new way to watch an embryo grow???

[rocketdog312]

pax's videos made me think.

that experiment probably failed due to no way of gas exchange to occur, the egg drying out, or no way to get air to the growing zygote in the early stages.

I'm wondering what kind of material I could use that would be pourus enough to allow gas exchange, but not enough to dry the egg out. and can an egg just absorb air from its surrounding area?

 

[Akane]

You can't really mimic an egg shell perfectly. We lack the materials. Most also lack an incubator with detailed enough settings and knowledge of what those settings are to keep the humidity correct without an egg shell there to regulate it. The other problem is a chick is quite likely not to form right if it's not in something at least close to egg shaped. Odds of hatching a chick from anything but an egg are exceedingly low. Such experiments would only be so you could view it for as long as it survives with the expectation it will not make it.

There is a way to watch a chick grow and possibly have it hatch though. Scientists have removed chunks of egg shell and replaced them with plastic. Someone on here damaged an egg and put plastic cling wrap over it. They were able to see the chick moving around and have it hatch. Enough of the shell remains intact to regulate the moisture in the egg and both the membrane and yolk are still there so the chick can grow and hatch mostly normal. It may or may not need assistance hatching. However there are still high odds of something going wrong. Damaging the egg trying to remove some shell and causing a bacterial infection in the egg are the most likely. For an object that seems so simple redesigning an egg is not an easy task.

 

[rocketdog312]

Quote:
thank you very much for your reply!

 

[geosheets]

Quote:
How about a Kordon breathing bag... it should allow gas exchange but maintain moisture level. They are used for shipping fish and they have tested them with some fish for several weeks. The bag is a membrane that allows oxygen in, CO2 out, and keeps the liquid inside. Here's a link to their website.
http://www.novalek.com/kordon/breathing_bags/index.htm

I have used these for shipping fish with good success.

 

[Akane]

Normally an egg needs to lose a certain percentage of the water it starts with in order to hatch. Whether that holds true when you stick it in another container might be debateable but if it does then you need something that actually lets some moisture through not just gases like the bags. Although those things have a tendency to leak anyway. I've gotten lots of fish in half filled bags because they lost half their water on the way. The post office is always thrilled.

 

[pax12]

Quote:
How about a Kordon breathing bag... it should allow gas exchange but maintain moisture level. They are used for shipping fish and they have tested them with some fish for several weeks. The bag is a membrane that allows oxygen in, CO2 out, and keeps the liquid inside. Here's a link to their website.
http://www.novalek.com/kordon/breathing_bags/index.htm

I have used these for shipping fish with good success.

That would be something to try