taste

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Think Your Fetus Liked That Salad You Ate? Check the Scan

Ultrasound facial expressions differed depending on if moms-to-be were given kale or carrot capsules

(Newser) - New moms often insist that their infants respond positively to the same music they used to hear in the womb—could the same go for food that their mothers ate while they were still in utero? Scientists out of the UK's Durham University are now wondering the same, after...

This Could Take Cooking Shows to Weird New Level

Japanese researcher invents a lickable screen

(Newser) - A Japanese researcher is generating headlines for his odd invention—a TV that allows you to lick the screen and taste different flavors. The device, called Taste the TV (TTTV) is yet "another step towards creating a multi-sensory viewing experience," reports Reuters . It makes use of built-in canisters...

COVID's Toll on Sense of Smell Is Temporary
COVID's Toll on Sense 
of Smell Is Temporary
NEW STUDY
Jun 25, 2021 12:15 PM CDT

COVID's Toll on Sense of Smell Is Temporary

Study of 97 patients shows 96% recovery rate after 1 year

(Newser) - It was four months after testing positive for COVID-19 that Julie Carte discovered an unfortunate complication: The food she put in her mouth tasted like "poison." What's worse, "my own sweet and innocent baby’s scent started to make me feel sick to my stomach,"...

This Early Virus Sign Now Has Science Backing It Up
This Early Virus Sign Now
Has Science Backing It Up
NEW STUDY
Apr 15, 2020 10:30 AM CDT

This Early Virus Sign Now Has Science Backing It Up

Loss of taste, smell were documented anecdotally for COVID-19, but now there's research

(Newser) - Because up to half of COVID-19 patients may be asymptomatic or show very mild symptoms, it's important to be able to identify early, subtle signs of the disease. A new study published in the International Forum of Allergy and Rhinology journal lends support to what's till now been...

No Accounting for Taste. No Copyrighting, Either

European court says a cheese can't copyright its flavor

(Newser) - You can copyright lots of things, but not the way food tastes. That's according to the European Court of Justice, which was asked to rule on a case involving spreadable Dutch cheeses. Food producer Levola Hengelo, which began selling cream cheese and herb dip Heks'nkaas in 2011, argued...

Chemists Discover Why Water Improves Whisky

How much is largely a matter of personal taste

(Newser) - Whisky connoisseurs have long claimed that whisky tastes better with a splash of water, or on the rocks with ice cubes. And while that will always, ultimately, be a matter of taste, scientists in Sweden have decided to study how the addition of water chemically alters the drink. They report...

Stink Bugs Can Change the Taste of Your Wine

Especially if you drink pinot noir

(Newser) - Bugs wind up in most things we consume, organic and otherwise. It's so common and hard to avoid that the FDA sets allowable levels, notes the American Council on Science and Health . It's no surprise, then, that stink bugs , which have a fondness for grapes, can end up...

Scientists Say They've Found a Sixth Taste

Call it 'starchy'

(Newser) - Wondering why a bread bowl full of pasta with fries on the side sounds like it would really hit the spot right now? It could be a heretofore unknown sixth taste that a group of scientists claims to have discovered, Science Alert reports. Up until now, the five tastes humans...

Music Can Help You Enjoy Your Beer Even More

 Music Can Help You Enjoy 
 Your Beer Even More 
study says
Jul 31, 2016 9:44 AM CDT

Music Can Help You Enjoy Your Beer Even More

If you like the song, you'll probably like the brew

(Newser) - Some scientists get to have all the fun, especially those who live in the land of beer. A team of researchers led by Dr. Felipe Reinoso Cavalho of Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium set up an experiment to investigate whether music and packaging affect one's perception of taste. The...

Our Olive Oil Is Often Rancid, and We Don't Even Know It

'We call the US the world’s dumping ground for rancid and defective olive oil'

(Newser) - As consumers, we pay a price for extra virgin olive oil—and not just literally. The oil is extracted naturally from the first press of the olives, as opposed to using heat or chemicals. It's basically olive juice, reports Mother Nature News , and it must have zero defects. But...

So You Think You Can Tell a Bourbon From Rye?
So You Think You Can Tell
Bourbon From Rye?
NEW STUDY
Apr 25, 2016 9:09 AM CDT

So You Think You Can Tell Bourbon From Rye?

The whiskeys can differ very subtly by their 'mash bill'

(Newser) - The study may be small, but researchers at Drexel University have opened an inquiry into whether modern bourbons and ryes—both types of whiskey—are different enough to be discernible to the average taster, and they've come back with a resounding "no." Reporting in the Journal of ...

The Mice Have Spoken: Taste Is an Illusion

Scientists turn sense of taste on and off by manipulating brain cells: study

(Newser) - That bitter tincture a bunch of mice in a Columbia University lab recently gagged on could have been sweet nectar, or even just plain water. Why they took issue with the taste: For a study published in the journal Nature , scientists fiddled with their brain cells to make them think...

Scientists: Here's What Fat Truly Tastes Like

It's in a class all its own, dubbed oleogustus, and disgusting

(Newser) - Ponder the taste of fat for a minute. Is your mouth watering? It shouldn't be. While the closest you've probably come to eating pure fat was on an untrimmed steak, Purdue University researchers have isolated the taste of fat for the first time—and folks, it isn't...

Penguins Can't Taste Fish: Study
 Penguins 
 Can't Taste 
 the Fish They Eat 
new study
Feb 17, 2015 1:40 PM CST

Penguins Can't Taste the Fish They Eat

Their sense of taste is very limited

(Newser) - Penguins, it seems, can't really taste their dinners. They aren't able to pick up on sweetness, bitterness, or a meaty flavor known as umami, a study finds. Instead, they can only taste sourness and saltiness, the BBC reports. That sets them apart from other birds, most of which...

Four Basic Taste Types? Think Again

Salty, sweet, bitter, sour don't even begin to account for basic taste types

(Newser) - Most of us have been taught that salty, sweet, sour, and bitter (that last one added by Greek philosopher Democritus a few thousand years ago) make up the four building blocks of taste. But since the "savory" taste (also called umami) was added as a fifth taste about a...

Is Imported Nutella Really Different?

A little, in terms of taste and texture, a Post reporter finds; maybe make your own?

(Newser) - If you ever visit gourmet grocers or Italian markets, you've probably seen it: Imported Nutella, straight from Italy, sold in a glass jar at multiple times the price of the Canadian-made stuff found in most US supermarkets. And perhaps you've wondered: Is it really any different? Many devotees...

Why Does Brushing Make Food Taste Terrible?

Its chemicals mess with your tastebuds

(Newser) - Why does brushing your teeth ruin the taste of food you eat afterward? It's not about the mint taste interfering with your orange juice. In fact, it has to do with two chemicals in the paste, writes Daven Hiskey at Today I Found Out . Sodium lauryl sulfate and sodium...

Why Supermarket Tomatoes Have No Taste

Gene bred into them to help in harvesting hurts flavor

(Newser) - A meteor might explain why tomatoes are red , but humans are to blame for why they often have no taste. Specifically, the mass-produced ones found in the supermarket, notes ScienceNow . Researchers led by a team at UC Davis think they've figured out a key part of the problem: Big...

Why Your Lukewarm Coffee Sucks

It could be down to how our taste buds work

(Newser) - Coffee's great hot, and it's tasty iced—but anything in between is just disgusting. While there isn't a ton of concrete research into why that is, experts provide Life's Little Mysteries with three plausible theories. First: It could be because of the way our taste buds...

Why Airline Food Is So Bland
 Why Airline Food Is So Bland 
Oct 15, 2010 6:40 AM CDT

Why Airline Food Is So Bland

Background noise diminishes sense of taste

(Newser) - Airline food is notoriously bland because of engine noise, not a lack of spice, according to new research. Volunteers who ate sweet or salty foods while listening to silence through headphones found the flavors more intense than a group of volunteers who heard white noise. The latter group found the...

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