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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 The team's data has not yet been peer reviewed.
When a reporter asked the tiny brain how it felt, it replied "Kiiiiiillll meeeee".
How do they know it's 'not conscious'? (Note: I am an atheist.)
By being perfectly ethical?
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.
We have enough small-brained comments on slashdot already. Unfortunately some people likely wouldn't be able to tell the difference around here.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
I, uh, I dropped it.
Who's brain did you get?
Abby, Abby someone. Abby Normal I think.
You mean to tell me that I put an Abnormal brain into a 74 inch tall, 54 inch wide.... GORILLLA!!?
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
When will enter the presidential race?
-Dave
we have no reason to believe that any sort of consciousness exists in it.
Defining consciousness is an endless philosophical debate... but forget all that, it's a brain - something we know to exhibit the properties that everyone uses to define consciousness, how can you possibly say there is no reason to believe it is concious? what arbitrary metrics are you using to call it unconscious? because craniometry is pseudo-science.
I'm not sure how i feel about this either, and maybe it's fine... maybe we can prove it to be effectively brain dead but useful enough to observe chemical processes in the brain... that doesn't mean we can conveniently sweep conciousness under the rug though.
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.
You don't have to be religious to have a problem with this. I don't care where the brain comes from, it can be a willing donor or grown in the lab, the issue people are going to have is empathy with a potentially concious organism... i'd even extend that to sufficiently advanced synthetic neural networks, and i think most non-religious people would agree that conciousness is not bound to us "special" naturally grown humans for all time, it applies to any kind of brain.
The point is: it's a brain - not a kidney, that doesn't mean you can't do experiments, it just means you can't dismiss ethical considerations (do not confuse this with religious ones).
For them life begins at conception. Since there is no conception here, well, everything must be A-OK.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Human brain activity starts at ~12 weeks
And yet, some higher functionality, like the frontal lobe, only get fully developed and fully functional only *AFTER* birth.
(For some obvious space-saving reasons that got selected by evolution once we start to try walking upright).
That's why some toys are inappropriate for kids under 36 months old. The part of the brain that prevents them for choking on anything coming nearby their mouth isn't there yet.
The brain isn't a magical machine which a switch that suddenly get turned on at a set point in time.
It's a horrendously complicated machine that only gets to working very progressively and slowly over time, some parts finishing getting wired and myelinated (=electrically insulated) only after on the other side of the birth cannal, when size restrictions matter less.
At 12 weeks, even if a few neurons starts firing, you're far away from the complexity and awarerness of a full grown kids brain.
For fuck's sake, the baby won't have enough brain activity for such simple tasks as preventing itself to choke, and you expect a bunch of neural cells which have barely started to fire to be anything more intelligent than a cockroach ?!
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Thank God, we now have a new weapon to use against a zombie apocalypse! I sure hope they can scale it up for mass production, so that we can keep up with the demand from the hordes :)