+
Sign up for
The Upworthiest
Our top stories of the day delivered straight to your inbox.
Science

When you twist an Oreo, why does the ‘cream’ always stick to one side? MIT has the answer.

One of the world's greatest mysteries has finally been solved.

oreo cookie, oreo twist, how to eat oreo
via Mike Mozart/Flickr

Delicious Oreo cookies.

There are a lot of snack foods people eat ritualistically. When I get a Twix bar I like to eat the caramel or peanut butter topping first and then the cookie wafer second. The cookie part is so delicious that I have to savor it by itself.

Some folks have a ritual with Reese's peanut butter cups where they eat the top layer of chocolate and then swipe out the peanut butter center with their tongue.

When it comes to Oreo cookies, few people eat the cookie all at once. Many prefer to deconstruct the cookie by twisting the black wafer sides and then licking out the creme off of each side. Part of the fun is attempting to twist the cookie and have an even amount of creme on each side of the wafer—a feat that is nearly impossible.

(Note: The white center of an Oreo cookie is made with what Nabisco refers to as “creme,” not cream because it isn’t made with any dairy.)

People have been perplexed for decades over why almost all of the creme always ends up sticking to one side of the separated cookie. The phenomenon is so mysterious that the brilliant minds at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) took up the monumental task of pursuing the answer.

“When I was little, I tried twisting wafers to split the cream evenly between the wafers so there’s some on both halves — which in my opinion tastes much better than having one wafer with a lot of creme and one with almost none. This was hard to do when I was trying it by hand,” Crystal Owens, lead author of a study published Tuesday in the journal American Institute of Physics and a researcher in mechanical engineering at MIT, said according to CBS Boston.

“There’s the fascinating problem of trying to get the creme to distribute evenly between the two wafers, which turns out to be really hard,” says Max Fan, an undergraduate in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering.

To figure out why the creme always sticks to one side, researchers developed the Oreometer, a device that rotates and splits the cookie with an identical amount of torque on each wafer. Researchers found that the amount of torque needed to split a cookie was equivalent to the pressure needed to twist a doorknob.

via Physics of Fluids

The team subjected the cookies to standard rheology tests and found that the creme center almost always stuck to just one side of the cookie. The only time they could get the creme to be distributed evenly is when the box of cookies was older.

The researchers realized that the dominant wafer is determined when the cookie is manufactured.

“Videos of the manufacturing process show that they put the first wafer down, then dispense a ball of cream onto that wafer before putting the second wafer on top,” Owens said. “Apparently that little time delay may make the cream stick better to the first wafer.”

Mystery solved.

The good news is that if you‘ve been trying for years to master the perfect twist that results in evenly distributed creme and failed, you’re not the problem, it’s the cookie. The odds were stacked against you and you didn’t know it.

From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web
cookies
Badge
P&G
Proctor and Gamble
Joy

Know someone doing major good in the world? Share their story and win $1,000 for charity with Upworthy & P&G’s #ActsOfGood Awards

Do good. Win big for the charity of your choice.

True

In a flurry of heavy headlines that constantly inundate our feeds, acts of good connect us back to our faith in humanity. Witnessing just one person go out of their way to make the world a better place is a powerful healing salve against apathy. It reminds us all of what we are collectively capable of creating. This is the philosophy that Upworthy wholeheartedly believes in, hence why we’re always sharing uplifting stories of people giving kindness, generosity and support to their fellow humans.

That’s also why we’re partnering with P&G, the maker of some of our favorite household products like Tide, Always and Pampers, to bring you the 2023 Acts of Good Awards, and celebrate the individuals who are giving back and strengthening their communities.

Think of it like the Oscars of kindness. Half as formal but twice as feel-good.

Besides providing the world with brands we know and trust, P&G is a company doing good acts, whether it’s supporting hygiene education, helping struggling communities gain access to basic necessities or delivering essentials for families impacted by disasters.

Keep ReadingShow less
acts of good
Health

Psychologist explains why everyone feels exhausted right now and it makes so much sense

Psychologist Naomi Holdt beautifully explained what's behind the overarching exhaustion people are feeling and it makes perfect sense.

Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash

It seems like most people are feeling wiped out these days. There's a reason for that.

We're about to wrap up year three of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it's been a weird ride, to say the least. These years have been hard, frustrating, confusing and tragic, and yet we keep on keeping on.

Except the keeping on part isn't quite as simple as it sounds. Despite the fact that COVID-19 is still wreaking havoc, we've sort of collectively decided to move on, come what may. This year has been an experiment in normalcy, but one without a testable hypothesis or clear design. And it's taken a toll. So many people are feeling tired, exhausted, worn thin ("like butter scraped over too much bread," as Bilbo Baggins put it) these days.

But why?

Keep ReadingShow less
psychology
Pop Culture

Christopher Walken's unique noises in 25 movies, all perfectly spliced into a single music video

There is no one quite like Christopher Walken.

via Del Calloway/YouTube

A collection of Christopher Walken's most iconic moments on film

Christopher Walken has had a very unique career. He won the Academy Award for his dramatic performance in “The Deer Hunter” and gave scene-stealing performances in “Pulp Fiction” and “True Romance.” But he’s also known for his brilliant comedic performances in “Wedding Crashers” and the iconic “More Cowbell” sketch from “Saturday Night Live.”

Walken’s unique speaking style has also made him a popular target for impressionists. He attributes his accent to growing up in Queens, New York, and hanging out with immigrants learning English.

However, you don’t want to impersonate Walken in front of Walken.

Keep ReadingShow less
christopher walken
Pop Culture

Hairstylist shares difference between Gen Z and Millennial salon goers with hilarious accuracy

It all comes down to "Hey girl" vs "Hey queen!"

@rexartistry/TikTok

One generation is way better about taking up space.

While millennials and Gen Zer’s often get lumped together as the “young group,” they are certainly not the same. (Although, it is kind of hard to tell with all the Y2K fashion floating around.)

But speaking as a millennial, we definitely have different approaches to life, a lot of which seems to come down to a sense of self-assuredness. That goes for shopping, socializing, self expression…and even going to the hair salon, apparently.

Alexis Rex (@rex.artistry), hairstylist and owner of Rex Artistry Salon in Maryland, gave a brilliant (and hilarious) demonstration of some key personality differences between her millennial clients and her Gen Z clients in a now viral TikTok video.

Keep ReadingShow less
humor
Pop Culture

Someone questioned the Costco cake ordering system. You do not question the Costco cake system.

Lucy Huber was confronted by the Costco cake brigade when she posted about the antiquated way you have to order.

Photo by Annie Reneau

Costco cakes are huge, cheap and delicious. Every time.

Costco is known for many things—their employee satisfaction and retention, their amazing Kirkland Signature generic brand, their massive (and addictive) $4.99 rotisserie chickens, their never-going-to-raise-the-price $1.50 hot dog and soda meal and more.

But one favorite Costco feature that might just top them all? The Costco cake.

Costco cakes are legendary. If you've never had a Costco cake, I'm so sorry. If you have, then you know. They are the trifecta of awesome—huge, cheap and utterly delicious. I don't even like cake that much and I can't stop eating a Costco cake. Like, if you ordered a fancy cake from a fancy patisserie and it tasted like a Costco cake, you'd say, "Oh yeah, that was worth the $$ I just paid." Only at Costco, you'd get that delicious of a cake that would feed a thousand people for just $25. (Okay, 50 people, but still—cake for days.)

This is why people have a serious loyalty to Costco cakes, which writer Lucy Huber discovered when she dared to question the Costco cake ordering process on Twitter.

Keep ReadingShow less
costco
Identity

Supreme Court uses a transgender woman's pronouns in a landmark decision

In a unanimous decision, the court sided with a transgender Guatemalan woman fighting deportation.

via WEBN-TV/Flickr

The United States Supreme Court

Amidst the backdrop of a passionate cultural debate over transgender rights, the Supreme Court has made a landmark ruling that uses a transgender woman's pronouns and chosen name. A ruling written by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson refers to Estrella Santos-Zacaria, a transgender woman who was given the name Leon Santos-Zacaria and assigned male at birth, as “she.”

The court sided with Santos-Zacaria, 34, in a case centered around a migrant’s rights to appeal a denial of protection from removal from the U.S. The court's unanimous ruling now gives Santos-Zacaria another chance to contest the immigration officials' rejection of her plea to stay in the U.S.

Throughout the 19-page opinion, Jackson used the term “her” to refer to the petitioner seven times and referred to her as “she” in the opening sentence.

Keep ReadingShow less
supreme court
Family

People are sharing the parenting trends that absolutely ‘need to end now’

Here are 21 of the best responses.

via Pexels

Not all trends in parenting are a good thing

It’s tough to quantify whether today’s parents are stricter or more permissive than previous generations, but the overall sentiment seems to be that parents are more lenient than they were a few decades back.

A poll by YouGov found that younger Americans are more likely than their elders to have been raised by “not very strict” or “not at all strict” parents. Thirty-nine percent of under-30s say that their parents weren't very strict or not strict at all, compared to only 15% of over-65s.

Keep ReadingShow less
parenting
Trending Stories