Is the Race to Life-Saving Interventions Really Justifiable?

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The latest work that we've been discussing is this rat brain organoid work from Stanford. The researchers were really hoping to use that to develop better models for human neurodevelopmental disorders. I'm wondering if you think these models will actually be effective and given the kind of ethical questions around them, whether you see them as justified. Look, science is like a horse race, you have a bunch of horses that start and the finish line is life-saving interventions. You can have one horse a long way in front in the middle of the race but what matters is the horse that crosses the line.

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