An important shortfall of this study was the limitation of the sample population to one hospital. Most egregiously omitted from the study was, of course, this author who is of the opinion that the lack of opportunity to participate in this study was a deliberate act of exclusion by the facility rather than an accidental side effect of the geographic remoteness of this author from the facility in question.

One confounding factor that I will suggest, which I did not observe addressed in the research, is the difference in recipes for the same biscuit by the same brand in the same country, varying by geo-cultural region.

As an example I draw the reader's attention to the varied product known as "Arnott's Ginger Nut Biscuit" in Australia. It is relatively well-known that the recipe is varied by state to deliberately cater to the expectations of the dominant cultural group. The New South Wales variant is baked to be thicker and harder, specifically due to the NSW habit of dunking biscuits in their tea. As a result the biscuit will soften on the surface while maintaining a more rigid core that will maintain the structure of the biscuit between dunking and consumption, preventing softened biscuit collapsing and becoming immersed in the tea itself. In the meantime the Victorian variants are designed to be easier to eat without dunking (the NSW variant is extremely hard and poses mechanical challenges to the over-eager consumer).

I thank the team for their examination of this topic.

This is going to be a great IgNobel candidate. Heh.

> Ethical approval Despite actual biscuit harm being planned we successfully buttered up the local research and development department and were given full approval to dunk, break, and eat the participant biscuits.

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Considering the substantial amount of hot cup of tea consumers in the world we need to understand how far reaching and impactful the data provided by this research is, with the potential to affect an unlimited number of people, i expect the members of r/science to conduct discussion in a respectful manner appropriate to the importance and impact of the research being discussed here.

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..oatmeal? Thought it would have been ginger nut?

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Is "dunks" a coincidence?

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