Science & Technology

Scientists could one day grow 'spare' human bodies for transplantation

By T.K. Randall
April 4, 2025 ·  5 comments

Are on-demand replacement bodies the future of medical science ? Image Credit: Public Domain It's an idea that sounds like something straight out of a horror movie, but the concept of growing 'live' human bodies for medical research and organ transplantation has been around for quite some time.

These creepy creations, known as 'bodyoids', would technically be alive, but wouldn't possess any sort of consciousness or awareness - they'd basically be laboratory organisms.

Certainly such a thing is likely to immediately stir up a cacophony of ethical concerns - how could we be sure that these entities weren't "people" and would they be able to feel pain (either physical or emotional?)

For years, scientists have been looking into the possibility of growing individual organs for transplant, which on the face of it would seem like a preferable idea, but the concept of growing entire bodies is still on the cards.While the technology to create something like this doesn't currently exist, that's not likely to be the case forever. Already, scientists are working on ways to create synthetic embryos in a laboratory.

Of course, if we really went down the rabbit hole, it's possible to imagine a future in which people are 'transplanted' entirely into new artificially-grown bodies designed for maximum compatibility.

By doing this repeatedly whenever their current body gets too old, a person could theoretically live forever.

The question is, is this really a path humaity wants to be going down ?

Source: Technology Review | Comments (5)

Tags: Bodyoids