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The Guardian is reporting that the first (almost) fully formed human brain has been grown in a lab. Note, no paper or data has yet been published, but...
An almost fully-formed human brain has been grown in a lab for the first time, claim scientists from Ohio State University. The team behind the feat hope the brain could transform our understanding of neurological disease.
Though not conscious the miniature brain, which resembles that of a five-week-old foetus, could potentially be useful for scientists who want to study the progression of developmental diseases. It could also be used to test drugs for conditions such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, since the regions they affect are in place during an early stage of brain development.
Is it thinking?
The ethical concerns were non-existent, said Rene Anand of Ohio State University. "We don't have any sensory stimuli entering the brain. This brain is not thinking in any way."
Personally I'd like to see it hooked up to an fMRI just to check.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 20 2015, @07:53AM
To me, this certainly is way creepier than the recently reported mouse with the improved brain (à la Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes).
I foresee ethics committees descending on this case, sensory deprivation or not.
Do the same with non-too-bright animal brains, and you might construct a neural net-controlled robot or something...