The TWINKIES Project

December 11th, 2007

Clearly inspired by their academic surroundings, some students at Rice University, Texas, have created the T.W.I.N.K.I.E.S. Project (Tests With Inorganic Noxious Kakes In Extreme Situations). This involves subjecting the cakes to a whole barrage of low-budget yet ingenious experiments to further humankind’s knowledge of these indestructible confections.

Witness the soaring beauty of a Twinkie as it plummets several storeys in the “Gravitational Response Test”, and the not-at-all devastating consequences:

As soon as the Twinkie was released, it began to fall. It fell until it hit the ground. Upon impact, there was a loud “splut” sound (see Fig. 2). A small crack opened on one side of the Twinkie (see Fig. 3). There was no noticeable change in the control.

Visit the site to investigate all of their findings, from the promising results of the Resistivity Test to the highly humorous outcome of their Turing Test for sentience in Twinkies.

So, congratulations to Christopher Gouge and Todd Stadler, you are the latest individuals to be crowned Science Punks! Hurrah!

Entry Filed under: Science Punks

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