Taste

A new device could let you taste a drink without consuming any sugar or calories. The Vocktail (Virtual Cocktail) digitally changes the way a drink tastes, smells and looks, sprucing up plain old water or fine-tuning an existing drink.

Whether water has a taste of its own or is merely a flavor carrier has long divided the scientific community. A new study by Caltech researchers could help advance this debate: according to their findings, not only does such a sense exist, but it's located in an unexpected place.

Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NSU)​ have developed a way to capture and digitally transmit the flavor of a drink that is reproduced using electrodes to trick your tongue into tasting the sourness of lemonade when all you're really drinking is boring old water.

UK-based food inventor Charlie Harry Francis is looking to challenge the idea that the sensory delight offered by our favorite foods need live on in the form of bulging waistbands. His Edible Mist Machine is capable of producing inhalable mists ranging in flavor from smoked bacon to apple pie.

An electronic tongue developed by researchers at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona can accurately distinguish between various beer varieties with a success rate of almost 82 percent.

Today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States, a holiday in which we celebrate the blessings granted by Life, the Universe, and Everything. It may soon be possible to enjoy such a repast as a character in a movie or a video game, aided by a new method for digitally actuating the sense of taste.

Scientists are looking into using a computerized penetrometer to assess the crispness of apples.

Spanish researchers have developed an "electronic tongue" for analyzing the content of antioxidant powders, along with fruit and fruit products.

CD&I Associates envision a future where devices create tactile interaction with virtual objects, producing sensory stimuli for a user's touch, smell and taste receptors.