Science finds a new way to unboil an egg

Chemistry major Stephan Kudlacek, who worked with Professor Weiss to develop the technique.

There is, as it turns out, more than one way to unboil an egg -- and the new way carries great potential for the development of pharmaceuticals.

As chemist and molecular gastronomy giant Hervé This discovered some years ago, it is, indeed, possible to unboil an egg.

When you put an egg in boiling water, the heat breaks the bonds that hold together the protein's amino acid strings. As the heat rises, these strings then form new, stronger bonds, forcing out the water and hardening the contents of the egg; though, because of differing fat content, the process takes slightly longer for the yolk than the albumen.

As This discovered, these proteins can once again become detached with the addition of a substance like sodium borohydride; applying it to the egg will cause it to reliquefy over the course of about three hours. Though interesting, this serves no practical purpose.

However, a new way to "unboil" a key protein in egg whites, discovered by researchers at the University of California, Irvine, and Flinders University in South Australia, could drastically reduce the costs of biotechnology.