We’ve heard a lot in the last few years about organoids, the so-called “brains in a dish” created in labs by neuroscientists. But as with many neuroscience topics, a wide gulf separates viral newsiness from reality. Scientists at Neuroscience 2019, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, gathered at a press panel to discuss the latest brain-organoid research, sift through ethical implications, and address where the science is going next.

First, what is a brain organoid?

Simply put, a brain organoid is tissue manufactured in a lab from human stem cells that mimics human brain tissue.

“In the last five years scientists figured out how to turn stem cells into 3D cell structures, and eventually [developed] so-called brain organoids, which look like not only cell types in the brain but also cell architectures,” according to session moderator Hongjun Song, PhD, professor at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine who studies neurogenesis and epigenetics.

That is not, however, the same as saying they are human brains. Rather, organoids […]