Crumbs! Science solves the toast dilemma

Scientists have finally discovered how to stop your dropped toast landing buttered side down.

The secret lies in the spreading technique.

The more vigorously you apply the spread, the less likely it is to fall butter side down.

That is because pressing firmly with the knife creates a convex indentation in the bread which affects the way it falls.

The test was carried out by TV science show Mythbusters.

Its experts found that the buttering method resulted in toast landing butter side up 29 times out of 50.

Presenters Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman explained: "Our research showed that the slices landing butter side up were ones that had been pressed in from the buttering, forming a sort of dish in the bread.

"Just like when a leaf falls from a tree, it will always have a tendency to land with the curved sides up."

For the Discovery Channel show, the pair built a mechanism which replicated toast accidentally being brushed off a table - the most likely way for toast to fall, according to the programme.

A thermometer was used to make sure each slice was exactly the same temperature.

The show's previous experiments have included covering someone in gold paint, a la Goldfinger, to test whether it causes death by skin asphyxiation (it doesn't) and dropping a penny from a great height to discover whether it would slice through a person on the ground (it wouldn't).

A programme spokesman said: "The Mythbusters team have tested a lot of theories over the series, but this is the first time they've discovered how to beat Sod's Law."