Scientists devise ‘electronic tongue’ to identify sweetness

October 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Human tongue has a receptor that is exclusively activated by glutamate- a non-essential amino acid traditionally used to enhance the taste of many fermented or ripe foods, such as ripe tomatoes or cheese, according to new study. Ana San Gabriel, a scientist belonging to the Spanish Network of Researchers Abroad, based at the Institute of Life Sciences in Ajinomoto, Kawasaki (Japan), is the main author of the study.

October 10th, 2009 LONDON - Scientists at the University of York, UK, have uncovered the structure of an unusual enzyme that can be used to reverse the contamination of land by explosives. The discovery, by scientists in the York Structural Biology Laboratory and the Centre for Novel Agricultural Products, will support the development of plants that can help tackle pollution caused by royal demolition explosive, also known as RDX.

September 14th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A team of scientists has developed a sensor that works as an 'electronic nose' in sniffing out some known poisonous gases and toxins, simply by changing colors. Support for the development and application of this electronic nose comes from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health.

September 2nd, 2009 MELBOURNE - In a groundbreaking innovation, scientists have created an electronic device that may allow blind people to "see" using their tongues. The extraordinary technology works by taking pictures filmed by a tiny camera, and turns the information into electrical pulses, which can be felt on the tongue.

September 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists have created an "electronic tongue" that can digitally measure the taste of sweetness. Under the leadership of Kenneth Suslick, a chemistry professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the revolutionary device, which makes use of a postage stamp-size piece of paper dotted with colored pigments, has been developed.

August 18th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists in Illinois have given sweet-tooth a "sensory" makeover by developing a small, inexpensive, lab-on-a-chip sensor that quickly and accurately identifies sweetness - an advancement that provides a new approach to an effective "electronic tongue". The scientific breakthrough can identify with 100 percent accuracy the full sweep of natural and artificial sweet substances, including 14 common sweeteners, using easy-to-read color markers.

July 15th, 2009 LONDON - Reports indicate that the biggest glacier in the Arctic is on the verge of losing a chunk of ice the size of Manhattan. According to a report in New Scientist, a group of scientists and climate change activists who are closely monitoring the Petermann glacier's ice tongue believe that the rapid flow of ice is in part due to warm ocean currents moving up along the coast of Greenland, fuelled by global warming.

July 1st, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists have developed a novel headset that makes it possible for a person suffering from spinal cord injury to precisely control a wheelchair or computer using the tongue. The "tongue drive", being trialled at Georgia Tech University, Atlanta, could also give astronauts a third hand in difficult situations like spacewalks.

June 28th, 2009 LONDON - Researchers in France have found a way to identify wine so accurately they can pinpoint where the drink was made and in which barrel it was fermented. It uses an electronic nose to make even the most well established sommelier a little nervous.

June 21st, 2009 SYDNEY - Scientists in Australia are getting closer to identify the mystery light that lit up the universe. The universe was covered in a thick fog of neutral hydrogen gas thirteen billion years ago.

June 19th, 2009 LONDON - Your birthplace not only decides your accent but also what you like to eat and drink, a new study has shown. If scientists from the University of Nottingham are to be believed, people's culinary preferences could be broken down like regional accents and are highly dependent on an area's history.

June 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists at the University of Chicago and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have developed an "electronic glue" that promises development of less expensive semiconductors. The electronic glue could accelerate advances in semiconductor-based technologies, including solar cells and thermoelectric devices that convert sun light and waste heat, respectively, into useful electrical energy.

June 9th, 2009 LONDON - Why is it that people, especially those bilinguals, often have tip-of-the-tongue experiences in which words suddenly and perplexingly go missing only to reappear seconds or minutes later? Well, new research has shed some light on why these momentary lapses in vocabulary occur. Jennie Pyers, a psychologist at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, says that one possible explanation is that similar-sounding words compete for the brain's attention.

May 11th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new study, researchers in France are reporting development of a simple test for distinguishing 100 percent natural honeys from adulterated or impure versions that they say are increasingly being foisted off on consumers. The study, by Bernard Herbreteau and colleagues from Universite de Lyon, France, points out that the high price of honey and its limited supply has led some beekeepers and food processors to fraudulently make and sell impure honey doped with inexpensive sweeteners, such as corn syrup.

March 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Brit actress Gemma Arterton could not help herself from using her tongue when filming kissing scenes with actor Jake Gyllenhaal, even though it had been understood that she was not to. Arterton, 23, who co-star's with Gyllenhaal in the upcoming movie Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time, plays the part of a sixth century princess, while he the prince.