Eggs Everywhere Disappointed, Chickens Did Come First

Three cheers for chicken ovaries! Yup, you heard correct. I’m celebrating today because scientists from Sheffield and Warwick universities reported their findings that thanks to a unique protein, they can now confirm that the chicken did, in fact, come before the egg. No, that was not a double entendre. Get your mind out of the sh**ter. The protein is called ovocledidin-17, or OC-17 on the streets, and is responsible for encouraging egg development. Breakthrough is that now researches can confirm OC-17 is only found in the ovaries of chickens. Don’t ask me how they found that out.

Scientists from Sheffield and Warwick universities used a super computer to ‘zoom in’ on the formation of an egg.

The computer, called HECToR and based in Edinburgh, revealed that OC-17 is crucial in kick-starting crystallisation – the early stages of the creation of a shell.

The protein coverts calcium carbonate into calcite crystals which make up the shell.

Calcite crystals are found in numerous bones and shells but chickens form them quicker than any other species – creating six grams (0.2oz) of shell every 24 hours. [DailyMail]

Oh great, all this embryonic talk has now got me feeling all salacious. Look, I admire these scientists and the important studies they are doing; Lord knows I’ve spent many a night waking up in a cold sweat, searching in the dark for answers regarding chickens and their eggs. Next I just need researchers to determine whether or not I should floss first before I brush? Or is it brush first and then floss? Ugh, all the same when you fall asleep with a lit cigarette in your mouth, I suppose.