AS THE public debate rages over the use of animals in drug development, a change is taking place in labs across the world. The first realistic software models of human and animal organs are starting to emerge – potentially replacing some of the 50 to 100 million animals used each year for scientific research.
The first models of how the heart works were built decades ago (New Scientist, 20 March 1999, p 24), but they are much more sophisticated now. The models couple mechanical contractions to electrical waves in three dimensions, for instance, to show thousands of molecular interactions and…
