Photo: Kenneth Suslick
Chemists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a testing implement that mimics the way human taste buds detect sweetness:
A computer compares scans of the array of dots before and after the paper is wetted with an eyedropper full of liquid.
After running dozens of samples of mystery artificial sweeteners dissolved in water or tea, the research team reported that their tongue could pick out the sweetener used with with 100 percent accuracy.
Potential applications include detecting noxious gases, harmful bacteria, and providing early warnings for lung cancer (which Miss C mentioned yesterday).
Link via Boing Boing
Newest 5 Comments
That can't be called an artificial tongue since it doesn't entirely replace a tongue in all of its functions.
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Now robots can 'French'.
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The problem of the artificial tongue has been licked.
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okay now THAT's passive aggressive - correct address leads to wrong link
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(that link is being directed the wrong way- it should be: http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/2007/06/16/the-first-thing-i-did-when-i-woke-up/)
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