❝ Researchers can grow stem cells into tiny clumps of cells, called organoids, that display similar activity and structure to human brains…Now, though…several labs have inserted those organoids into rat brains and connected them to blood vessels; some of the organoids have even grown physical links with the rat brains.
The aim of this kind of research is noble: to work out how lab-grown clusters of brain cells could be used to understand or even treat brain diseases or injuries. But while a handful of cells in a rat brain may not be a problem now, and the idea of imbuing animals with human characteristics or consciousness seems distant, the integration…is giving some ethicists cause for concern.
❝ That’s especially the case as the number of organoids placed inside a rat’s head increases. “People are talking about connecting three or four,” says Stanford bioethicist Hank Greely to Stat. “But what if you could connect 1,000? That would be getting close to the number of cells in a mouse brain … At some future point it could be that what you’ve built is entitled to some kind of respect.”
Or you could elect them to Congress – most likely as a fundamentalist conservative – and hardly tell the difference.
Eideard 
Rat bastard (slang, pejorative) noun. A thoroughly despicable and untrustworthy person; a dangerous scoundrel, as in “What kind of rat bastard psychotic would play that song- right now, at this moment?” (Hunter S. Thompson, “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”)
“Sessions likely to be questioned about Trump campaign dealings with Russians at House Judiciary hearing” https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-likely-to-be-questioned-about-trump-campaign-dealings-with-russians-at-house-judiciary-hearing/2017/11/13/bc20b7fc-c894-11e7-aa96-54417592cf72_story.html
Attorney General Jeff Sessions is back on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, testifying at 10 a.m. before the House Judiciary Committee – what to watch for as he testifies about Russia contacts and is asked about his direction that the U.S. Department of Justice consider a special counsel to investigate Mr. Trump’s political opponents, including Hillary Clinton. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/14/us/politics/jeff-sessions-congress-russia.html
“Sessions considering second special counsel to investigate Republican concerns, letter shows” https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-considering-second-special-counsel-to-investigate-republican-concerns-letter-shows/2017/11/13/bc92ef3c-c8d2-11e7-b0cf-7689a9f2d84e_story.html
(1:22 PM): Jeff Sessions Displays Unsteady Recall on Trump-Russia Matters https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/14/us/politics/jeff-sessions-congress-russia.html
(3:42 PM): Four key takeaways from Jeff Sessions’s memory-lapse-filled congressional hearing https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/11/14/i-did-not-recall-4-key-takeaways-from-jeff-sessionss-memory-lapse-filled-congressional-hearing/
Meanwhile: “Trump Shatters Longstanding Norms by Pressing for Clinton Investigation” https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/14/us/politics/trump-pressure-clinton-investigation.html and Researchers have reported the first Illinois sighting in 30 years of a wild alligator snapping turtle http://thesouthern.com/news/local/environment/first-wild-alligator-snapping-turtle-found-in-illinois-in-years/article_cefe9573-d847-5daa-ac07-6a978a0a484c.html
“Scientists Just Found Naked Mole Rats Have Another Freaking Weird Superpower” https://www.sciencealert.com/naked-mole-rats-nonageing-gompertz-law-longevity-calico