Artificial Eggshell Chicks Raise Ecological Priorities

Colossal Biosciences, the biotech firm chasing the dream of resurrecting extinct creatures, has announced it successfully hatched twenty-six live chicks using a 3D-printed artificial eggshell. The development has prompted sharp debate among scientists about the merits of de-extinction at a time when living species face unprecedented threats.

How the Technology Works

The chicks, ranging from a few days to several months old, were born from a lattice structure designed to mimic a natural eggshell. Colossal scientists poured fertilised eggs into the artificial system, placed them in an incubator, and added calcium normally absorbed from a real shell. They also imaged the embryos' development in real-time.

Colossal's CEO Ben Lamm said the technology could eventually be scaled up to genetically modify living birds to resemble extinct species like New Zealand's South Island giant moa, whose eggs are eighty times the size of a chicken's.