This Easter America will indulge in an estimated 700 million Marshmallow Peeps. My friend's mom just sent him a package full of peep marshmallow gooeyness (they are really yummy).
The traditional marshmallow rabbits obviously represent the Easter bunny, while the marshmallow chicks and eggs represent spring as they are symbols of fertility. Of course, now they have Peeps for all special occasions (Halloween pumpkins, Valentine hearts, Christmas trees, and so on).
Some scientists at the Adler Planetarium, recently sent an adventurous astro-peep to the edge of space on board the "Far Horizons 12" altitude balloon mission, nearly 97,000 feet. Watch the following video while you chew on a non-adventurous Easter bunny, chick, or egg peep:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygpYWzKGN6c&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fsciencechicagoblog.com%2F&feature=player_embedded
Zeezum Pasach ("sweet Passover"), Happy Easter, Happy Spring, and Happy PEEPS this weekend!
Author's Note: This was submitted to the blog by Heather, one of our corespondents.
Sources:
http://www.marshmallowpeeps.com/
http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/
Editor's Note: For more blogs from Dr. Rabiah, visit Science Chicago's website at: http://www.sciencechicagoblog.com
The Peeps image was found at http://images.chron.com/blogs/whitehouse/archives/peeps.jpg
