It's nearly Easter, and if you're anything like me, then your Sunday will play out something like this:

12:02pm: Wake up. Consider changing out of pajamas. Decide against it.
12:17pm: Post-coffee, time to boil eggs for decorating. Begin egg boiling.
12:45pm: What time did the eggs go in? Pretty sure they're done by now.
12:51pm: Cold water bath for eggs, find decorating stuff, get to it!
2:33pm: Done decorating. Admire egg art. Deviled egg time, oh yeah.

Little did I know that Science has a much better recipe for ideal egg boiling (as in one that won't make your eggs taste like rubber). There's even a bonafide scientific formula for creating the absolutely perfect egg:

Easy, right? Everybody likes eggs and pi, after all. But if you're not a rocket scientist, don't worry; the University of Exeter's dedicated egg boiling page breaks it down for us normal citizens, too. Here's what they have to say:

"Many cook books suggest the following for boiling eggs: 3-6 min for a soft yolk, 6-8 min for a medium soft yolk and 8-10 min for a hard yolk. If you are satisfied with this, there is no need for you to continue reading. However, if you are in search of the ultimate boiled egg, you've come to the right place." 

The "right place" involves this graph:

How this will get you the perfect egg: Basically, if your egg is straight out of the fridge, about 14cm at its roundest point, and you want a medium boil, simply follow the red line in the graph above, and voila, cook it for five minutes and 30 seconds. Perfection!

Or not. The Exeter people actually say that you should measure the precise temperature of your boiling water before the egg goes in. If you happen to know your exact altitude and local barometric pressure, you can do that with their handy calculator. Or you could settle on the graph with fancy rainbow colors and call it a day. 

[via Lifehacker]

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