How to Grow a Human: Adventures in Who We Are and How We Are Made
Is an organ grown from stem cells human? And what rights – if any – should a it have? These are questions Philip Ball – who many might know as Chemistry World columnist – explores in his new book.
In this book, Philip Ball – who many might know as Chemistry World columnist – sets out to grapple with the philosophical questions raised by recent advance in cell technology. He finds himself in two minds – almost literally. A small sample of cells was taken from his arm and reprogrammed to become nerve cells, growing into an interlinked network of communicating neurones – a minibrain.
This brain-in-a-dish then serves as a unique narrative device to explore questions of who we are and where we came from. It reveals the huge leaps that humanity has made in recent decades in manipulating cells, but also just how much we still don’t understand. The minibrain also serves as a device for the philosophical questions thrown up by these new developments. Is this mass of cells human? Is it still part of the entity we call Philip Ball? And what rights – if any – should a minibrain have?