Scientists have grown human brain tissue from stem cells, producing tiny clumps of tissue called organoids. Neuroscientist Alysson Muotri is among many scientists who have used such organoids for all kinds of research.
But one experiment has drawn more scrutiny than the others. In August 2019, Muotri’s group published a paper in Cell Stem Cell reporting the creation of human brain organoids that produced coordinated waves of activity, resembling those seen in premature babies1. The waves continued for months before the team shut the experiment down.
This type of brain-wide, coordinated electrical activity is one of the properties of a conscious brain. The team’s finding led ethicists and scientists to raise a host of moral and philosophical questions about whether organoids should be allowed to reach this level of advanced development, whether ‘conscious’ organoids might be entitled to special treatment and rights not afforded to other clumps of cells and the possibility that consciousness could be created from scratch.
Now ethicists are trying to create guidelines for lab-grown brain organoids. Some scientists would welcome the possibility of producing a conscious brain from stem cells, while others shudder at the moral implications. How developed can a brain get before it is unethical to use it for experiments? And how do you measure consciousness when a brain has no way to communicate? How do we even define consciousness for this purpose? Read some deep thoughts about lab-grown brains that may or may not have their own deep thoughts at Nature. -via Damn Interesting
(Image credit: Fabio Buonocore)