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Researchers Grow Tiny Human Brain In Lab
schwit1 writes: A team of researchers from Ohio State University claim to have grown a human brain in their lab that approximates the brain of a five-week-old fetus. They say the tiny brain is not conscious, but it could be used to test drugs and study diseases, but scientific peers urge caution. "The brain, which is about the size of a pencil eraser, is engineered from adult human skin cells and is the most complete human brain model yet developed, [the researchers say]. ... Anand and his colleagues claim to have reproduced 99% of the brain’s diverse cell types and genes. They say their brain also contains a spinal cord, signalling circuitry and even a retina." The team's data has not yet been peer reviewed.
By being perfectly ethical?
So you'd deny your baby the chance of a cure for Alzheimers in its old age because you feel some sort of unease over a few cultured brain cells?
Where's the line between "a few cultured brain cells" and "a brain that has a consciousness"?
I'm not sure how I feel about this research...and that's pretty much why I'm all for this. We don't understand enough to be able to say whether or not this should be happening, and this is the best way we know how to move forward. This is something that doesn't directly harm anyone, and we have no reason to believe that any sort of consciousness exists in it. This should be an obvious win-win that could potentially benefit everyone.
Certainly, this is going to trigger all kinds of knee-jerk responses from a lot of folks. I get that, but those are also the kinds of responses that are regularly made in the absence of any solid understanding of what's going on. That's why we had limited stem cell research for so long. This isn't mad scientist war crimes type stuff. This is the best way to study the human brain without actually stealing one from an unwilling donor.
I don't know how we reconcile the fact that some people have a religious objection to messing with the parts that we're made of and the fact that there's huge benefits to be gained, but we can't dicker around and make everyone happy. Sometimes we just need to get stuff done so that we can say "Just be happy with your cure for ALS."
Take it to the limit, everybody to the limit, come on, everybody fhqwhgads.
It passed an ethics review because it started from cultured skin cells. Short of implanting them into unwilling participants or using them to attempt human cloning, there is very little that you are prohibited from doing with cultured skin cells. No lives were taken in the process of this experiment.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
well here the abortion limit is set at 22 weeks, so the size of that would be a good limit
Where's the line between 'brain that has a consciousness' and 'Skynet, Elon Musk's worst nightmare'?
Google could easily afford to grow a brain the size of ten thousand human brains. Would there be network effects of some kind, or a transition akin to the way turbulent flow passes a threshold and goes into chaos from normal oscillation? At what point is a brain a super-brain and are humans near that threshold?
Interesting times we live in. Someone, somewhere, WILL try it.
You mean apparently more sophisticated cognitive capabilities. They don't know what this tiny brain is capable of, because it's completely isolated from sensory input. And had no opportunity to develop mentally at all (since, again, it's had no exposure to the world at all). In fact, they argue that because there is no sensory stimulation, the brain can't be thinking. That... well, that's just a crock of shit, quite frankly.
"None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license." --John Milton
They should just perform this research on homeless people of all ages. They're not worth anything.
Or maybe Jews, or gays, or any other group that doesn't meet your approval. Personally, I think this type of research should be done on people who post as AC on /.
Define "Human brain activity". Please explain how it can be differentiated from "squirrel brain activity", "snake brain activity", etc. Otherwise, this is a completely meaningless phrase.
Ideology: A tool used primarily to avoid the bother of thinking.
Hey moron, who are you going to blame for spontaneous abortions? Whose lives are you going to impoverish because they can't afford to support a child, especially if the child is going to have extreme defects requiring continuous connection to expensive medical equipment?
Most people claiming "all abortions are crimes" are basing their statements on their religious beliefs. Take your religion and shove it into that dark, moist place where your head already is.
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