The very existence of synthetic embryos is throwing into question our understanding of what a human embryo even is. “Is it the thing that is only generated from the fusion of a sperm and an egg?” Naomi Moris, a developmental biologist at the Crick Institute in London, said to me a couple of years ago. “Is it something to do with the cell types it possesses, or the [shape] of the structure?”
The authors of the new MIT Technology Review piece also point out that such bodyoids could also help speed scientific and medical research.
At the moment, most drug research must be conducted in lab animals before clinical trials can start. But nonhuman animals may not respond the same way people do, and the vast majority of treatments that look super-promising in mice fail in humans. Such research can feel like a waste of both animal lives and time.
Scientists have been working on solutions to these problems, too. Some are creating “organs on chips”—miniature collections of cells organized on a small piece of polymer that may resemble full-size organs and can be used to test the effects of drugs.
Others are creating digital representations of human organs for the same purpose. Such digital twins can be extensively modeled, and can potentially be used to run clinical trials in silico.
Both of these approaches seem somehow more palatable to me, personally, than running experiments on a human created without the capacity to think or feel pain. The idea reminds me of the recent novel Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica, in which humans are bred for consumption. In the book, their vocal cords are removed so that others do not have to hear them scream.
When it comes to real-world biotechnology, though, our feelings about what is “acceptable” tend to shift. In vitro fertilization was demonized when it was first developed, for instance, with opponents arguing that it was “unnatural,” a “perilous insult,” and “the biggest threat since the atom bomb.” It is estimated that more than 12 million people have been born through IVF since Louise Brown became the first “test tube baby” 46 years ago. I wonder how we’ll all feel about bodyoids 46 years from now.
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