--- title: Which Came First? The Egg. description: An answer to the age-old question canonical: https://time.com/3418718/which-came-first-the-egg/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-22T16:40:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:07:42.391Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Which Came First? The Egg. og:description: An answer to the age-old question og:url: https://time.com/3418718/which-came-first-the-egg/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Which Came First? The Egg. twitter:description: An answer to the age-old question twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Which Came First? The Egg. by [Milo Sumner / Lost At E Minor](https://time.com/author/lost-at-e-minor-zolton-zavos/) ## Milo Sumner / Lost At E Minor Sep 22, 2014 4:40 PM UTC by [Milo Sumner / Lost At E Minor](https://time.com/author/lost-at-e-minor-zolton-zavos/) ## Milo Sumner / Lost At E Minor Sep 22, 2014 4:40 PM UTC  _This_ [_article_](http://www.lostateminor.com/2014/09/22/chicken-egg-answers-last/) _originally appeared on Lost at E Minor._ Forgot world peace, poverty and climate change. All these problems pale in comparison to an age old question that has plagued mankind since mankind had the brains to be plagued by such things. That question is: what came first, the chicken or the egg? If like us, you’ve sat around with your clever hat on arguing with your friends that you’ve solved the millennia old conundrum, then perhaps it’s time you thought again. Then again, you could pick either the chicken or the egg and you’d have a fifty fifty chance of being right. But if you want to know the why’s and the how’s then you gotta watch this explanatory short video by [ASAP Science](https://www.youtube.com/user/AsapSCIENCE). (via [Twisted Sifter](http://twistedsifter.com/videos/why-the-egg-came-first/)) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3418718/which-came-first-the-egg/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3418718/which-came-first-the-egg/"},"headline":"Which Came First? The Egg.","datePublished":"2014-09-22T16:40:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:07:42.391Z","description":"An answer to the age-old question","url":"https://time.com/3418718/which-came-first-the-egg/","keywords":["Science topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Milo Sumner / Lost At E Minor"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3418718/which-came-first-the-egg/","name":"Which Came First? The Egg."}}]}] ```