EPISODE · Aug 26, 2022 · 23 MIN
Audio long read: Hybrid brains – the ethics of transplanting human neurons into animals
from Nature Podcast
The development of brain chimaeras – made up of human and animal neurons – is an area of research that has hugely expanded in the past five years. Proponents say that these systems are yielding important insights into health and disease, but others say the chimeras represent an ethical grey zone, because of the potential to blur the line between humans and other animals, or to recapitulate human-like cognition in an animal.This is an audio version of our Feature: Hybrid brains: the ethics of transplanting human neurons into animals Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
What this episode covers
The development of brain chimaeras – made up of human and animal neurons – is an area of research that has hugely expanded in the past five years. Proponents say that these systems are yielding important insights into health and disease, but others say the chimeras represent an ethical grey zone, because of the potential to blur the line between humans and other animals, or to recapitulate human-like cognition in an animal.This is an audio version of our Feature: Hybrid brains: the ethics of transplanting human neurons into animals Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
NOW PLAYING
Audio long read: Hybrid brains – the ethics of transplanting human neurons into animals
No transcript for this episode yet
Similar Episodes
Mar 26, 2026 ·1m
Jan 2, 2026 ·47m
Dec 21, 2025 ·46m