Have Scientists Solved Chicken vs. Egg Debate?
Posted on: Thursday, 15 July 2010, 06:35 CDT Which came first: the chicken or the egg? It is an age old question that has spurred on many a debate, but now a group of scientists might actually be close to having an answer. Using cutting-edge technology, researchers from the Universities of Sheffield and Warwick in England believe that they have discovered the answer by studying eggshells. Scientists had long theorized that a chicken protein known as ovocledidin-17 (OC-17) played a crucial role in the formation of an egg’s shell, but thanks to a new computer simulation, they were able to demonstrate the actual process. According to a joint press release issued by both universities, “The protein is found only in the mineral region of the egg (the hard part of the shell) and lab bench results showed that it appeared to influence the transformation of (CaCo3) into calcite crystals. It remained unclear how this process could be used for forming an eggshell.” However, thanks to a new tool kn
