Random Similarities

Interesting piece in last week's Economist (yes, I'm behind) on how
people with depression exhibit behavior that, if mapped, is strikingly
similar to the electrical activity of isolated nerve cells:
http://economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9861412&CFID=23190336&CFTOKEN=78989822.

How strange is that?

It reminds me of my sophomore year statistics prof, who had a snappy
retort to a hot-headed fellow Whartonite who wondered aloud why there
were liberal arts requirements in the business school at all and asked
our prof what the point of learn, saying, physics was. My stat prof
explained that the way in which a spring vibrates is identical in
pattern to an obscure bond pricing model, and that if this hothead
would just pay attention in physics, he might actually become more
successful in finance.

So it's good to learn lots about lots of different things. You never
know when the Creator of them all decided way back when to have some
fun with us by making two random things completely identical.