Scientists conclude the age-old debate that the chicken came before the egg

Scientists have now claimed to have cracked the riddle of whether the chicken or the egg came first. The answer, they say, is the chicken.

Researchers found that the formation of egg shells relies on a protein found only in a chicken’s ovaries. Therefore, an egg can exist only if it has been inside a chicken.⁠

⁠The protein – called ovocledidin-17, or OC-17 – acts as a catalyst to speed up the development of the shell. This hard shell is essential to house the yolk and its protective fluids while the chick develops inside.⁠

Scientists from Sheffield and Warwick universities used a supercomputer to ‘zoom in’ on the formation of an egg. The computer called HECToR and based in Edinburgh, revealed that OC-17 is crucial in kick-starting crystallization – the early stages of the creation of a shell.⁠

So now you know.