On May 19, 2026, the biotechnology company Colossal Biosciences announced the hatching of 26 healthy chicks from an artificial incubation system using a silicone membrane. The Dallas-based company is calling the result a major step toward its goal of resurrecting extinct bird species, including the Mauritius dodo and the South Island giant moa.
The device is a rigid hexagonal cup fitted with a semi-permeable silicone membrane that does the same job as a biological eggshell: it allows gas exchange — oxygen in, moisture out — without requiring an active oxygen supply.
A transparent window on top lets scientists watch the embryo develop without disturbing it. The system scales from a hummingbird egg up to a giant moa egg — which was roughly the size of a soccer ball.
That size range matters more than it might seem. The South Island giant moa (Dinornis robustus) grew to nearly four meters tall and roamed New Zealand until overhunting by the Māori in the 15th century drove the species to extinction. A moa embryo would outgrow any living bird used to incubate it, which makes a scalable artificial vessel essential.
What This System Is Built to Solve
Shell-free egg incubation was first attempted in the 1980s, but the method required large volumes of pure oxygen — which in turn caused DNA damage in the developing embryo. Later attempts using plastic cups or clear film produced the lowest hatch rates on record.
Colossal’s silicone membrane gets around that problem through passive diffusion: oxygen seeps through the material slowly and evenly, with no need for an external feed.
The system also doesn’t replace the biological steps that occur before the egg is laid. In the current protocol, scientists collect eggs from live hens within 24 to 48 hours after they’re laid, select viable candidates, and transfer the contents — minus the shell — into the artificial vessel. Everything before that point — fertilization and early embryonic development — still depends on a living bird.
For de-extinction, that’s a real limitation. The gene editing would need to happen earlier, in primordial germ cells — precursors to eggs and sperm — which Colossal says it cultured last year from a rock pigeon, a close relative of the dodo.
What Independent Scientists Say
Scientists greeted the announcement with interest, but also with caution. Several independent researchers noted that the membrane is just one component of a complete egg, and that the remaining technical challenges are far from solved.
Without a peer-reviewed publication — the announcement came through a press release — there’s no way to independently assess the methodology. The company also didn’t disclose the experiment’s overall hatch rate — a key figure for putting the result in context.
Some specialists also pointed out that for most threatened bird species, the priority is still tackling habitat loss and other direct threats, rather than investing in artificial incubation.
And while the system could have conservation uses — such as engineering endangered birds to withstand disease or climate change — that would require pairing it with avian gene editing, which is still an unsolved problem.
For now, the artificial egg is just one piece of the puzzle. The harder pieces — editing the genome of an extinct species, inserting it into viable cells, and carrying the embryo to term — are still missing.
