Japanese scientist Kikunae Ikeda first proposed umami as a basic taste—in addition to sweet, sour, salty and bitter—in the early 1900s. About eight decades later, the scientific community officially agreed with him.
Cell & Microbiology
Oct 5, 2023
1
393
Researchers at the University of Copenhagen's Faculty of Science have modified a yeast cell to sense the active substances in cannabis and get it to turn red when it does. The result paves the way for more actors to discover ...
Cell & Microbiology
Dec 8, 2022
1
97
Humans and fruit flies respond to many of the same tastes—sweet, salty, bitter and so on. The receptors that identify these substances, however, are very different between us and insects. Except when it comes to sour.
Molecular & Computational biology
Dec 13, 2021
0
206
A high-sugar diet reprograms the taste cells in fruit flies, dulling their sensitivity to sugar and leaving a "molecular memory" on their tongues, according to a University of Michigan study.
Plants & Animals
Nov 11, 2020
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351
A new platform technology can assess water safety and quality with just a single drop and a few minutes.
Biotechnology
Jul 6, 2020
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328
Scientists at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences have discovered an entirely new class of ion channels. These channels let protons (H+ ions) into cells, are important in the inner ear for balance, and ...
Evolution
Jan 25, 2018
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863
A University of Michigan-led study of penguin genetics has concluded that the flightless aquatic birds lost three of the five basic vertebrate tastes—sweet, bitter and the savory, meaty taste known as umami—more than ...
Biotechnology
Feb 16, 2015
1
484
Everything about hummingbirds is rapid. An iridescent blur to the human eye, their movements can be captured with clarity only by high-speed video.
Evolution
Aug 21, 2014
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0
Perhaps one of the keys to good health isn't just what you eat but how you taste it. Taste buds – yes, the same ones you may blame for that sweet tooth or French fry craving – may in fact have a powerful role in a long ...
Cell & Microbiology
May 19, 2014
2
1
Do away with the DJ and scrap the composer. A computer program powered by Darwinian natural selection and the musical tastes of 7,000 website users may be on the way to creating a perfect pop tune, according to new research ...
Computer Sciences
Jun 18, 2012
33
0
Taste (or, more formally, gustation) is a form of direct chemoreception and is one of the traditional five senses. It refers to the ability to detect the flavor of substances such as food, certain minerals, and poisons. In humans and many other vertebrate animals the sense of taste partners with the less direct sense of smell, in the brain's perception of flavor. In the West, experts traditionally identified four taste sensations: sweet, salty, sour, and bitter. Eastern experts traditionally identified a fifth, called umami (savory). More recently, psychophysicists and neuroscientists have suggested other taste categories (umami and fatty acid taste most prominently, as well as the sensation of metallic and water tastes, although the latter is commonly disregarded due to the phenomenon of taste adaptation.[citation needed]) Taste is a sensory function of the central nervous system. The receptor cells for taste in humans are found on the surface of the tongue, along the soft palate, and in the epithelium of the pharynx and epiglottis.
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