Clumps of mouse brain cells about the size of peppercorns can gain the knowhow to perform a virtual circus trick.
With some coaching, these mouse brain organoids learned to keep a pole upright on a virtual moving cart — the video game equivalent of balancing a ruler vertically on your palm — researchers report in the Feb. 24 Cell Reports.
The organoids didn’t retain that knowledge for long, says cognitive neuroscientist Ash Robbins of the University of California, Santa Cruz. But ultimately, researchers hope that brain organoids can help them understand how healthy human brains learn, as well as how cognitive disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease impair this capacity.