Scientists have made a major and miraculous breakthrough in biological sciences by hatching 26 healthy chickens from 3D-printed eggshells.
This breakthrough, seen as a scientific ‘stepping stone’, would bring science one step closer to creating ‘artificial wombs’ capable of carrying and delivering children.
The experiment was conducted by Texas biotech company Colossal Biosciences, where the scientists developed 3D-printed transparent ‘artificial eggshells’ designed to incubate bird embryos outside a natural shell.
The egg is also coated with a special silicon membrane that makes the exchange of gas, such as oxygen, natural and easy. To compensate for the real calcium, the researchers supplemented the process with ground calcium.
The motive behind egg technology is to preserve those bird species that are at high risk of extinction. Moreover, the technology is also aimed at the extinction of giant moa, a flightless 3-meter-high bird, native to New Zealand that laid four-liter eggs.
Colossal Biosciences has also been involved in several de-extinction projects where the startup is reviving extinct dire wolves. Earlier this month, scientists also announced they would eradicate the Bluebuck antelope, which had been lost for more than 200 years. Plans are also underway to bring the woolly mammoth and dado back into the extinction project.
In the scientific community, however, the recent achievement is more than a breakthrough; it is an iterative improvement on long-standing ex-utero incubation techniques.
Andrew Pask, the company’s chief biology officer, expressed his amazement, saying: “Watching them all move around in their artificial eggs was absolutely amazing. You really feel like you can grow life outside the womb.”
“The device changes everything. We’re showing the world that we can grow this whole bird in an incubator, outside the eggshell. It’s a complete game changer. Life finds a way,” the company said.
Critics from the scientific community, including researchers who pioneered similar “shellless” incubation methods dating back to 1998, argue that Colossal overstates its novelty.
