what is a biology experiment i can do with twinkies?

Question

please tell me what i can do with a project about twinkies for biology!

Answer 1

Did you ever wonder what would happen to a Twinkie if you tried to roast it over a campfire? Well, some college guys decided to find out. They tested whether or not a Twinkie will conduct electricity, if a Twinkie is intelligent, what happens when a Twinkie is put in water, or a Microwave, whether it will burn, and more. This site also offers photos of the test subjects before, during, and after the tests were performed. The site loads fast, even with all the photos.
URL: http://www.twinkiesproject.com/

Answer 2

Test Information:
Test Subject 1: Standard Twinkie
Test Subject 2: Lovett College Sophomore
Control Subject: Standard Twinkie
Test Location: 4th floor room, Lovett College, Rice University
Start Time: Tuesday, May 2, 1995 21:21 CST
Stop Time: Wednesday, May 3,1995 21:50 CST


Test Description:
This test was designed to test whether Twinkies are intelligent. We decided to do this test last, because we "killed" a lot of Twinkies during these experiments, and didn't want to know before the other tests were over if they were sentient.

This test was a slightly modified version of the Turing test, designed to check computers for artificial intellegence (AI). The theory is that if you ask questions by typing on a computer keyboard and cannot distinguish whether the responses come from a human on the other end, or a computer program, then the program is artificially intelligent.


Observations:
Before Test:
Before the test, the Twinkie was relatively quiet, and the Lovett sophomore was confused by the whole thing. One typical statement was, "Wait, you're testing to see if a Twinkie is intelligent?"

Immediate Results:
Figure 1:The second (and by far more successful) human subject enjoying a quick laugh with his Twinkie counterpart (seated on the right)
We feel obligated to mention that the test was conducted twice. The first time, our subject was a Lovett freshman, but after two questions we discovered that he had eaten his subject counterpart, so the test was aborted and new subjects (human and Twinkie) were chosen.

The human and Twinkie subjects were placed together behind a sheet (see Fig. 1). The sentient nature of the human subject was at this point brought into question. When asked to assign himself and the Twinkie the designations A & B without telling us which was which, the human promptly replied "I'll be A." However, we decided to continue the test.

Part I:
The following four questions were asked, and each subject was allowed to answer. The order of answers alternated to balance out the "thinking" time.


Q (cg): What would you describe as the purpose of your existence?
Subject A: (no answer)
Subject B: To woo women.
Q (ts): Describe where the other subject is, relative to you.
Subject B: On a chair.
Subject A: (no answer)
Q (cg): Describe the last meal you ate.
Subject A: (no answer)
Subject B: These chicken chunks (after joking about eating subject A)
Q (ts): How do you feel about your mother?
Subject B: She gives me money, I like her.
Subject A: (no answer)


Part II:
Next, some free association was done on each of the subjects.


Subject A Subject B
Prompt Answer Prompt Answer
Love (cg) (no answer) Health (cg) Sex
Spam (cg) (no answer) Lovett (cg) Sex
Blender (ts) (no answer) Ribosome (ts) Sex
Flame (ts) (no answer) Chlorophyll (ts) Sex



Long Term Results:
After the test was over, our human subject was allowed to eat the Twinkie subject. After he departed, we analyzed the data. After careful study of all responses, we determined that subject A was the Twinkie, and B was the human.

Since we were able to distinguish between the two subjects, the Twinkie fails the Turing test.


Conclusions:
Twinkies are not sentient in any way we can understand.


Possible Applications:
If you want to amuse your friends, perform this test with them and a Twinkie. They will either think you are very weird and never talk to you again, or they will enjoy the humor of it all and get a tasty snack treat to boot!

Answer 3

Shelf life is probably way too long to try to grow bacteria. Twinkies would probably survive a holocaust - not even sure the cockroaches would want them...

You could measure your insulin levels if you had the right tools (like a diabetic uses - a finger prick kit that tests your blood sugar levels). Eat nothing for a few hours. Then eat five twinkies and gauge the difference. You can get the kits at a drug store.

Then the next day, try the same thing but use beef or fruit to see what the difference is in your blood sugar level.

Answer 4

Twinkies can conduct electricity and glow! Very carefully strip the ends of an electrical cord and wrap a nail with each end. Stick one nail in each end of the Twinkie - don't let them touch - and then plug it in in a dark room. Cool!

This also works for pickles.

Answer 5

How about something dealing with bone marrow? (as odd as that sounds to me...a twinkie would be a perfect replication), maybe involving an accident that would create a broken bone and blood marrow leaking out?

Answer 6

you can eat a box of twinkies every day for a week and see how much weight you gain.

Answer 7

put them in different containers and different environments and see if you can get them to go bad or mold. It is said that Twinkies don't go bad.

Answer 8

Leave one unwrapped and see how long it takes for mold or bacteria to grow. Culture whatever grows on it in a petrie dish.

Answer 9

See how long it takes for bacteria to grow on them. They have been made to stay on the store shelves for such a long time, they probably won't get rotten for a long time.

Answer 10

Eat 6 of them at a time and see what it does to your stomach. (Don't do it, I'm just joking) I have no idea.