Thank you to fellow North State Blogger, King, for pointing me to this article in Nature Magazine, confirming the superiority of stove-popped popcorn.
Unlike my fellow blogger, though, I've been trapped in the microwaved popcorn world; only rarely tasting the varitals and their respective flavors. But I'll soon be changing my ways for good. I feel like I must have felt this scientific proof coming, earlier this weekend, when I bought a gag of kernels instead of the Pop Secret.

Popcorn popped on an electric stove is both healthier and fluffier than corn popped in a microwave, according to Turkish scientists trying to perfect the corn-popping recipe.
...The team worked out recipes for use in both a microwave oven and a popcorn machine that heats the corn on an electric hotplate or stove. In a microwave oven, Karababa says, every 25 g of corn needs 1.5 g salt, 2 g of vegetable oil and a flavoursome 6 g of butter to get both the most expansion and the fewest unpopped kernels.

The stove-top proved a slightly healthier option, with only 1.1 g of salt and 4.2 g butter needed to achieve optimum results. To give the corn a little extra boost, they also added a dash - about 0.3 g - of sodium bicarbonate. That's more traditionally used to give cakes and muffins extra lift.