I expect them to be completely organic. What else would they be?
fifilura 5 hours ago [-]
Mostly calcium carbonate.
nyanpasu64 8 hours ago [-]
The 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.
robofanatic 56 minutes ago [-]
Story of an egg that never hatched.
fsckboy 7 hours 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 6 hours ago [-]
In addition to the single nucleus the egg can contains trace of DNA from the mother
shrx 5 hours ago [-]
I wonder why they don't put it in a CT scanner first before breaking it.
shrx 2 hours ago [-]
Apologies, apparently I missed this part in the article since the large ad banner immediately next to it distracted me.
Cyphase 4 hours 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.”
I think they should not pierce it, but instead leave it for future humans to study.
teruakohatu 2 hours ago [-]
Science 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.
timschmidt 8 hours ago [-]
Forbidden breakfast!
kubb 6 hours ago [-]
[flagged]
viciousvoxel 1 hours ago [-]
This 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.
speerer 6 hours ago [-]
What's your definition of a scientist?
I wonder if many of history's greatest scientists might fail to meet it.
jessekv 4 hours ago [-]
"Scientist" is cool, but personally I would call myself a "forensic archeologist" if I had this gig.
viciousvoxel 1 hours ago [-]
It's usually just called archaeology or perhaps biomolecular archaeology. Forensic archaeology is a bit different, and it usually pertains to humans and their crimes.
slow123_ 6 hours ago [-]
duke dennis must’ve saved the egg for breakfast but forgot about it loll
Rendered at 14:05:47 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) with Vercel.
Egg shells are more organic than you expect.
This is why you use stuff like waterglass https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_silicate to seal them.
I expect them to be completely organic. What else would they be?
how much DNA is in an egg, isn't it just a single cell with a single nucleus? and if unfertilized is haploid?
> “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
Regardless of getting funding, I don't see why our level of technology is not adequate to study an egg.
I wonder if many of history's greatest scientists might fail to meet it.