Who would’ve thought that a new artificial tongue would actually be more acute than the real thing, especially when sensing subtle differences in sweeteners is concerned? Measuring roughly the size of a business card, the sweetness sensor functions by detecting pH changes whenever a sweet substance is mixed with a derivative of the chemical boric acid. The sensor is able to single out 14 kinds of natural and artificial sweeteners with 100% accuracy in 80 different trials. Could this artificial tongue eventually phase out human tasters in the food industry? Perhaps – it would be a bummer since you would be hard pressed to find a new job considering the niche one is in then.
Filed in ..