What can brain organoids - tiny lab-grown brains - actually do?
Pea-sized brain tissue grown in dishes can form neural connections and even respond to light.
The answer
Brain organoids are three-dimensional clusters of human neurons grown from stem cells that self-organize into structures resembling early brain development. By 2024, organoids can develop distinct brain regions, form functional synaptic connections, and produce electrical activity patterns similar to premature infant brainwaves. Researchers at Cortical Labs in Melbourne created DishBrain in 2022 - organoids that learned to play Pong in five minutes by receiving electrical feedback. In 2023, scientists at the University of California San Diego transplanted human brain organoids into rat brains, where they integrated and influenced the rats' behavior. Organoids are revolutionizing drug testing for neurological diseases like Alzheimer's and Zika virus research. Ethical debates intensify as organoids grow more complex, raising questions about consciousness in laboratory-grown neural tissue.
Source: Nature
- brain organoids
- neuroscience
- stem cells
More from Science & Discovery
- Why is the sky blue?
- How do trees communicate?
- Why do we yawn?
- What happens inside a black hole?
- Why does honey never spoil?
- How does a caterpillar turn into a butterfly?