The Daily Telegraph: The answer to a question thousands of students ask their parents during their first week at university "how do I boil an egg?" , may soon have an electronic answer thanks to new "self timing" eggs. The new eggs, which will appear in UK supermarkets, have "thermochromic" invisible ink, printed on the shell. When the egg reaches a certain temperature, the ink becomes visible, letting the cook know that the eggs are ready. The eggs will come in cartons marked soft (three minutes), medium (four minutes) or hard (seven minutes).

Alternately, Exeter physicist Charles D.H. Williams, has created a web site for his students entitled The Science of Boiling an Egg which explains how you can use a formula to calculate the boiling time for a soft-boiled egg, given its weight and initial temperature.