In a major breakthrough for the dedicated riddle solvers of the world, British scientists may have answered the age-old question: Which came first, the chicken or the egg? In a scientific paper released in 2010, researchers at Sheffield and Warwick Universities found a protein in chicken ovaries that accelerates the process of creating an egg’s hard shell. And since it was found inside the chicken, the chicken had to come first, they reasoned.
"It had long been suspected that the egg came first, but now we have the scientific proof that shows that in fact the chicken came first," said Dr. Colin Freeman, of Sheffield University's Department of Engineering Materials.
Next question: Why did the chicken cross the road?:
- The paper, entitled Structural Control of Crystal Nuclei by an Eggshell Protein, focused on a protein called ovocledidin-17.
- Using a supercomputer, the researchers were able to simulate the process of biomineralization -- the production of minerals or solid materials inside organisms -- for the first time.
- The findings indicate that ovocledidin-17 speeds up the production of eggshell within the chicken, so that in 24 hours an egg is ready to be laid.