Posted by
michael
on from the c-is-for-cookie dept.
cdneng2 writes "In these articles from Yahoo,
scientists have discovered how and why a cookie crumbles... and
it has nothing to do with the packaging and how they are
transported. More details in Nature,
and other news articles here."
I, for one, welcome our new Keebler elf overlords.
Who funds these guys?
by
saden1
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
And how did they manage to get grants to do this kind of work? I want some of that money do my research on how toilet paper folds.
--
----- One is born into aristocracy, but mediocrity can only be achieved through hard work.
Re:Who funds these guys?
by
fireduck
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
I saw this on CNN and immediately read the actual article published in the Journal of Measurement Science Technology. (probably need an institutional subscription to access the article.) One of the co-authors works for Campden & Chorleywood Food Research Association, which is presumbly where the funding came from (the sample preparation section mentions that the cookies were baked there).
Obviously companies that are in the business of selling cookies will do research into problems associated with their product. Broken cookies are a big deal. I open my Chips Ahoy and find a bunch of them broken, I'm a bit annoyed. I might even switch to Keebler cookies if there's don't break as much.
Basic experimental method (at least from what I can gather looking at the article). Take cookie, put it in environment with a given humidity and allow to equilibrate. Then transfer to new chamber with different humidity and watch how the cookie swells over time with speckle interferometry measurements to measure displacement and strain (I don't really understand how that part works). From this, determine a hygroscopic expansion coefficient and publish your work in a random journal.
Unfortunately, they really didn't test a variety of cookies and really didn't go into much detail on the type of cookie they did test. Would have been interesting if they did comparitive work between chocolate chip vs. snickerdoodles...
Re:Who funds these guys?
by
bfandreas
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Your question is valid, yet portrais a sad state of science nowadays. It is true that science needs funding. But not all of it promises immediate gain or material increase of the guy who cough up the dough(no pun intended since these guys seem to get money from a cookie manufacturer).
Yet funding comes your way when companies or the military see some merit in what they are paying for. These entities tend to only think VERY short term.
Think of it this way. Who would have paid Newton to sit underneath an apple tree. This little anecdote(true or not) marks the beginning of research of gravity. Something that everybody took for granted. Yet ask the NASA what they would do without the outcome of this line of research. If you ask about the benefit of sending people to the moon, ask the folks who will live a couple of hundred years from now. Satelites should be a no-brainer.
True science resembles art. Not many understand why we need it, yet we would still be sitting in cold caves not wondering why round stones roll down the hill while others don't.
Silly as it may seem, I think that this cookie induced revelation will advance our civilisation and mankind in itsself.
DISCLAIMER: I spent a couple of years partaking in pure science robotics stuff nobody thinks will be usefull. Ever. We shall see. Hooray for BMBF!
-- 20 minutes into the future
Re:Who funds these guys?
by
Walt+Dismal
·
· Score: 3, Funny
I've applied for a DARPA grant to investigate cookies as weapons of mass destruction. My uncle, the general, assures me I'll get at least $5 million from the administration. Subsequent proposals will cover the use of peanut butter breath as a biowarfare agent
Geeks are getting slow
by
Winterblink
·
· Score: 3, Funny
We nerds should have had this researched years ago. Who leaves cookie research to scientists!? There are hundred page sites out there detailing the physical changes adverse environments cause on peeps and twinkies, and yet nothing done about the lowly cookie.
-- "I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
"It's very exciting," he added.
by
s88
·
· Score: 3, Funny
Sir, you and I differ greatly on our definition of "exciting".
that's why the cookie crumbles...what about how?
by
Longshanks197
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
if they could figure out how the cookie crumbles; that would be something.
-- "You have the right to free speech...as long as, you aren't dumb enough to actually try it." - The Clash
Re:This is research?
by
FroMan
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Lets see, not to put down the "scientists" who have discovered why cookies crumble, but do you really think this group is the one that will discover the cure for AIDS if they had not been working on cookie discoveries?
With that in mind, I assume all of your resources are going to find a cure for AIDS? But wait! This gets better, AIDS is not the number one killer in the US. So, maybe we should say, "Hey scientists... Cancer! We still have cancer!" Or maybe something else.
I love on slashdot how everytime someone works on something that the slashbot doesn't think is noble enough of a cause they come up with what cause they should have been working on.
Maybe you should stop reading slashdot and go find a cure for AIDS...
-- Norris/Palin 2012
Fact: We deserve leaders who can kick your ass and field dress your carcass.
Yeah, and I want to do a study to find out if the Hokey Pokey really IS what it's all about. That could take awhile...Oh, and how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop! Whether toast always lands butter-side down, and the side study of what happens when you strap a piece of toast on the back of a cat and drop it (butter-side facing up as mounted on said feline).
Hmm, "A Study on the Yaw Effects of Hydrolized Bovine Mammary Gland Extract-Coated, Exothermically-Excited Wheat-Based Modules as Mounted on Domesticated Felines."
Yes, that should be good for a few hundred grand, at least!
> Mr. Owl said that it takes 3 licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop!
I've found his research methodology seriously lacking.
Re:As they say over on Fark...
by
NanoGator
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
"...still no cure for cancer."
I hate stupid comments like this. Research of cancer doesn't go faster if you add more people to it, especially if those people have no qualifications or background to do it.
-- "Derp de derp."
Re:As they say over on Fark...
by
NanoGator
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
"The problem is that there's good money being thrown at this kind of stuff (for example, testing the viscosity of ketchup - there's a boon to mankind) when it could be spent in much better ways."
Fundamental stuff has to be understoood. I'm sorry you lost family members to cancer, however, there's no telling what all will need to be understood in order to cure it or anything else.
We live in a diverse, colorful world. Remember that.
-- "Derp de derp."
at the risk of sounding a flame...
by
bninja_penguin
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
I've lost members of my family to cancer
I too, have lost family members to cancer. I've also lost family members to gunfire(seriously), old age, heart attacks, etc. It sucks, but face it: No one gets out of this life alive.
So, maybe what the point of my post is, anything that works to improve the quality of life is way more important than working to improve the quantity of life. That said, both researching a cure for cancer and researching how/why/whatever a cookie crumbles are both noble causes.
So, think of me what you will, in 75 to 100 years, we will both be dead and who cares then?
-- For those who describe their systems as 'boxen', do you order multiple 'boxen' of corn flakes also?
Slashdot Mirror
I, for one, welcome our new Keebler elf overlords.
And how did they manage to get grants to do this kind of work? I want some of that money do my research on how toilet paper folds.
-----
One is born into aristocracy, but mediocrity can only be achieved through hard work.
...wet cookie contest...
No encryption can withstand the power of the Lucky Guess.
We nerds should have had this researched years ago. Who leaves cookie research to scientists!? There are hundred page sites out there detailing the physical changes adverse environments cause on peeps and twinkies, and yet nothing done about the lowly cookie.
"I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
Sir, you and I differ greatly on our definition of "exciting".
if they could figure out how the cookie crumbles; that would be something.
"You have the right to free speech...as long as, you aren't dumb enough to actually try it." - The Clash
Lets see, not to put down the "scientists" who have discovered why cookies crumble, but do you really think this group is the one that will discover the cure for AIDS if they had not been working on cookie discoveries?
With that in mind, I assume all of your resources are going to find a cure for AIDS? But wait! This gets better, AIDS is not the number one killer in the US. So, maybe we should say, "Hey scientists... Cancer! We still have cancer!" Or maybe something else.
I love on slashdot how everytime someone works on something that the slashbot doesn't think is noble enough of a cause they come up with what cause they should have been working on.
Maybe you should stop reading slashdot and go find a cure for AIDS...
Norris/Palin 2012
Fact: We deserve leaders who can kick your ass and field dress your carcass.
Yeah, and I want to do a study to find out if the Hokey Pokey really IS what it's all about. That could take awhile...Oh, and how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop! Whether toast always lands butter-side down, and the side study of what happens when you strap a piece of toast on the back of a cat and drop it (butter-side facing up as mounted on said feline).
Hmm, "A Study on the Yaw Effects of Hydrolized Bovine Mammary Gland Extract-Coated, Exothermically-Excited Wheat-Based Modules as Mounted on Domesticated Felines."
Yes, that should be good for a few hundred grand, at least!
"...still no cure for cancer."
I hate stupid comments like this. Research of cancer doesn't go faster if you add more people to it, especially if those people have no qualifications or background to do it.
"Derp de derp."
"The problem is that there's good money being thrown at this kind of stuff (for example, testing the viscosity of ketchup - there's a boon to mankind) when it could be spent in much better ways."
Fundamental stuff has to be understoood. I'm sorry you lost family members to cancer, however, there's no telling what all will need to be understood in order to cure it or anything else.
We live in a diverse, colorful world. Remember that.
"Derp de derp."
I've lost members of my family to cancer
I too, have lost family members to cancer. I've also lost family members to gunfire(seriously), old age, heart attacks, etc.
It sucks, but face it:
No one gets out of this life alive.
So, maybe what the point of my post is, anything that works to improve the quality of life is way more important than working to improve the quantity of life. That said, both researching a cure for cancer and researching how/why/whatever a cookie crumbles are both noble causes.
So, think of me what you will, in 75 to 100 years, we will both be dead and who cares then?
For those who describe their systems as 'boxen', do you order multiple 'boxen' of corn flakes also?
And that's the way the cookie crumbles.
George Bush + Linux = "I will not let information get in the way of the fight against Windows"