Scientists Crack Case: Chicken Came Before Egg

Yes, this is an actual study.

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on July 19 2010

It’s an age-old riddle, so well known that we don’t even need to ask it. But British researchers from Sheffield and Warwick University have at last made a breakthrough discovery: the chicken came first.

The scientists found that eggs include a protein, ovocledidin-17 (OC-17), which is only found in chickens’ ovaries.

‘The protein had been identified before and it was linked to egg formation but by examining it closely we have been able to see how it controls the process,” Dr. Colin Freeman, one of the researchers, told Metro News.

The researchers found that the particular protein was essential to the formation of the shell. By converting calcium carbonate into calcite crystals, the protein can make six grams of shell material within 24 hours.

The new findings about the OC-17 protein could provide insight into the development of new organic material. So maybe it’s no joke after all.

Filed under: Science, Weird,

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