It’s been just over a decade since the first human neural organoids sparked into existence. Even back in 2013, when these clumps of cells in a dish could do little more than self-organize and spike their calcium levels in response to an electric signal, they ignited an intense ethical debate , including about whether they can suffer or be conscious, and whether they have human rights.

Since then, these lab-created, three-dimensional structures made from human stem cells have shown remarkable capacity for mimicking key aspects of normal brain function, as well as severe psychiatric and neurological diseases including schizophrenia, autism, and Alzheimer’s. As researchers have coaxed them into increasing levels of complexity — growing them for years in some cases, or linking together mi

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