And you thought mapping the human genome was tough...

Try analyzing the 39 ingredients that make up the components of a Twinkie.

A new book due out deconstructs all the tasty chemicals that go into making one of America's favorite snack cakes:

At the heart of the book is the fundamental question: why is it you can bake a cake at home with as few as six ingredients, but Twinkies require 39? And why do many of them seem to bear so little resemblance to actual food? The answer: To stay fresh on a grocery-store shelf, Twinkies can't contain anything that might spoil, like milk, cream or butter. Once you remove such real ingredients, something has to take their place—and cellulose gum, lecithin and sodium stearoyl lactylate are a good start. Add the fact that industrial quantities of batter have to pump easily through automated tubes into cake molds, and you begin to get the idea.

How utterly scrumptious!!! Now I remember why I haven't had a Twinkie in at least a decade. I'm probably still processing the one I ate back in 1997.

When the human race has long left this earth, and the only things left are the cockroaches and spiders, there will be a Twinkie sitting there in the midst of all the carnage, ready to eat...