Happy Easter everyone! As the bank holiday draws near we thought we'd leave you with a little seasonal news about how egg shells are being investigated as a new material for, um, protecting eggs. I think the phrase here is meta.
復活節快樂！假期將至，讓我們討論一些應節的話題：“復活”蛋。我們不打算探討“先有雞蛋還是先有雞”這個古老的邏輯悖論，不過情況也夠複雜了－－有人準備用雞蛋殼這種新材料來...唔...保護雞蛋。
復活節快樂！假期將至，讓我們討論一些應節的話題：“復活”蛋。我們不打算探討“先有雞蛋還是先有雞”這個古老的邏輯悖論，不過情況也夠複雜了－－有人準備用雞蛋殼這種新材料來...唔...保護雞蛋。
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| 蛋蛋蛋！ |
So yes, egg shells surround the egg, either protecting a growing chick embryo or the makings of a yummy breakfast, but they aren’t all that great. After all, we don’t buy eggs and just chuck them in our shopping bags without the protection of an egg box do we? Egg shells are brittle – they’re mainly calcium carbonate held together with a protein matrix, but it’s the starch within the shells that’s relevant for our tale today. The University of Leicester, and more particularly Andrew Abbott’s group of chemists, are now investigating how to extract the glycosaminoglycans in the shells and turn them into starch-based plastics.
是的！蛋殼包裹着雞蛋，保護着裡面茁壯成長的胚胎、也保護着我們美味的早餐。但是它們夠資格嗎？想像一下，要是沒有了外邊那厚厚的保護盒，你敢把雞蛋隨手扔進購物籃裡嗎？雞蛋殼都太脆弱了！它的主要成份是碳酸鈣、這些碳酸鈣又附着在一層蛋白質基底上。而我們今天要介紹的，則是蛋殼裡面的澱粉。英國萊徹斯特大學的化學家－－確切地說，Andrew Abbott課題組－－正在研究從蛋殼中提取糖胺聚糖，並將之轉化為澱粉質塑膠。
Abbott has already created starch based plastics using salts as plasticisers that break up the hydrogen bonding between the glucose rings. So it’s likely that something similar will be used on the extracted glycosaminoglycans.
Abbott已經不是第一次製作澱粉質塑膠了，他們曾用鹽類作為增塑劑，將環狀葡萄糖分子間的氫鍵“切斷”。這一次，如果他們成功提取出糖胺聚糖，大槪也會使用類似的增塑劑。
And why egg shells? Well, because the food industry uses millions of eggs and creates tonnes and tonnes of waste in the form of egg shells. Leicester firm Just Egg, for example, sends about 480 tonnes of egg shells to landfill every year, at a cost of around £30,000. So saving money and reducing oil based plastic consumption sounds like a doubly good idea. The ultimate in recycling – turning eggs’ protective shells into protective packaging for eggs.
為甚麼要用雞蛋殼呢？我們知道，食品加工廠無時無刻都在用雞蛋，產生數一噸又一噸的廢棄雞蛋殼。單單是萊徹斯特的Just Egg生產工廠，每年就花費了30,000英鎊，將480噸蛋殼運往堆填區。用雞蛋殼生產塑膠，既能省錢，又能節約石油資源（科普一下，我們身邊的塑膠、橡膠、合成纖維基本都來自石油，不要以為是從樹上割下來的），一舉兩得，真不錯！回到剛開始那個邏輯悖論：用保護雞蛋的蛋殼，生產保護雞蛋的包裝盒。（＠＠）
Mumble mumble, reborn, mumble mumble…
吃掉、扔掉、復活、再吃、再扔、再復活......“復活”蛋，很好很應節！
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