Scientists Plan To Hook Tiny Brains Into Spider-sized Robots

At the University of California, San Diego, eScientists have studied how to create special brains, which are grown in miniature laboratories, that can generate brain waves using stem cells. They have successfully generated cerebral organoids, a pea-sized miniature model that mimics the human brain. In order to discover how these cerebral organoids evolve in zero-gravity status, recently, NASA has gathered these objects on a rocket and delivered them to the International Space Station.

According to the New York Times, researchers of the University of California have continuously tested and developed brain organoids, which are the groups of stem cells, for several weeks. They then transformed human skin cells into stem cells to grow brain cells like embryonic cells. The lead researcher Alysson Muotri mentioned that such a simulated neural model is unprecedented in brain science history. He and his team desired to develop a model with a more complex level that can approach the early stages of a sophisticated human neural network.

Muotri and the research members have promoted a method called improved growth process, which includes an optimized culture medium formula. As such, the organoids are more mature than previous models. They also tracked spontaneous electrical activity continuously for every week in 10 months through multi-electrode arrays along with the development of hundreds of organoids. Since the cerebral organoids continue to grow, a series of brain waves are generated at different frequencies, in which brain signals occurred more often.

The New York Times also mentioned that Muotri connected these small brains to spider-shaped robots to investigate their neural activities, despite the suspicion of consciousness from his colleagues. Moreover, these findings can trigger intense debates about the ethics of scientists when creating a conscious life inside the lab. And therefore, people may suspect that the artificial copies of brain cells are the real brains of premature babies. Despite this, Muotri still insists that this view is totally incorrect.