Physics and Oreos go together like cookies and cream

The above video describes separating an Oreo cookie as a "basic human desire." While it may not be quite as fundamental as all that, separating cookie from cream has become a ritual for Oreo lovers around the world. But why must we use our soft, weak human hands to pry these cookies apart? Why can't someone invent a hilariously overcomplicated machine to do this painstaking work for us?

Luckily, someone did.

Physicist, and "cookie-part preferrer," David Neevel is the mind behind the Rube Golberg-style machine. He describes his automated separator as "entirely based on the dislike of cream." Which is crazy, of course. But it takes a certain kind of mad genius to create a machine as delightfully inefficient as this one.

The video is part of an online marketing campaign for Oreo. Feel free to watch more of their work on their YouTube page.