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Breakthrough by researchers at Stanford could provide a new way to study the living human brain but not necessarily while it's in the human body. The work is just the latest in the ethically complex field of brain organoids where scientists grow tiny balls of human brain cells in the laboratory. Researchers from Stanford were able to implant their organoids into the brains of baby rats. There are potentially huge benefits to this controversial research but even so how does scientists and society decide where to draw the line? I mean sample The Guardian Science Editor and this is Science Weekly. This is The Guardian.

Researchers have successfully transplanted human neurons into the brains of rats. The recent, groundbreaking study described how the human cells took root inside the rat brains, hooked up to their blood supplies and tapped into neural circuitry. Rather than create a kind of super-rat, the ultimate aim is to better understand neuropsychiatric disorders such as epilepsy and schizophrenia, and examine the effects of drugs in real time. But do the potential benefits outweigh the ethical questions that come with combining human cells with other animals? Ian Sample speaks to Prof Julian Savulescu about how the scientists managed to transplant the neurons, what this means, and how we decide where to draw the line in such an ethically complex field of research. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod