Chicken really DID come before the egg, say scientists

By Daily Mail Reporter

It is an age-old riddle that has baffled the world's greatest minds since the dawn of civilization: which came first the chicken or the egg?

Now scientists claimed to have cracked the ancient puzzle and have discovered that the chicken must have come first.

In the past scientists have answered the chicken/egg puzzle by relying on evolution.

According to this model, two animals which were similar to, but not, chickens interbred and the egg that was laid contained what was to become the first definitive chicken.

Now researchers found that the formation of egg shells relies on a protein that is only found in a chicken's ovaries.

Therefore, an egg can only exist if it has been inside a chicken - thereby proving chickens must have come first.

The protein - called ovocledidin-17 (OC-17) - acts as a catalyst to speed up the development of the shell.

The hard shell is needed to house the yolk and its protective fluids while the chick develops inside.

Scientists now believe that before an egg can be formed it must have needed the OC-17 protein which is only found in the ovary of a chicken.

The discovery has been revealed in the paper 'Structural Control of Crystal Nuclei by an Eggshell Protein'.

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

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

The protein coverts calcium carbonate into calcite crystals which makes up the egg 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.

Dr Colin Freeman, from Sheffield University's Department of Engineering Materials, 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.

''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.

'It's very interesting to find that different types of avian species seem to have a variation of the protein that does the same job.''

Professor John Harding, also of Sheffield's Department of Engineering Materials, said the discovery could have other uses.

He said: ''Understanding how chickens make egg shells is fascinating in itself but can also give clues towards designing new materials and processes.

''Nature has found innovative solutions that work for all kinds of problems in materials science and technology - we can learn a lot from t

Note from Pat Franklin:  This article from the Daily Mail is interesting, but of course they give the glory to something called 'Nature'. Nature does not have to find any solutions. God made everything perfect in six literal days.  Everything was designed. Nothing 'evolved' from slime.  Those who credit 'nature' with the wondrous creation we see around us forget the great law of science, the Law of Biogenesis - life only comes from life.  Life does NOT arise from non-living material.  It was obvious that the chicken definitely came first, because God designed it and created it, a fully functioning chicken from the very first week of creation.  When the first hen laid its first egg, it was right there on hand to mother that first little baby chick when it hatched.
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