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1,700 year old egg never broke
- fifilura 1y agoI guess they are scientists and know better than me, but my bet is that is will just contain sludge. Egg shells are more organic than you expect. This is why you use stuff like waterglass https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_silicate https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_silicate to seal them.
- mulmen 1y ago> Egg shells are more organic than you expect. I expect them to be completely organic. What else would they be?
- fifilura 1y agoMostly calcium carbonate.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- parl_match 1y agonamespace collision: to the layperson, it's organic because it came from an organism. from a chemical perspective, it's considered non-organic i admit i read ops comment and was confused for a second until it clicked. they're mostly calcium carbonate
- mulmen 1y agoI wondered about that but then in context wasn’t sure of the relevance. I’m aware that even fresh eggs are somewhat porous and wouldn’t expect the contents to last beyond a week before beginning to break down.
- foxyv 1y agoCalcium carbonate. So a salt I guess?
- mulmen 1y agoSo eggs shells are less organic than I would think.
- ars 1y agoI think they should not pierce it, but instead leave it for future humans to study.
- timschmidt 1y agoForbidden breakfast!
- teruakohatu 1y agoScience funding requires doing something. Nobody funds you to not do something. Regardless of getting funding, I don't see why our level of technology is not adequate to study an egg.
- sdwr 1y agoIt might be the only 1700 year old egg in the world. Surely the prudent thing to do is wait some fraction of its age (200 years?) and reevaluate. What are the chances that, out of all of history, now is the best time to open it?
- lazide 1y agoIt’s already been removed from it’s protective environment and will degrade long before 200 years.
- yumraj 1y agoDepending on how you look at it, the ones studying it are future humans.
- creatonez 1y agoDon't worry, I'll find another one
- nyanpasu64 1y agoThe eggshell looks like a century egg, but as mentioned by the comment the contents may have decomposed if the mud wasn't alkaline like the century egg production process.
- phinnaeus 1y agoIt’s a 17 century egg, to be precise
- anshumankmr 1y agoI dare them to make an omelette wit that.
- fsckboy 1y ago>Scientists are eager to use DNA testing to establish the species that laid the egg how much DNA is in an egg, isn't it just a single cell with a single nucleus? and if unfertilized is haploid?
- fbn79 1y agoIn addition to the single nucleus the egg can contains trace of DNA from the mother
- mseepgood 1y agoOf course they are going to break it.
- kubb 1y ago[flagged]
- speerer 1y agoWhat's your definition of a scientist? I wonder if many of history's greatest scientists might fail to meet it.
- jessekv 1y ago"Scientist" is cool, but personally I would call myself a "forensic archeologist" if I had this gig.
- viciousvoxel 1y agoIt's usually just called archaeology or perhaps biomolecular archaeology. Forensic archaeology is a bit different, and it usually pertains to humans and their crimes.
- viciousvoxel 1y agoThis is actually my wife's job/area of research, except typically they use the eggshell proteins to determine taxonomy. It's extremely rare that DNA survives in these types of samples but the proteins are preserved in the eggshell's mineral matrix.
- slow123_ 1y agoduke dennis must’ve saved the egg for breakfast but forgot about it loll
- shrx 1y agoI wonder why they don't put it in a CT scanner first before breaking it.
- Cyphase 1y ago> A Micro CT scan showed that this ancient egg is still full of liquid. > “Researchers are planning to carefully extract the liquid to better study it,” stated Edward Biddulph, Senior Project Manager, who oversaw the site excavation. “It’s a controlled process similar to egg blowing, where a tiny hole is made in its shell after creating a 3D model.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-ray_microtomography https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-ray_microtomography
- metalman 1y agoI think it is a mistake not to cut the top off the egg and just look inside as ancient egg shell has no value after it drys out and the visual information may be unique,so off with its top, and then take samples of the "liquid" and the inner shell lining, if it's present, and then see if there is any remaining structure of an embryo or the egg as laid.
- shrx 1y agoApologies, apparently I missed this part in the article since the large ad banner immediately next to it distracted me.
- robofanatic 1y agoStory of an egg that never hatched.
- knighthack 1y agoI'm willing to bet there's a dragon in that egg.