Scientists say they’ve found the ideal way to cook boiled eggs to maximize consistency, taste and nutrients of the egg white and yolk. You can even test it at home.

To test periodic cooking ... While the traditional methods resulted in consistently increasing internal temperatures throughout the egg, the periodic method maintained a constant yolk temperature ...

Eggs with internal spots might be infected with bacteria ... Fresh eggs sink in water. This test is useful for detecting signs of spoilage, especially when there are visible spots.