Australian Scientist Un-boils An Egg And Wins Ig Nobel Prize

No, it’s not the Nobel Prize, it’s the Ig Nobel Prize and its awarded to scientists of a different kind. The Ig Nobel Prize is set up for scientists who make people “laugh, and then think”

This years chemistry recipient is an Australian scientist and his team at Flinders University. 

What did they do? 

Professor Colin Raston and his team have been awarded the Ig Nobel Prize for essentially un-boiling an egg. 

They achieved this feat with a machine, called the Vortex Fluidic Device (VFD), which can return egg whites to their natural state.

Announced in early 2015, Raston and his team were able to use the device to unravel the proteins in the white of a hard-boiled egg, returning them to their active, clear state, according to Flinders University. 

The achievement is particularly helpful to the pharmaceutical industry. “The global pharmaceutical industry alone is worth $160 billion annually and the processing of proteins is central to it,” Raston said in a statement. “The VFD is completely changing it — and is set to do the same for the fuel and food industries. It’s impossible to place a price on the value of this device.”

“It’s not what we set out to do, to unboil an egg, but it’s the way of explaining the science involved and helping the wider world realise the momentousness of it,” he added.

Check out the video of the VFD below.