Colossal Biosciences is growing chickens in a 3D-printed artificial eggshell

A giant 3D-printed egg so large that researchers nicknamed it the "salad spinner" might be the key to bringing back a 12-foot-tall extinct bird.

Biotech company Colossal has developed an artificial eggshell, a printed oval lattice lined with a special oxygen-permeable silicone membrane, successfully hatching 26 live chickens inside it. The long-term goal is audacious: resurrecting the giant moa, a flightless New Zealand bird hunted to extinction roughly 750 years ago.

"To see them all moving around in their artificial eggs was absolutely mind blowing," said Andrew Pask, Colossal's chief biology officer. "You really feel you can grow life outside of the womb."

But not everyone is impressed. Scientist Katsuya Obara calls Colossal's claims "clearly an overstatement," noting shell-free incubation dates back to 1998. Colossal has a pattern of overpromising, having previously made widely rejected claims about recreating the dire wolf.

The moa remains a distant dream, but the chickens, apparently, are very real.