The chicken is here first!
No, the egg is here first!
Which is which now, tell me!
Which came first, the chicken or the egg? This had been the age-old question often times asked but those asking were not really expecting an answer.
It was asked at times of exasperation, when things didn’t work out or when frustrations rein in over something not done well. It never got responded at all with a proper answer. It can even result in unnecessary arguments and disagreements.
In any case which came first, anyway? There was a news feature a few days ago and the question has now been answered. In case you missed it, here goes,
The chicken came first! Yes, the chicken came first.
The logic was - a chicken can lay an egg but not the other way round,
- a chicken can create an egg but not the other way round
Having come to this premise, scientists would then have to provide an answer that is scientifically acceptable. It has to be proven that it is scientifically possible for ‘ a chicken to create an egg shell to prove it was there first’
Researchers at the Universities of Sheffield and Warwick did just that. They said ‘the answer lies in the egg shell itself’. How so? Specifically it was the discovery of a vital role played by a chicken protein in the formation of the egg shell.
Scientists already knew that the protein vocledidin-17 ( OC-17) plays a part in egg shell formation. The breakthrough came only with some new technology that ‘allowed the team to demonstrate how the protein makes it happen’
In a computer simulation:
1. The OC-17 protein acted as a catalyst to create the formation of crystals that make up an egg shell by clamping itself to some calcium carbonate crystals ( an egg shell is made up largely of calcium carbonate, apparently )
2. The OC-17 protein then drops off when the crystal nucleus gets large enough to grow on its own. It frees the protein to start the process all over again.
Egg shells are created when this is repeated many times. So in conclusion the ability of chickens to create egg shells has proven chickens were there first. The chicken came before the egg.
But nary a while , just wait a minute . Somehow it still leaves one nagging question unanswered and it is very perplexing.
Just where did the chicken come from in the first place?
It beats me!
4 comments:
Dear Hank,
The answer is simple. All things in the Universe and the occupants, seen and unseen are created by the Rabb al-Alamin. If you are in doubt or when there is a nagging question, go to the Book of our Faith which is the Noble Al-Quraan( make sure not the fake one being distbtd from the USA ) and the Traditions of our Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), you can never go wrong.
Dear Hal,
Right on! The faithfuls and the believers are never in doubt. They are aware all along because they believe in it.
Akhi Hank, what Akhi Hal says is indisputable and I fully endorse it. But the issue you posed calls for three levels of discussion - the religious level, the philosophical level and the scientific or wordly level.
The scientists proved things through experiments and research thus coming to the conclusion 'chicken can produce eggs' thru a bio-chemical process. Can an egg produce a chicken? Yes, by the will of Allah - a religious argument. But which is a priori an which a posteriori? A philosophical issue. Can you think of a chicken without egg? Can you think of an egg without a chicken? Your choice provides the basis for a philosophical argument which can go anywhere you want, including that neither chicken nor egg exists without your thinking about them.
Such is life and the level of human existence that we can reach.
Akhi Norzah,
I can well reconcile with the scientific and religious viewpoints.They are more clear-cut and can be justified according to each his own.
The philosophical viewpoint is very interesting however.It can provoke a lengthy discourse for those with like interests and brings the discussion to another level.
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