The scientific applications could be astounding.
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00:00For years, scientists have been working on ways to grow human organs inside animals,
00:08hoping to make organ transplants easier and more available.
00:11But what if rather than new livers or hearts or kidneys, instead we were able to use animals
00:15to regrow parts of the brain that may have degenerated over time, restoring lost cognitive
00:20function before taking those brain fragments and re-implanting them in humans?
00:23Well, that's what scientists at the University of California, San Diego are looking to achieve,
00:28and they recently made a huge breakthrough.
00:30They took cortical organoids from humans, or what are sometimes called mini-brains,
00:34and implanted them into mice.
00:36And now, after months of stimulation, they've been able to measure electrical activity in
00:40the transplanted brain in response to visual light cues, meaning there are now functional
00:44connections, connecting the mouse brain to the human mini-brain.
00:47This all happened in only a month, and another month later the mini-brain was even more integrated.
00:51Now the question remains, with future innovations and with the use of stem cells, could the
00:56repaired bit of brain be removed and implanted back into a human?