Date: March 30, 2018
Source: McGill University
How is it that fertilized chicken
eggs manage to resist fracture from the outside, while at the same time, are
weak enough to break from the inside during chick hatching? It's all in the
eggshell's nanostructure, according to a new study led by McGill University
scientists.
The findings, reported today
in Science Advances, could have important implications for food safety in
the agro-industry.
Birds have benefited from
millions of years of evolution to make the perfect eggshell, a thin, protective
biomineralized chamber for embryonic growth that contains all the nutrients
required for the growth of a baby chick. The shell, being not too strong, but
also not too weak (being "just right" Goldilocks might say), is resistant
to fracture until it's time for hatching.
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