Finding the ultimate solution to a problem is every scientist's dream, as the ensuing Science Kahuna Award attracts great peer reverence and preferential funding. But not everyone can discover the cure for cancer, which is why a whole lot of scientists opt to research other, more mundane things ... like toast or handshakes.

5 Perfect Toast and Pancakes

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You wake up to a new day with a pang of ravenous hunger. It's clear that your normal breakfast of Cheerios and NyQuil isn't going to cut it this time. What you need is some serious carb loading -- a bushel of crunchy, greasy toast or a giant stack of fluffy pancakes. The only problem is your unrealistically high breakfast standards; you're simply too hungover to endure the disappointment of a soggy pancake. Do you have anything, science?

As a matter of fact, yes. There are renegade mathematicians who have devoted their entire professional lives to developing the perfect breakfast food ... and they are very good at what they do.

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"Now, we dissolve the excess calcium with a little hydrofluoric acid, and ... breakfast!"

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To find the perfect toasted bread, researchers painstakingly toasted more than 2,000 pieces of sliced bread in what must have been the most blatant abuse of grant money since the Hooters and Lube Squirt Gun Experiment. They found that there are certain specific conditions that the best toast in the world must meet. The bread must be exactly 0.55 inches thick. It must be toasted in a 900-watt toaster that is maintained at a steady heat of 309.2 degrees Fahrenheit for exactly three minutes and 36 seconds. Finally, the King of All Toast must be gently moved to a plate that is warmed to 113 degrees Fahrenheit for optimal condensation and slathered with 0.44 grams of butter per square inch.

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Well there you go, time to meet the Godhead of all Toastkind and -- aw, shit, all you have is rye? Damn. Well, that's clearly inedible. How about that perfect pancake formula? The problem with pancakes is not the recipe -- anyone can mix up a half-decent batter. The hard part is the flipping. Good thing, then, that scientists have figured out the perfect way to do it. Here's how:



"Dad, you have to stop chanting that formula every time I try to help out with breakfast."

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Oh, right. Obviously. We can clearly see that "L" indicates the hand's distance from the inner edge of the pancake, "H" is the height of the flip and "D" is the diameter of the pancake. Still, we can't help but feel that the vast majority of humanity isn't ready to wrestle with equations before their morning coffee, especially when attempting to flip a flat lump of scalding batter.