#taste

#taste

The First Taste was Probably SourAll animals can taste, and almost all animals have the same receptors for taste, those for sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and umami (also called savory). The interaction of these receptors help guide an animal to foods that are beneficial to them and away from foods that may be dangerous. Humans are a bit different in that we have learned to appreciate some flavors that animals would avoid, like some mild bitterness and sour foods. It's a good thing that we had brave taste-testers, and later scientists, to let us know what foods might kill us. Some animals have lost a taste sense they didn't need, like cats that cannot taste sweetness, but they still have the genes that mean they once could, back in their evolutionary line. Scientists are looking into the genetic records to find out how these tastes developed and why. It turns out that no vertebrates have ever lost the ability to taste sourness. It appears that the ability to detect sourness was useful even before animals began judging the quality of potential foods they encountered. What's really interesting is the reason why humans are attracted to sour flavors when other animals aren't. -via Damn Interesting#taste #flavor #evolution

Norimaki Synthesizer is a Lickable Device That Uses Electrically Charged Gel to Deliver Flavors Straight to Your TongueGet ready to be shocked… by the taste!Homei Miyashita developed a lickable device that replicates different food tastes just by licking the apparatus. The Japanese researcher created the Norimaki Synthesizer, a rod-shaped device that uses five gel nodules made of dissolved electrolytes to simulate basic taste sensations (eg. sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami). The Meiji University researcher and professor believe that his synthesizer opens new possibilities for human-computer interaction. The device could provide a new medium for multimedia experiences. Each of the gel nodules in the apparatus is  made by dissolving sodium chloride, glycine, magnesium chloride, citric acid, and glutamic sodium in separate solutions. The electrolyte solutions are then turned into gel. According to Miyashita, the user can taste all five tastes when they lick it with no voltage applied to the apparatus. "However, when an electric potential is applied, the cations (positively charged ions) in the gel move to the cathode side and away from the tongue, so that the flavor is tasted," he further explained.Image via de zeen #taste #tastebuds #electroniccircuit #gel #technology 