I’d always hoped my 15-minutes of fame would be about something less embarrassing, but whatever.

Here’s my original Tweet, the first of 11 posts in a thread started on October 4th. Click to read the full sequence on Twitter.

I found a box of @Hostess_Snacks Twinkies from 2012 in my basement and I thought I'd make a short thread. There were some surprises. pic.twitter.com/Qfa9oAKQR7

— colinpurrington (@colinpurrington) October 4, 2020

At some point, my postings got the attention of Drs Brian Lovett and Matthew Kasson, researchers at West Virginia University. So I packed the Twinkies up and sent them via USPS. Please click on the Tweet below to read Dr Kasson’s thread on Twitter. My favorite part is the movie they made of the Twinkie being bored into with a bone marrow biopsy tool — the sound it makes is priceless.

We have a new terrifying mycology project called Operation #MoldyTwinkie. @lovettbr & I will ID an unknown fungus or fungi growing inside individually wrapped 8-year-old expired @Hostess_Snacks Twinkies. These moldy cakes were discovered in @colinpurrington's basement. @MSAFungi pic.twitter.com/dsQGKvjFsv

— Matt Kasson, PhD 🍄🧫 (@ImperfectFunGuy) October 8, 2020

The collaboration eventually resulted in a story, “A Disturbing Twinkie That Has, So Far, Defied Science” by science reporter Nell Greenfieldboyce that aired on All Things Considered. The Daily Mail also picked it up.

The story is not over, of course. The fungus growing on the center Twinkie (above) is apparently in the genus Cladosporium, but hopefully they will be able to determine the exact species. And I’m hoping that if they can’t culture the fungus in the mummified Twinkie that they’ll be able to sequence it to get an ID. I cannot wait.

And they are also working on the moldy Ho Hos I sent them.

So I recently discovered that 8-year-old @Hostess_Snacks Twinkies are inedible. But what about Ho Hos? pic.twitter.com/KfwyK9y1LA

— colinpurrington (@colinpurrington) October 9, 2020