Getting closer to artificially recreate tastes

SCIENTISTS at the National University of Singapore have developed a new technology capable of reproducing tastes electronically.

The simulator recreates salt, sweet, sour and bitter flavours using electrodes to non-invasively excite the taste buds.

This system could be used to bring people the ultimate viewing experience when watching cooking shows on TV.

Their creators, however, seem to have found a more therapeutic use to their invention.

They believe it can be used to allow people suffering from diabetes to experience sweet flavours with no risk to their health.

But it seems they still are a long way from reaching their destination as research has shown flavour relies on other factors including texture and smell.

In any case, this system has proven to be more successful than previous attempts based on recreating tastes using chemicals, said to be expensive and chaotic.