SOLOMON Snyder of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore points to
a photograph of the first brain cells to have been grown in a laboratory.
According to Snyder, the ability to grow such cells under experimental conditions
has important implications for the scientific understanding of the nervous
system, although he acknowledges that ‘we ourselves do not know what we
did to make this work’. The image of mature brain cells – known as HCN-I
neurons – demonstrates how the cells appear to be making contact with one
another.
More from 51¶¯Âþ
Explore the latest news, articles and features

Health
The mysterious reason why women get hotter from age 18 to 42
51¶¯Âþ

Comment
This is the most underrated sci-fi film franchise of the 21st century
Culture

Comment
Shiver me timbers: Do we have to worry about space pirates now?
Regulars

Life
PMOS shows us why many scientific terms need to be renamed
Leader
Popular articles
Trending 51¶¯Âþ articles
1
The Selfish Gene at 50: Why Dawkins’s evolution classic still holds up
2
The distant world that is our best hope of finding alien life
3
The mysterious reason why women get hotter from age 18 to 42
4
Photos reveal unexpected details from the world's first atomic test
5
Can we harness quantum effects to create a new kind of healthcare?
6
Mystery of the ancient giant stone jars of Laos may have been solved
7
Why autism pioneer Uta Frith wants to dismantle the spectrum
8
We may finally know why dinosaurs like T. rex evolved tiny arms
9
Solar farm on the ocean outperforms land-based solar in Taiwan
10
Himalayan wolf-dog hybrids emerge as a threat to wolves and people