A debate is stewing around miniature models of the human brain.
These small 3D conglomerates of tissue, grown from stem cells and known as brain organoids, are still fairly simple. They are typically made to resemble just one part of the brain, although they can be combined in “assembloids” that capture more than one region. And recently, scientists have developed ways to grow additional types of cells within organoids, more accurately capturing the cell-to-cell interactions seen in a real brain.
Even with these advancements, some scientists argue organoids lack the complexity required to give rise to consciousness — roughly defined as a state of being aware of oneself, the ability to sense the world around you or the ability to experience feelings or sensations.
Some experts told Live Science that they think it would be morally fraught to experiment with conscious organoids without considering their welfare. Some think it would be fine to experiment with them, given we do studies with conscious entities already — namely, animals. Perhaps we could apply similar regulations to organoid research that we do for lab-animal studies, they suggested.
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