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CrowdScience: Can we grow a conscious brain?

Discussion & Talk

Can we grow a conscious brain?

22/09/2023 GMT

BBC World Service - CrowdScience, Can we grow a conscious brain?

With advances in stem cell research, could we grow a human brain? And would we want to?

With advances in stem cell research, could we recreate our complex human brains? Separating fact from science fiction, we explore 3D printed brain tissue and human brain organoids.

Philosophers have long pondered the concept of a brain in a jar, hooked up to a simulated world. Though this has largely remained a thought experiment, CrowdScience listener JP wants to know if it might become reality in the not-too-distant future, with advances in stem cell research.

In the two decades since stem cell research began, scientists have learned how to use these cells to create the myriad of cell types in our bodies, including those in our brains, offering researchers ways to study neurological injuries and neurodegenerative disorders. Some labs have actually started 3D printing stem cells into sections of brain tissue in order to study specific interactions in the brain. Human brain organoids offer another way to study brain development and diseases from autism to the Zika virus.

So, might stem cell research one day lead to a fully-grown human brain, or is that resolutely in the realm of science fiction? If something resembling our brains is on the horizon, is there any chance that it could actually become conscious? And how would we even know if it was?

Host Marnie Chesterton takes a peek inside the human brain and speaks with leading scientists in the field, including a philosopher and ethicist who talks about the benefits – and potential pitfalls – of growing human brain models. Along the way, we'll pull apart the science from what still remains (at least for now) fiction.

Presenter: Marnie Chesterton
Producer: Sam Baker
Assistant Producer: Jonathan Blackwell
Editor: Richard Collings
Production Coordinator: Jonathan Harris
Studio Manager: Jackie Margerum

(Image: Brain in a jar. Credit: Mike Kemp / Getty Images)

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