs are available here: 2014-2024  and  here: 2025

 
 
 
 
LAST PUBLISHED  
 
Tozzi, A.  2025.  Exploring the influence of water micro assemblies on protein folding, enzyme catalysis and membrane dynamics. Eur Biophys J 2025. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00249-025-01747-x  An unexpected role for water in biological affairs.
 
Tozzi A. 2025. Topological Transformations in Hand Posture: A Biomechanical Strategy for Mitigating Raynaud’s Phenomenon Symptoms. International Journal of Topology 2,2: 6. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijt2020006.    Keeping the hands closed may prevent Raynaud’s symptoms.  
 
Tozzi A. 2025.  Charged Interfaces in the Brain: How Electrostatic Forces May Guide Cerebrospinal Fluid Dynamics. European Journal of Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejn.70145.  Can we explain the hidden dynamics of cerebrospinal fluid within the brain’s cavities?  
 
Tozzi A.  2025.  An Extended Stokes’ Theorem for Spiral Paths: Applications to Rotational Flows in Trachelospermum Jasminoides Stems and Flowers. International Journal of Plant, Animal and Environmental Sciences.  10.26502/ijpaes.4490176      A physical approach to the counterclockwise rotations of the star jasmine.  
 
Tozzi A. 2025.  Unique Lipid Signatures in Viral Envelopes Originating from Host Membranes. Next Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nexres.2025.100460How SARS-Cov-2 changes from an host to another.
 
Tozzi A, Jausovec K.  2025.  Takens’ theorem to assess EEG traces: Regional variations in brain dynamics.  Neuroscience Letters.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2025.138352Frontal, parietal and occipital cortical areas display different trajectories in multidimensional phase spaces.
 
Deli E, Schoeller F, Safron A, Jain A, Tozzi A, Adrien V, Reggente N.  2025.  Feeling the Heat: A Thermodynamic Perspective on Emotions, Motivation, and Time Perception.  New ideas in psychology, 79, 101108.