You read that right, researchers at the National University of Singapore have created a ‘digital lollipop’ that utilizes electric currents to transmit virtual tastes straight to your tastebuds. The machine is similar to the fictional Everlasting Gobstopper in which it never runs out, and also the Chewing Gum Meal, which had several different flavors packed into one piece of gum. All of the four major taste groups – sweet, salty, bitter and sour – can be recreated through a silver electrode which makes contact with the tongue. Continue reading for a video and more information.
Nimesha Ranasinghe, who was the lead researcher on the project, told New Scientist magazine: “We have found noninvasive electrical and thermal stimulation of the tip of the tongue successfully generates the primary taste sensations.”The Daily Mail would like to add that “the invention is relatively crude at the moment, but there are hopes to make it small enough that users can almost wholly close their mouth while using it.”
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