Lab-grown brain bits open windows to the mind — and a maze of ethical dilemmas

Xuyu Qian yanked open an incubator door at the University of Pennsylvania to reveal rows of cylindrical tubes swirling, like shaken-up snow globes, with a strange and exotic flurry. The pale, peppercorn-sized spheres were lab-grown globules of human brain tissue, or, as Qian occasionally refers to them, "minibrains."

"Minibrain" is a controversial nickname, loathed by some scientists who fear it conjures alarmist images of fully functioning brains trapped in vats, while the reality today is balls of cells that can’t think or feel.

By Carolyn Y. Johnson

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/lab-grown-brain-bits-open-windows-to-the-mind–and-a-maze-of-ethical-dilemmas/2018/09/02/9a76efee-a25b-11e8-83d2-70203b8d7b44_story.html?utm_term=.346cd8cd55b0