GoKawiilThe artificial egg contains a lattice shell architecture that incorporates a silicone-based membrane. This artificial shell matches the oxygen transfer capacity of a natural eggshell.Credit: Colossal Biosciences
The de-extinction company Colossal Biosciences says it has developed a key technology for bringing back extinct birds and rescuing endangered ones: an artificial egg.
The device — a 3D-printed lattice shell that protects a transparent silicone membrane — has ‘hatched’ around two dozen chics. Colossal, based in Dallas, Texas, hopes to use the technology to resurrect the extinct South Island giant moa (Dinornis robustus), a 3-metre-tall New Zealand bird that laid eggs the length of a rugby ball.
Scientists say that the artificial egg — which is detailed in a 19 May press release and accompanying video, but not in a paper or preprint — could represent a genuine advance on work by other researchers. In previous studies, chicks were hatched from artificial eggs made of materials such as plastic films and cups1. But researchers have many unanswered questions.
“It could be really important, it could be fantabulous,” says Paul Mozdziak, a stem-cell biologist at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. “Without data, it’s really impossible to judge what the true impact is.”
A newly hatched chick from Colossal Biosciences’ artificial egg project.Credit: Colossal Biosciences
The company has no current plans to describe the artificial egg in a paper, says Colossal’s chief executive, Ben Lamm. The firm hopes to commercialize the technology but will make it available for conservation efforts, he adds.
“There’s an immediate group of people in zoos and conservation breeding facilities that could use this technology,” says Ben Novak, who leads an effort to bring back the passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) at the non-profit organization Revive & Restore in Sausalito, California.
Scrambled history
Researchers have been working for decades to hatch birds from artificial eggs. The first successful report was in 1998, using quail embryos. Researchers transferred the contents of natural, fertilized eggs into glass vessels after incubating them for two days2.
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