Five-Year Lab Brain Organoids Push the Boundaries of Maturation

Scientists grew human brain organoids in the lab for five years, finding that their biological age tracks closely with time in culture and mirrors the developmental sequence of a human brain from gestation onward. The study, which sequenced RNA every six months across 34 organoids, showed these “clumps of brain cells” can remember developmental steps and record elapsed time, a finding scientists call a time warp. While the results are unsettling, long-lived organoids offer insights for drug testing, viral effects on neurodevelopment, and brain evolution, and researchers aim to accelerate maturation even further.