Texas-based biotechnology firm Colossal Biosciences has announced the successful hatching of chicks from an artificial egg — a device featuring an open latticed half-shell and a transparent silicone membrane that allows oxygen to diffuse freely into the developing embryo, removing the need for supplemental oxygen that has hampered earlier systems. The company intends to use the technology as a stepping stone toward "de-extincting" the giant moa (a flightless bird native to New Zealand that vanished roughly six centuries ago) and the dodo, by genetically modifying living relatives such as the emu and the Nicobar pigeon to carry traits of the extinct species. Experts note the announcement carries genuine conservation potential — particularly for captive breeding programmes of critically endangered birds — but caution that no peer-reviewed data has been published to verify the claims, and that significant biological hurdles remain, including the challenge of scaling egg yolk size to support species far larger than a chicken.