3D-printed eggs could radically change how conservationists monitor endangered species

Captive breeding programs sometimes help endangered populations, but it’s tricky for scientists to mimic the precise conditions of the wild. So ICBP turned to hardware tech company Microduino to devise a solution. Microduino created a 3D-printed egg, designed to be indistinguishable from the vulture’s other eggs, that contains three of their one-square-inch microprocessors. The microprocessors are connected to temperature and humidity sensors lining the egg to let researchers know from a distance how the things functioning, so they don’t have to disturb the vultures. If the nest can be monitored without a disruptive human presence during the hatching cycle – 70 days – the captive breeding program has a better chance of success...more