Eggs have tons of different sizes, textures, and protective shells, from giant ostrich eggs to squishy fish egg clusters. But, scientifically, they all boil down to the same thing: an egg is just a reproductive cell that can be fertilized by a sperm to make an embryo. This week, we’re cracking the science of eggs wide open!

[Truth or Fail]

Brown trouts:

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150214-fake-orgasms-and-other-sex-lies

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347200915859?via%3Dihub

Octopuses:

https://www.mbari.org/deep-sea-octopus-broods-eggs-for-over-four-years-longer-than-any-known-animal/

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0103437

Trilobites:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170124124905.htm

https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article-abstract/45/3/199/195237/pyritized-in-situ-trilobite-eggs-from-the?redirectedFrom=fulltext

[Fact Off]

Stick insect eggs:

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-05/ku-tsi052318.php

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/10/stick-insects-lure-ants-fatty-knobs

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/05/science/stick-insects-eggs-birds.html

Humsters: 

http://www.stillhq.com/pdfdb/000360/data.pdf

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/mrd.1120230307

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4471-3310-0_5

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1725451

[Ask the Science Couch]

Egg shape: 

https://galapagosconservation.org.uk/whale-shark-reproduction/

https://scripps.ucsd.edu/centers/cmbc/2018/05/15/hydrothermal-vents-incubators-for-deep-sea-skate-egg-cases/

https://books.google.com/books?id=zg1mDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT158&lpg=PT158

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/356/6344/1249

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160304-one-animal-has-more-babies-than-any-other