Australian-US scientists invent way to “unboil a boiled egg”

Scientists have developed a groundbreaking technique to unboil an egg and restore its liquid form. It involves refolding proteins and may reduce costs of cancer treatments as well as re-using valuable molecular proteins that go waste today.

UCI professor chemistry and molecular biology and biochemistry Gregory Weiss and colleagues from University of California-Irvine and the University of Western Australia used a urea substance and a machine called vortex fluid device to refold the tangled proteins and re-create a clear protein known as lysozyme. “We start with egg whites boiled for 20 minutes at 90 degrees Celsius and return a key protein in the egg to working order,” Weiss explained. The new method takes only a few minutes to give results.