[HN Gopher] 1,700 year old egg never broke
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1,700 year old egg never broke
Author : demadog
Score : 83 points
Date : 2025-04-14 17:32 UTC (4 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.atlasobscura.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.atlasobscura.com)
| fifilura wrote:
| I 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 to seal them.
| mulmen wrote:
| > Egg shells are more organic than you expect.
|
| I expect them to be completely organic. What else would they
| be?
| fifilura wrote:
| Mostly calcium carbonate.
| parl_match wrote:
| namespace 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
| foxyv wrote:
| Calcium carbonate. So a salt I guess?
| ars wrote:
| I think they should not pierce it, but instead leave it for
| future humans to study.
| timschmidt wrote:
| Forbidden breakfast!
| teruakohatu wrote:
| 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.
| yumraj wrote:
| Depending on how you look at it, the ones studying it are
| future humans.
| nyanpasu64 wrote:
| 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.
| phinnaeus wrote:
| It's a 17 century egg, to be precise
| anshumankmr wrote:
| I dare them to make an omelette wit that.
| a3w wrote:
| Can't make science without breaking an egg!
| foreigner wrote:
| Fry it up with bog butter!
| fsckboy wrote:
| > _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 wrote:
| In addition to the single nucleus the egg can contains trace of
| DNA from the mother
| mseepgood wrote:
| Of course they are going to break it.
| slow123_ wrote:
| duke dennis must've saved the egg for breakfast but forgot about
| it loll
| shrx wrote:
| I wonder why they don't put it in a CT scanner first before
| breaking it.
| Cyphase wrote:
| > 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
| metalman wrote:
| I 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 wrote:
| Apologies, apparently I missed this part in the article since
| the large ad banner immediately next to it distracted me.
| coldpie wrote:
| Install an ad blocker, friend!
| efilife wrote:
| ublock origin to be specific
| robofanatic wrote:
| Story of an egg that never hatched.
| knighthack wrote:
| I'm willing to bet there's a dragon in that egg.
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