, Feb. 15 -- Scientists say they've cracked the code for boiling the perfect egg.

It's a recipe you can test for yourself - though the timing isn't ideal with soaring egg prices in the United States from a bird flu outbreak.

The perfect boiled egg has a velvety yolk paired with a soft, solid white.

Achieving this balance can be a challenge because the yolk cooks at a lower temperature than the white. Hard boiling an egg can yield a chalky yolk, while cooking low and slow can produce jelly-like, undercooked whites.

Researchers cooked hundreds of eggs and used math to tackle this runny conundrum. One equation dealt with how heat travels between a hot surface and an egg; another captured how the egg's contents morph from liquid to solid ...