It’s getting to be summer, the perfect time for throwing a few burgers on the grill. But you just know that eating that delicious, perfectly cooked and seasoned patty is going to be messy. Very messy. Condiments will squeeze their way out of the sandwich, getting all over your plate (or your lap, if you’re particularly unlucky). So what’s a burger-loving clean freak to do?

The Japanese have an answer. Blog Kotaku reports that TV show "Honma Dekka!?" had researchers in a variety of fields spend four months researching the best way of holding a hamburger.

From the AV Club:

The group did a comically large amount of research for their project, including constructing 3-D models of burgers that examined how, say, the bun interacts with lettuce or cheese. Ultimately, though, the group concluded that there is one solid, preferred way to eat a burger: thumbs and pinkies on the bottom, middle three fingers on top. The uniformly spread fingers help keep the burger together at all times, thus keeping the contents from mushing out preemptively

Apparently, you should also remember to warm your mouth up by taking practice bites and never hold the burger too tight, for fear of crushing the deliciousness and ruining the effect.

That’s all well and good, but let’s be honest. It might be neater to hold it in this "scientific" way, but any way you eat it, it will still taste great.