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Comment by bilsbie | Hacker News Reader

I never bought into the egg thing. There’s clearly a distinct cell in the center that’s going to divide and grow inside the egg. The egg itself isn’t undergoing mitosis.

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I had to go look this up, as I had heard the egg thing my whole life and just accepted it.

It turns out the oocyte is the single cell inside the egg, which for birds is significantly larger than a typical cell. So in that respect, the cell in a bird egg is very large. However, compared to the egg itself, it's tiny. The yolk and whites in the egg are all to provide nutrients as it grows, if fertilized.

The yolk is an energy/vitamin source, not a 'cell'. The division happens outside the yolk.

From Wikipedia:

> The yolk is not living cell material like protoplasm, but largely passive material

One of the fascinating things about biology I think is this - that if the cells of your body were the size of an egg, they'd be way, way too big and you'd probably die.

I also find it interesting that if your spleen were to go prompt critical, it would irradiate you and you'd probably die. That is my favorite fact about nuclear physics.

What does that even mean? :D

Wouldn't this be true about any organ?

Another fun fact: if your ears were tomatoes, you'd be deaf.

For sure. You should definitely avoid bioaccumulating fissionable radionuclides in your spleen, not even a tiny amount if you can help it.

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