Are the Lab-grown miniature human brains with the size of some form of seeds follow the ethics of science? Probably it is reconsidered this time. Tiny brains floating in Petri dishes at the University of California, firing electrical activity are known as brain organoids. These organoids help to study the properties of brains, raised from human stem cells. Researchers used these organoids as a model to develop human-like artificial-intelligence systems by connecting them to walking robots. Earlier, the team has published a paper in Cell Stem Cell that reports about coordinated waves of activity produced from the brain organoids which resembles a premature babies brain. A few months earlier, researchers at Yale University experimented with the brains from pigs, killed hours earlier have partially restored with life. These experiments have stormed with the hot debate among scientists and ethicists, whether or not these experiments should be allowed. Interestingly, regulations on experiments with brain organoids to achieve consciousness do not exist in many countries.
As of now, no one has achieved the goal of creating consciousness in a lab. Researchers are considering different theories to define consciousness. For instance, according to the integrated information theory, consciousness defined as a product of densely neuronal networks connected throughout the brain. More the neurons interact with one another, higher the degree of consciousness — represented as phi. If Φ > 0; then the organism is conscious.
But how do we know if the brain is conscious or not? Researchers measure the brain response using electroencephalogram (EEG) readings. A conscious brain display complex electrical activity but, an unconscious one shows only a regular pattern.