A brain transplant or whole-body transplant is a hypothetical operation in which the brain of one organism is transplanted into the body of another. It is a procedure distinct from head transplantation, which involves transferring the entire head to a new body, as opposed to the brain only. Theoretically, a person with advanced organ failure could be given a new and functional body while keeping their own personality and memories.
Historically, brain transplants have not been feasible and were widely regarded as impossible. Today, given progress in organ transplant and human cloning research, many scientists hold that brain transplants are theoretically possible and likely to be feasible in the future.
Brain transplants and similar concepts have been explored in various forms of fiction.
Read more about Brain Transplant: Existing Challenges, Partial Brain Transplant, Brain Transplants in Popular Culture, Similar Concepts
Famous quotes containing the word brain:
“Public morning diversions were the last dissipating habit she obtained; but when that was accomplished, her time was squandered away, the power of reflection was lost, [and] her ideas were all centered in dress, drums, routs, operas, masquerades, and every kind of public diversion. Visionary schemes of pleasure were continually present to her imagination, and her brain was whirled about by such a dizziness that she might properly be said to labor under the distemper called the vertigo.”
—Sarah Fielding (1710–1768)