British Researchers Claim to Have Answered "Chicken or Egg" Question

[Mewter]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38238685/ns/technology_and_science-science/

msnbc.com: Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

It is an age-old riddle that has perplexed generations: Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Now British scientists claim to have finally come up with the definitive answer: The chicken.

The scientific and philosophical mystery was purportedly unraveled by researchers at Sheffield and Warwick universities, according to the Daily Mail newspaper.

The scientists found that a protein found only in a chicken's ovaries is necessary for the formation of the egg, according to the paper Wednesday. The egg can therefore only exist if it has been created inside a chicken.

The protein speeds up the development of the hard shell, which is essential in protecting the delicate yolk and fluids while the chick grows inside the egg, the report said.

"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, from Sheffield University's Department of Engineering Materials, according to the Mail.

"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," he said.

Professor John Harding, from the same department, said the discovery could have other uses, according to the Daily Mail.

"Understanding how chickens make egg shells is fascinating in itself but can also give clues towards designing new materials and processes," he said.

"Nature has found innovative solutions that work for all kinds of problems in materials science and technology — we can learn a lot from them."

The discovery was revealed in the paper Structural Control Of Crystal Nuclei By An Eggshell Protein.

 

[GoldShadow]

That headline makes absolutely no sense, and neither does the statement by the quoted scientist.

 

[Sex Robot]

In any case, there can be no chicken nor egg without seeeeeeex.

 

[Glöwworm]

assuming we're all on the same page about evolution, the ancestors of the chicken made the chicken

NA MEAN?

 

[Mota]

So the chicken came first, splendid!

Now to baffle friends and colleagues

 

[Deleted member]

It's called dinosaur eggs.

 

[UberMario]

That doesn't even make sense. >_>

How does the chicken come before the egg it hatched out of?

 

[Teran]

That doesn't even make sense. >_>

How does the chicken come before the egg it hatched out of?

It doesn't.

These "researchers" are crackpots.

 

[#HBC | Dark Horse]

Evolution, my dear ubermario. Prehistoric birds--->the chickens of today.

 

[Teran]

Prehistoric birds came from reptiles which laid eggs.

Egg came before birds existed, hence EGG before chicken.

Noobs.

 

[Geist]

Chicken came first lol look at me guys
/trollface

 

[StealthyGunnar]

Each one of the two answers: the chicken or the egg, could be used to answer the question based solely on if you believe a religion, or if you're an evolutionist.

 

[Jonas]

It's like asking if the human fetus came before the adult human female or vice versa, as if one of them just spontaneously arose one day.

 

[Bassoonist]

I don't even understand how this question came to be in the first place and what point it really has behind it? I mean we know scientifically that it happened gradually through evolution, so there is no point to this question that I can see.

 

[deepseadiva]

This is the opposite of science.

 

[john!]

This is the opposite of science.

well if the question was "chicken or chicken egg" then this seems to indicate that proteins exclusive to chickens can make chicken eggs, so it's answered the question. how is it the opposite of science? at the very least they're discovering new things about chicken biology, which is likely more than you have ever contributed to our body of knowledge.

 

[Mr.Freeman]

An even more important question no one has asked.


Should we care?

 

[Teran]

well if the question was "chicken or chicken egg" then this seems to indicate that proteins exclusive to chickens can make chicken eggs, so it's answered the question. how is it the opposite of science? at the very least they're discovering new things about chicken biology, which is likely more than you have ever contributed to our body of knowledge.

Well chicken or chicken egg is a completely different question entirely.

It would make sense that the chicken came before its specialised eggs, but as for just chicken and egg, well egg obviously came first.

 

[jugfingers]

The dumbest thing about this is how since they found a specific protein that is used to make egg shells they draw the conclusion that the chicken must have come first


idiots!! of course chickens are responsible for chicken eggs!!! wtf is this.


but seriously I really think this article was misleading since there is no way that this research was carried out to end the question of which came first.

clearly it is research funded by some big corporateagrichickenfarmers lookin to genetically modify the **** out of chickens some more.

 

[Laem]

British Researchers

says enough
you know its true

 

[Teran]

British Researchers

says enough
you know its true

Bad troll is bad.

 

[Jim Morrison]

Chicken came first because god created them. What else was there to keep the egg warm? It's perfect logic noobs.

 

[Deleted member]

Well chicken or chicken egg is a completely different question entirely.

It would make sense that the chicken came before its specialised eggs, but as for just chicken and egg, well egg obviously came first.

but this "first chicken" would have coem from an egg which definitely could be considered "the first chicken egg" and hey, we have ourselves a problem.
not a problem I'd want any self respecting scientist to spent the (paid) time on though.

 

[john!]

but is a "chicken egg" defined as an egg that came from a chicken, or an egg containing a chicken? lmao

 

[Teran]

but this "first chicken" would have coem from an egg which definitely could be considered "the first chicken egg" and hey, we have ourselves a problem.
not a problem I'd want any self respecting scientist to spent the (paid) time on though.

Well actually, the first chicken will have come from pseudo chicken-y parents, one of which had the gene for the shell, and since there are usually lots of chicks, all the hens in the batch will have inherited the gene etc.

Lots of incest to keep things going and voilà!

 

[El Nino]

The dumbest thing about this is how since they found a specific protein that is used to make egg shells they draw the conclusion that the chicken must have come first


idiots!! of course chickens are responsible for chicken eggs!!! wtf is this.

Well, yes, no one is going to fund research specifically for the purpose of answering a riddle. The phrasing was just the reporters being "cute" about it to grab readers' attention.

but seriously I really think this article was misleading since there is no way that this research was carried out to end the question of which came first.

This is MSNBC quoting The Daily Mail, a British news source, which means MSNBC is reporting on someone else's reporting. Sometimes, news agencies will get things wrong when they do this.

clearly it is research funded by some big corporateagrichickenfarmers lookin to genetically modify the **** out of chickens some more.

I think it came from a department for Materials Engineering. It could be that they're trying to find ways to synthesize that protein for use in a completely unrelated field. Egg shells are remarkably sturdy, for one thing, and maybe it's a characteristic that can be transferred to new materials.

Edit: When all else fails, look up the abstract.

"We wish to thank the EPSRC for support under grants GR/S80103, GR/S80127, and EP/F055471/1, and Martyn Foster (Cray Research Ltd) and Ilian Todorov (Daresbury Laboratory) for help in adapting codes to HECToR. All authors contributed equally to this work."

Two of those groups mentioned are related to physical sciences and engineering; the third is connected to various fields, but one of those fields is materials science.

So, yeah, this is an engineering thing, probably to develop new synthetic materials. It probably has nothing to do with chickens raised in agriculture.

 

[GoldShadow]

El Nino: Super Sleuth extraordinaire!

 

[El Nino]

I try, man, I try. With Google as my sidekick, nothing is impossible.

 

[Sephiroths Masamune]

Lol trying to scientifically prove a philosophical question.

 

[Zajice]

This science is terrible.


Chickens had to evolve from something. These somethings laid eggs before chickens evolved from them. The egg came before the chicken.

Duh.

 

[Melomaniacal]

I had a discussion about this with a friend, and we came to this conclusion:

The only way to believe that the chicken came first is to also believe that evolution also works like Pokemon. This weird animal is walking around... than suddenly... OH **** EVOLUTION, IT JUST TURNED INTO A CHICKEN. Chicken came first.

 

[Tacel]

What?
The egg comes from the chicken and the chicken comes from the egg. They rely on each other. It's a two way relationship. There can't be one without the other
It's a paradox. It can not be solved.
What's next? 3/0=0?

 

[Fuelbi]

What's next? 3/0=0?

That's insane! Impossible! Illogical!

And should we actually care that this guy "found out" the answer to the question? I mean, we could be doing things with our tax money like solving world hunger.... but instead we get a scientist trying to solve a question that was probably made by some philospher hippy without a job who made the question to try and get publicity

Good job America, you are totally using our tax money right

/sarcasm

 

[GoldShadow]

I'm just going to quote El Nino's post because some of you seem to have missed it

Well, yes, no one is going to fund research specifically for the purpose of answering a riddle. The phrasing was just the reporters being "cute" about it to grab readers' attention.




This is MSNBC quoting The Daily Mail, a British news source, which means MSNBC is reporting on someone else's reporting. Sometimes, news agencies will get things wrong when they do this.



I think it came from a department for Materials Engineering. It could be that they're trying to find ways to synthesize that protein for use in a completely unrelated field. Egg shells are remarkably sturdy, for one thing, and maybe it's a characteristic that can be transferred to new materials.

Edit: When all else fails, look up the abstract.

"We wish to thank the EPSRC for support under grants GR/S80103, GR/S80127, and EP/F055471/1, and Martyn Foster (Cray Research Ltd) and Ilian Todorov (Daresbury Laboratory) for help in adapting codes to HECToR. All authors contributed equally to this work."

Two of those groups mentioned are related to physical sciences and engineering; the third is connected to various fields, but one of those fields is materials science.

So, yeah, this is an engineering thing, probably to develop new synthetic materials. It probably has nothing to do with chickens raised in agriculture.

 

[Pluvia]

Good job America, you are totally using our tax money right

/sarcasm

Roach. What's this thread called?

 

[Dre89]

I think the chicken egg question was supposed to ask the question of whether actuality or potentialiy came first.

 

[NixxxoN]

typical british, always pretending to be more clever than others

/hater mode off xP.

 

[BBQTV]

this is kinda lulzy

 

[Namaste]

Maybe they use to have live births but then decided they'd rather be born in cribs.