Don't ask us
why British researchers are spending their time trying to solve the age-old "who came first" conundrum, but apparently solve it they have done. Lab dwellers from the universities of Sheffield and Warwick share the distinction of identifying the particular effects of a particular protein -- ovocleidin-17, found only in
chickens' ovaries -- on the development of the egg's shell. It would seem that without OC-17 converting calcium carbonate into calcite crystals, one couldn't have an eggshell, meaning that the chicken and its special protein powers
had to have developed first. How the world's going to react to having one of its favorite clichés wrestled away has yet to be determined.
Update: Seems like we didn't make it clear enough that these findings relate specifically to
chicken eggs. We're well aware that
dragons dinosaurs have plenty of prior art on chickens when it comes to laying shelled embryo chambers.
posted July 15th 2010 7:23AM
but why did the egg cross the road?
@buoy Because it followed the chicken
@buoy
No... There were eggs from other births before the chicken was even there.
@Lexis
Obviously, I mean 'birds'.
@Engadget
They didn't do this study just to find out the answer to this long debate.
"Understanding how chickens make egg shells is fascinating in itself but can also give clues towards designing new materials and processes," The scientist said
@Lexis
Yeah, didn't dinosaurs lay eggs? Godzilla definitely did. One time he laid them in Madison Square Garden.
@jmstriker16
I believe based on this study, Godzilla must have been a genetic mutation of a chicken.... as were all the Dinosaurs that laid eggs...
obvious really!
@buoy
Why did the turkey cross the road?
Because it was the chicken's day off!.... *sigh*
@jmstriker16 Chickens are descended from dinosaurs ergo Godzilla may be a chicken (not that I would say that to his face)...
@Lexis - I agree and let me clarify... The chicken came before the chicken egg but it didn't come before the egg. In fact the chicken would have evolved from another animal, which likely laid eggs. So the first chicken was likely the offspring of some other egg laying animal.
Therefore, As I have always held, without research, the chicken came before the chicken egg. The old cliches never made any sense to me.
@buoy isn't this the country that can't afford their olympic games?
@jmstriker16 Um... if Godzilla laid eggs (in Madison Square Garden or elsewhere) "he" was really a she...
@Patriot I have always had the same opinion as you. just makes sense.. i figured that out when i was 10 years old but people still never understood it. evolution is too real and anyone who can't accept that is just naive.
@buoy
Why did the egg crossed the Mobius Strip?
That ends that debate.
@lnm4444
Nope.
OC-17 is found in nature, so the egg could be created by other means.
Check gizmodo for a more detailed analysis.
@lnm4444 But the chicken that had those proteins to be able to do that must have hatched from another type of egg. In which case the egg came first just not the same sort of egg...
@lnm4444
Unless the chicken spontaneously came into existence.
@fpad77
I think the real dilemma is that it's not really a chicken unless it comes out of an egg.
@lnm4444 this is only the begining
KFC vs Newegg, FIGHT!
@Crono141
I believe in spontaneous generation. It must happen, because spontaneous degeneration happens to my socks in the dryer all the time.
@hmmwv
ROUND 2!
Humpty Dumpty vs Family Guy Chicken
Test Your MIGHT!!!
Cool, read this a couple days ago
@MoonWalkerCTE Lol so it's obviously not breaking news then is it, Engadget
@iKid
I'm going to pretend you didn't get the whole breaking/egg pun.
Where'd the chicken come from?
@sintricate
From a lizzard
@thisNthat Didn't they do experiments to enable dormant genes in chickens that made them grow teeth and whatnot.
*googles*
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article1138908.ece
@sintricate
The raptors from Jurassic Park. Duh.
Love it! More useless information for me to spew after a few drinks making everyone around me uncomfortable and confused. Maybe even a little impressed? Thanks engadget!
if you can't have an eggshell without oc17 and oc17 is only found in chickens' ovaries, what about all the other animlas' eggs?
they have shells as far as i can see
@mrqs
Some other animals' eggs are made of a different material probably. Snake eggs are leathery as opposed to hard and brittle, so I assume it's a different material and a different gene controls it.
Here's some new ones: Mickey's a mouse, Donald's a duck, Pluto is a dog. What's Goofy?
Also: Brasil 1970 vs Argentina 1986? Who would win?
Stones or Beatles?
Why do men have nipples?
@lnm4444
1. Goofy is a dog, just further along [evolutionarily] than Pluto.
2. No one gives a f***.
3. Not up for debate. Beatles.
4. The sex of a fetus is determined after the nipples are made.
@threpac
The sex is determined at conception. However, you are correct that fetal development for males and females is very similar for a period of time, and in that period of time the nipples are developed.
@threpac I know 2.2 billion people that would give a f...
There is more countries in the world you know.
@lnm4444 Can you fit all those contacts in your phone? Impressive
How egg-citing!
@Chris7197
Downrank for bad pun.
@Chris7197 Up-rank for bad pun.
@m4192
Downrank for killjoy.
Up rank to follow the trend
Um if you cant have eggs before the chicken then how do you explain dinosaur eggs from over a hundred million years ago? Not to mention all the other egg laying animals.
Obviously the chicken came before the egg. Otherwise that same chicken couldn't have laid the egg that it came from.
@oellph - You are obviously wrong. The parent of the first 'chicken' egg was not a chicken itself. Think about it - or read my post 2 down from this one.
Man I would have loved to see the face on that first chicken when the egg popped out. Complete surprise.
@neeko18 How could you even tell?
@Shunnabunich
Because he is chicken..
So there you have it... I was always right!
There's no need for 'scientific study' in this, it's a logical puzzle.
You have an animal that is evolving closer and closer to the definition of chicken. As the 'egg' is always the first stage of life, it *must* come first. That egg came from an animal very similar to a chicken, but technically not it. Once the egg is made the chicken that appears later hasn't changed from egg stage. Only when the egg is created is there any chance for genetic mutation from pre-chicken to chicken - thus the egg has to come before chicken.