Nerdy Science Blog

There are billions of sperms but only one sperm is allowed to fertilize egg.

Egg is revealed to have more nutritional benefits in many studies presented at Experimental Biology 2009.  Both researchers from University of Connecticut  and University of Kansas Medical Center found that having eggs for breakfast can reduce the consumption of calories throughout the day.  People who eat protein-rich eggs actually feel less hungry and more satisfied.  According to a journal published in 2008’s International Journal of Obesity (1), having eggs for breakfast can help in weight loss.  Researchers from Florida State University also found that eggs do not cause cardiovascular disease.

Reference:

1. Vander Wal JS, Gupta A, Khosla P, and Dhurandhar NV (2008), Egg breakfast enhances weight loss, International Journal of Obesity, 32(10):1545-51.

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Good news for egg-lovers again, researchers do not only prove that eggs do not increase your blood cholesterol, but also link to lowering high blood pressure.

Kaustav Majumber and Jianping Wu at University of Alberta, Canada, discovered that eggs can reduce hypertension.  Eggs reacted like ACE-inhibiting prescription drugs, which lowered the blood pressure.  They discovered that stomach and small intestines reacted by producing proteins when eggs were consumed.  These proteins released react in the body in a similar manner like the blood pressure medication.  Researchers also found that fried eggs had more ACE-like inhibiting activity than boiled eggs.  The discovery was published in American Chemical Association’s Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

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Good news for everyone with high blood cholesterol or those who scare of being one!  Scientists refuted the myth of eggs causing high blood cholesterol.

The study was done by Dr Juliet Gray, Registered Public Health Nutritionist, and Professor Bruce Griffin, Professor of Nutrition Metabolism from the University of Surrey, showing that eggs had small or clinically insignificant effect on blood cholesterol.  The study influenced the British Heart Foundation to remove its eggs intake limitation recommendation.  Food Standards Agency also announced that eggs can be consumed as long as the diet is balanced.

The researcher said that only one third of the cholesterol came from the diet, which was raised by saturated fat, not eggs.  Increase in blood cholesterol can increase the risk of heart disease.  People who are overweight, overweight and lack of body movements are more likely to have high blood cholesterol.

This study may not be good news to everyone, for instant the eggs dealers.  They can’t brand their eggs as “Cholesterol-free” or “Low-Cholesterol” eggs.  Maybe they should link eggs with high blood pressure, and then they can brand the eggs as “Saltless” eggs!

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All you need are:

1. One Glass (big enough to put an egg in, not your shot glass for drinking)
2. One Raw Egg
3. Vinegar

What you need to do:

1. Put the egg in the glass and soak with vinegar. (Make sure it is fully covered by vinegar)
2. Leave them for few hours and you can observe the changing of the egg.
3. When the egg fizz, take it out and squeeze it softly, does it feel like rubber ball?
4. Leave the egg back to the vinegar for another week.
5. After one week, take the egg out and drop it on a bowl, and guess what happen? It bounces!

What are the uses of this simple experiment to do bouncy egg?

• If you are too poor to buy a rubber ball to play.
• You can compete with your friends and see whose eggs bounced higher. (Call the game “who-is-the-ballless-one”)
• You simply just scare your friends with these eggs.
• You can use these eggs during the protest, in stead of breaking all the eggs you throwing at their windows, try to reuse the eggs.

Why is it happening?

The process called ‘decalcification’ occured when the egg soaked in the vinegar. Vinegar (acetic acid) actually reacted with the calcium carbonate of the eggshell. When the egg soaked in the vinegar and began to fizz, it indicated the reaction was happening and vinegar dissolved the eggshell. The reaction is as following

2CH₃COOH (acetic acid a.k.a. vinegar) + CaCO₃ (calcium carbonate a.k.a. eggshell) → H₂O (water) + CO₂ (carbon dioxide, which was the fizz) + Ca(CH₃COO)₂ (Bouny eggshell)

Instead of using egg, you can also try to use bones to do this and give your dog a good bite. Maybe you can make bouncing bones and sell to your local toy stores.

Found this video at metacafe:

Make Amazing Bouncy Egg! – For more amazing video clips, click here(Picture)