The Chicken came before The Egg, scientists discover.

[howoldami]

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Finally! The age old question is answered!

It’s an age-old puzzle that’s stumped generations of scientists.

But now they believe they have cracked the conundrum of what came first: the chicken or the egg.

British researchers say the chicken must have come first as the formation of eggs is only possible thanks to a protein found in the chicken’s ovaries.

‘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, who worked with counterparts at Warwick University.

‘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 added.

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

Scientists used a super computer called HECToR, based in Edinburgh, to ‘zoom in’ on the formation of an egg.

It showed OC-17 was crucial in kick-starting crystallisation – the early stages of forming a shell.

The protein coverts calcium carbonate into calcite crystals which makes up the egg shell, creating six grammes of shell every 24 hours.

Prof John Harding, also of Sheffield University, said the discovery could have other uses.

‘Understanding how chickens make shells is fascinating in itself but can also give clues towards designing new materials,’ he said.

Next challenge: Why did the chicken cross the road?

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/835020-the-c...ists-prove

[Bracket]

Well, if the idea that dinosaurs evolved into birds is true, they could have evolved that attribute before fully becoming what we know now as chickens.

[howoldami]

(07-19-2010 03:25 PM)Bracket Wrote:  Well, if the idea that dinosaurs evolved into birds is true, they could have evolved that attribute before fully becoming what we know now as chickens.

Not to say that's not what I think happened, but it's still kind of weird. Where did the chicken come from to lay the egg?

[CMF]

The Chicken crossed the road to lay the egg.

[LMC]

(07-19-2010 05:01 PM)CMF Wrote:  The Chicken crossed the road to lay the egg.

LOL! I guess we have our answer to "where did the Chicken come from to lay the egg" lol! she came from the other side of the road lol! Good one CMF!

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Thanks for the info Howold!

[Jenova]

Where did the chicken come from then

[CMF]

Yeah really, I mean the chicken HATCHED from something even if it was a mutated form of whatever was before it.

Unless THEY just put them here...

[Browncoat]

Here's the thing. Unless you take a strict creationist point of view, evolution insists that the egg came first.

If you look at the whole phylum, genus species grouping, Chickens are a subspecies of the gallus gallus (or red junglefowl) which is in itself part of the Phasianidae family (where pheasants come from) which is part of the order of Galliformes, etc. Now, these phylums and genus groupings all develop because of common ancestors determined by shared characteristics. This means that at some point chickens and pheasants have a recnet common ancestor, while chickens and turkeys have a more distant ancestor. Given that all of these species in the order lay eggs, we can safely say that it is an ancient trait in the family tree. Now, since chickens are at the tail end of that species tree (and a subspecies at that) then it's IMPOSSIBLE to say that the Chicken came first because the chicken came about as the product of evolution and (very likely) selective breeding by humans.