The Mouse with two brains

A Stanford researcher has just gotten permission to transplant human neurons into a mouse. They plan on stopping if the mouse starts to exhibit human behavior, but think it unlikely.

"It is unlikely that any brain-replacement experiment would work, Weissman and Greely said. Mouse and human brains are very different organs. Unlike humans, mice have brains that specialize in smell. They even have special cells devoted to whiskers. Any implant of human brain cells into an empty mouse brain cavity is likely to turn into a lumpy mess, devoid of structure. Finally, even if the implanted brain cells could organize themselves, they probably would act like a mouse brain, too confined to do anything remotely human."

Of course, these researchers probably never heard of a Octo-Parrot.

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