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Scientists Discover Why the Cookie Crumbles

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."

9 of 67 comments (clear)

  1. Welcome ! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I, for one, welcome our new Keebler elf overlords.

  2. Hmm... by Frambooz · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...wet cookie contest...

    --
    No encryption can withstand the power of the Lucky Guess.
  3. 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
  4. "It's very exciting," he added. by s88 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Sir, you and I differ greatly on our definition of "exciting".

  5. 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.
  6. 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...

  7. funding by Tumbleweed · · Score: 3, Funny

    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!

  8. 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

  9. 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."