Brain-Cell Cultures: The Future of Computers and More?

Abstract

Recently, the field of bioengineering, which uses biomedical knowledge to solve problems and create products, has made great progress creating tiny, functioning models of human organs, called organoids. The brain is the most complex organ of the human body. Although brain organoids have been created, they still cannot perform calculations, learn, memorize, or make decisions—“thinking” functions only seen in humans and animals. But a new field of science is emerging that could create brain organoids with some cognitive functions. The necessary technologies are now available, and scientists are starting to combine them. Thinking brain-cell cultures create a lot of ethical questions that must be addressed as research proceeds. This article describes the technologies that form the basis of the science called organoid intelligence (OI). In the future, OI could help us study brain functions, understand brain diseases, find new cures, and could possibly even lead to new supercomputers that are more brain-like than today’s computers.