Tiny Lab-Grown 'Brains' Raise Big Ethical Questions
Scientists are growing increasingly large and sophisticated clusters of human brain cells. Ethicists are now wondering what to do if these minibrains start thinking.
by Jon Hamilton
Apr 25, 2018
2 minutes
Bits of human brain tissue no larger than a pea are forcing scientists to think about questions as large as the nature of consciousness.
These clusters of living brain cells are popularly known as minibrains, though scientists prefer to call them cerebral organoids. At the moment, they remain extremely rudimentary versions of an actual human brain and are used primarily to study brain development
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