Easter is just around the corner, which means the time of Marshmallow Peeps is at hand. Not for me, as I’m Jewish and stay far, far away from those fluorescent little birds. But for many other people. Therefore, in a selfless show of great humanitarianism, I’m taking time from my busy schedule to share these three crucially important pieces of Peep information:

1. While the US budget for basic science research has plummeted in recent years, some enterprising young academics have managed to obtain private funding for research on science’s most important topics, such as Marshmallow Peeps. A compendium of their Peep findings has carefully been collected on the web.

2. Balancing science with art is an indication of human intelligence expressed at the highest level. Therefore, sites such as this careful literary analysis of Marshmallow Peeps can enhance our understanding of the Peep phenomenon. Sadly, unlike the relatively optimistic scientific findings, this analysis seems to imply that Peeps may be, as foreshadowed by Yeats, harbingers of doom for the human race.

3. Two years ago, for Halloween, one of my coworkers seized upon the idea of taping Peeps to his clothing, thereby dressing as a ‘chick magnet.’ Sadly, Peeps are only produced during the Easter season, and he was forced to use marshmallow black cats instead. (Nota bene: While most women find the Peeps idea cute, they are not similarly amused by a ‘pussy magnet’ costume).