14 DAY TRIAL // Brainiacs might be a long way from figuring out how to unscramble eggs, but at least they can now take pride in knowing exactly what to do to unboil them. That's right, it looks like unboiling eggs is not some science-fiction scenario, but totally doable.
What's more, turning cooked whites and yolks into liquid, raw eggs does not involve the use of some complicated machinery like the one Dr. Frankenstein used to bring his monster to life. On the contrary, all it takes to do so is adding a few very special chemicals to them.
How to unboil an egg, as explained by science
In a paper published in yesterday's issue of the journal ChemBioChem, researchers with the University of California, Irvine in the US explain that whenever we boil an egg what happens is that the heat causes the proteins in it to get tangled and form clumps.
To undo this process, the scientists developed a method to make these protein clumps inside boiled eggs break apart. As a result, the boiled hen eggs that the researchers experimented on turned from being solids to being liquids once more.
Apart from adding these chemicals, described as an urea substance that works by chewing away at the protein clumps, the chemists behind this research project used a so-called vortex fluid device to further force the egg constituents into their proper, untangled form.
“Yes, we have invented a way to unboil a hen egg. In our paper, we describe a device for pulling apart tangled proteins and allowing them to refold,” said Gregory Weiss, professor of chemistry and molecular biology & biochemistry.
“We start with egg whites boiled for 20 minutes at 90 degrees Celsius [194 degrees Fahrenheit] and return a key protein in the egg to working order,” the University of California, Irvine researcher went on to explain in a recent interview.
Not the end of the road for these researchers
In case anyone was wondering, the scientists did not develop this method to unboil eggs just for the fun of it. On the contrary, the specialists say that their innovative method to restore molecular proteins has the potential to forever transform the global biology industry.
Thus, the technique stands to make it easier and more cost effective to produce or recycle molecular proteins of great value for scientific research. This could benefit research into the development of new cancer treatments and even food production.