• Scientists have figured out how to unboil an egg.
    36 replies, posted
[QUOTE][QUOTE][IMG]http://fm.cnbc.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/img/editorial/2015/01/23/102364539-egg.530x298.jpg?v=1422039235[/IMG][/QUOTE] Scientists have figured out how to unboil an egg. As anyone who has ever cooked one knows, egg "whites" are clear until they are cooked. Egg whites are high in protein, and when they cook, the proteins start to unfold, and then fold back up in a tighter, more tangled structure. This is why they go from being clear and mucus-like to white and rubbery. Researchers at the University of California, Irvine, and Flinders University in Australia have figured out a process that can pull apart the tangled proteins allowing them to refold and return to their original structure. There are two steps to the process: first, the team used a substance that liquefied the cooked egg white, and then they used a machine called a vortex fluidic device, developed by Colin Raston and his colleagues at Flinders University in Australia, which causes the tangled protein molecules to shear and refold normally. Source: [url]http://www.cnbc.com/id/102364302#[/url].[/QUOTE]
While it's fascinating that they did this why would someone want to unboil an egg? Did a scientist one morning while boiling their eggs think "you know what I changed my mind I want fried"
Finally, I can order my eggs raw
[QUOTE=EuSKalduna;47012207]While it's fascinating that they did this why would someone want to unboil an egg? Did a scientist one morning while boiling their eggs think "you know what I changed my mind I want fried"[/QUOTE] I hear they're working on a way to get them back into chickens so they can be fertilised
[QUOTE=Maloof?;47012229]I hear they're working on a way to get them back into chickens so they can be fertilised[/QUOTE] I wonder if it would actually be possible to boil a fertilized egg, unboil it and then hatch it into a healthy chick.
[QUOTE=EuSKalduna;47012207]While it's fascinating that they did this why would someone want to unboil an egg? Did a scientist one morning while boiling their eggs think "you know what I changed my mind I want fried"[/QUOTE] There's other applications for unfucking proteins.
[QUOTE=V12US;47012261]I wonder if it would actually be possible to boil a fertilized egg, unboil it and then hatch it into a healthy chick.[/QUOTE] nope
[QUOTE=EuSKalduna;47012207]While it's fascinating that they did this why would someone want to unboil an egg? Did a scientist one morning while boiling their eggs think "you know what I changed my mind I want fried"[/QUOTE] Just an example for refolding denaturated proteins.
[QUOTE=EuSKalduna;47012207]While it's fascinating that they did this why would someone want to unboil an egg? Did a scientist one morning while boiling their eggs think "you know what I changed my mind I want fried"[/QUOTE] If the conversations I have with my professors are of any indication, a lot of scientific progress comes about effectively as bets and intellectual jousting. It's utterly ridiculous. I also love every moment of it.
[QUOTE=sltungle;47012644]If the conversations I have with my professors is of any indication, a lot of scientific progress comes about effectively as bets and intellectual jousting. It's utterly ridiculous. I also love every moment of it.[/QUOTE] I just have this mental image of a bunch of people in lab coats eating in a canteen and one of them out fo the blue is like "Hey Frank, betcha can't unboil this egg!" and Frank accepts the bet and here we are
[QUOTE=EuSKalduna;47012655]I just have this mental image of a bunch of people in lab coats eating in a canteen and one of them out fo the blue is like "Hey Frank, betcha can't unboil this egg!" and Frank accepts the bet and here we are[/QUOTE] Well I'm not sure if that's how biology and chemistry departments work, but it's certainly how the physics department seems to work. I would imagine it's probably somewhat similar.
It wouldn't be surprising as anything creative that humanity does usually starts with "hey moron, bet you can't do this" and said moron proceeds to spend the next 20 years of his life trying to do it until he suceeds just to prove that asshole wrong.
Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems like they cheated by liquifying it in a machine
[QUOTE=Sasupoika;47012291]There's other applications for unfucking proteins.[/QUOTE] I remember that one of my high school science teachers tried to use protein denaturation in egg whites as an example for what'll happen to you if you fuck up in a lab and burn yourself with fire/acid. She kinda' stumbled a whole ton during the lead in, but it basically came down to "Look, you can't un-cook an egg, okay?" I kinda' want to send this to her and be like "But you [i]can[/i] un-cook an egg now!"
[QUOTE=Sableye;47013487]Correct me if I'm wrong but it seems like they cheated by liquifying it in a machine[/QUOTE] How is it cheating if they unfolded the proteins? That was the goal they set and achieved.
[QUOTE=EuSKalduna;47012207]While it's fascinating that they did this why would someone want to unboil an egg? Did a scientist one morning while boiling their eggs think "you know what I changed my mind I want fried"[/QUOTE] Because it demonstrates a greater knowledge of protein folding, which is a massive thing in the body, for example there's evidence to suggest that neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimers are essentially a cascading change in the structure and folding of proteins in teh brain, being able to reverse that folding might mean total reversal of Alzheimers.
[QUOTE=Technopath;47012860]It wouldn't be surprising as anything creative that humanity does usually starts with "hey moron, bet you can't do this" and said moron proceeds to spend the next 20 years of his life trying to do it until he suceeds just to prove that asshole wrong.[/QUOTE] Isaac Newton practically invented calculus on a dare ^.^
[QUOTE=Sasupoika;47012291]There's other applications for unfucking proteins.[/QUOTE] You have the perfect avatar for talking about proteins
[QUOTE=EuSKalduna;47012207]While it's fascinating that they did this why would someone want to unboil an egg? Did a scientist one morning while boiling their eggs think "you know what I changed my mind I want fried"[/QUOTE] Being able to unfold proteins would be huge for medical science. Imagine being able to better repair burns and other stuff.
[QUOTE=Maloof?;47012229]I hear they're working on a way to get them back into chickens so they can be fertilised[/QUOTE] There is a whole section of that fetish on the /d/ board on 4chan. At least I heard that from a friend. Yes.
The Ignobel awaits these guys.
Now find a way to rewind the yolk's cooking too, I can [B]never[/B] get it right. I'll buy a vortex fluidic thingamabob and everything.
[QUOTE=mfreyrie;47014139]The Ignobel awaits these guys.[/QUOTE] depending on how many plausible applications we find for this, a Nobel prize may not be out of the question
Forgive me for being incredibly uneducated on the subject, but seeing as prion diseases are essentially misfolded proteins, couldn't this sort of idea be used to cure them?
[QUOTE=Technopath;47012860]It wouldn't be surprising as anything creative that humanity does usually starts with "hey moron, bet you can't do this" and said moron proceeds to spend the next 20 years of his life trying to do it until he suceeds just to prove that asshole wrong.[/QUOTE] That's how Tesla invented the ac motor, his college physics teacher said that I was impossible [editline]26th January 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=Kwigg;47014549]Forgive me for being incredibly uneducated on the subject, but seeing as prion diseases are essentially misfolded proteins, couldn't this sort of idea be used to cure them?[/QUOTE] Depends, they sort of liquified the subject before unfolding the proteins so probably not
[QUOTE=sltungle;47012644]If the conversations I have with my professors are of any indication, a lot of scientific progress comes about effectively as bets and intellectual jousting. It's utterly ridiculous. I also love every moment of it.[/QUOTE] Indeed, lots of discoveries come as the result of what might be termed "play" and not so much "work" which tends to suggest structured tasks in a rigid singular direction.
[QUOTE=Technopath;47012860]It wouldn't be surprising as anything creative that humanity does usually starts with "hey moron, bet you can't do this" and said moron proceeds to spend the next 20 years of his life trying to do it until he suceeds just to prove that asshole wrong.[/QUOTE] [I]Hey moron, I bet you can't make a time machine![/I]
[QUOTE=EuSKalduna;47012207]While it's fascinating that they did this why would someone want to unboil an egg? Did a scientist one morning while boiling their eggs think "you know what I changed my mind I want fried"[/QUOTE] It's more about understanding how to manipulate proteins than it is to just unboil an egg.
[QUOTE=latin_geek;47014145]Now find a way to rewind the yolk's cooking too, I can [B]never[/B] get it right. I'll buy a vortex fluidic thingamabob and everything.[/QUOTE] Don't cook your eggs too high, and just keep poking it with your finger until it's as squishy as you like it. Personally, I go for fully-cooked whites and completely raw yolks, but that's just me. Takes about five minutes per side on low.
[QUOTE=Madtoker;47013683]Isaac Newton practically invented calculus on a dare ^.^[/QUOTE] "I bet you won't get away with plagiarizing this Hanoverian guy."
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