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Team solves mystery of brain’s taste ‘sweet spot’
Researchers have discovered the taste center in the human brain by uncovering which parts of the brain distinguish different types of tastes. “We have known that tastes activate the human brain for...
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Is this how expecting a taste affects the brain?
New research aims to clarify how our brains get us ready to experience a taste. Scientists know that expectation affects sensory stimuli—especially powerful ones like taste. Expectation is a trigger...
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Why do we like bitter drinks? Not taste, genes suggest
Sweet beverages or bitter ones? Our preference between them results from variation in genes related to their psychoactive properties, not those related to taste, research finds. Scientist Marilyn...
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Does sugar dampen sweet tooth to cause overeating?
New research with fruit flies suggests how a high-sugar diet can promote overeating and obesity. After researchers fed fruit flies a high-sugar diet, the flies’ taste neurons triggered a molecular...
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Clues from stevia promise sweetness without aftertaste
Knowing the molecular machinery that gives stevia its intense sweetness could help engineer artificial sweeteners without a nasty aftertaste, researchers say. Although scientists know a lot about the...
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Which drink is best to handle spicy food?
If you order food you think is too “hot,” you should choose milk to reduce the burn, report researchers, who also suggest it does not matter if it is whole or skim. The research originated as an effort...
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Why broccoli and cabbage are so bitter
Researchers have mapped the crystal structure of a key protein that makes the metabolites responsible for the bitter taste in Brassica vegetables like mustards, broccolis, and cabbages. Vegetables in...
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You can train yourself to enjoy bitter foods
Eating bitter foods more often can change how they taste, according to a new study. What sounds at first like a culinary parlor trick is actually a scientific matter based on specific proteins in...
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Fewer sick kids when water pump gets chlorine dispenser
Installing an automatic chlorine dispenser at shared community water points reduces rates of diarrhea in children, a new study in Bangladesh shows. Diarrhea kills a child under the age of five every...
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There’s a simple way to make healthy food appealing
Highlighting the tastiness of healthy food can help us make better food choices, researchers report. In a new study, researchers found that evocative labels such as “twisted citrus glazed carrots” and...
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Food like tempeh tastes better with a backstory
Knowing about the origins and creation of an unfamiliar food can make it taste better, research with tempeh finds, even if the taste isn’t great to begin with. The researchers conducted the study in...
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Does Thanksgiving affect what you think tastes good?
There’s probably more behind the taste of turkey, mashed potatoes, yams, and cranberry sauce than you think, an expert in what makes food taste good or bad says. Don Katz, a professor at Brandeis...
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Team maps the ‘wasabi sensor’
Researchers have captured the shape, in unprecedented detail, of a biological structure in the mouth, nose, and throat that senses pungent, irritating chemicals. Their new map of “the wasabi sensor”...
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To make better espresso, use less coffee
A new approach can help you make the perfect shot of espresso, researchers report. The key to the approach? Use less coffee at a coarser grind than traditional wisdom has suggested, says Christopher...
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Lost sense of smell or taste could signal you have COVID-19
A sudden loss or reduced sense of smell or taste could indicate COVID-19 before other symptoms appear, according to the American Academy of Otolaryngology. The Academy recently proposed adding these...
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Proteins key to vision are also taste receptors in flies
Multiple opsin proteins, known for decades to be required for vision, also function as taste receptors, new research with fruit flies finds. The finding, which appears in Current Biology, represents a...
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Some ‘veggie’ baby foods have more sweet fruit
Some baby foods that claim to have loads of dark green vegetables may actually have a lot of sweet fruit puree—and not much vegetable content, a new study shows. That matters because young children...
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Why sweet foods aren’t as tasty when they’re cool
Cool temperatures suppress the appeal of sweet foods for fruit flies, researchers report. Have you ever noticed how a bite of warm cherry pie fills your mouth with sweetness, but that same slice right...
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People don’t care why their beer tastes bitter
Although most beer consumers can distinguish among different bitter tastes in beer, this doesn’t appear to influence which beer they like, according to a new study. It seems they just like beer,...
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Newfound taste cells ‘multitask’ to sense it all
Researchers have discovered multitasking cells in mice that can detect bitter, sweet, umami, and sour stimuli. The findings challenge conventional notions of how taste works. In the past, researchers...
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