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A comment on Norimaki Synthesizer: Taste Display Using Ion Electrophoresis in Five Gels.

Re:Norimaki Synthesizer: Taste Display Using Ion Electrophor... by rladd on Monday June 01, 2020 @04:51PM (#23383666)
This works on "tastes" at the lowest level definition of "taste", in other words tongue sensations. But what we think of as "taste" is actually a combination of this and of smell or aroma.

Smell is much more complex and relies on detection of the shape of the particles by the olfactory receptors (see: http://cst.ufl.edu/taste-vs-flavor-whats-the-difference.html).

It could be possible to simulate different aromas with a fairly small number of scent molecules, and there has been some work in that direction (see: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227512326_Aroma_sim...), but no successful commercial product has ever been launched (that I'm aware of) based on this technologly.

So while interesting, this 'taste synthesizer' and anything like it is not going to enable anyone to taste anything that really tastes like a food.

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Re:Norimaki Synthesizer: Taste Display Using Ion Electrophor... by 01100011 on Monday June 01, 2020 @06:36PM (#23384853)
You could have a bank of carboxylic acids and various alcohols and perform https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer%E2%80%93Speier_esterif... on the fly perhaps... You can make a good number of scents that way.
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Re:Norimaki Synthesizer: Taste Display Using Ion Electrophor... by ismellcomment on Monday June 01, 2020 @08:20PM (#23385710)
> but no successful commercial product has ever been launched (that I'm aware of) based on this technologly

iSmell is the closest that I know of: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISmell

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Re:Norimaki Synthesizer: Taste Display Using Ion Electrophor... by dogma1138 on Monday June 01, 2020 @04:55PM (#23383709)
Isn’t John Carmack working on smell for VR?

That said I wonder what would come first these external stimuli emulator or a neural link, by passing the external sensor seems to be the most straightforward way even if it’s much more complex on paper.

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Re:Norimaki Synthesizer: Taste Display Using Ion Electrophor... by cjhveal on Monday June 01, 2020 @06:16PM (#23384652)
It's my guess that early brain-machine interface is going to require a fair amount of training and conditioning to interpret information across the interface. I think attempting to locate, isolate, and stimulate specific nerves that carry these sensation is going to be way more difficult than just exciting the receptors at the ends of those nerves. I'd anticipate "displays" emulating external stimuli preceding brain-machine interfaces.
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Re:Norimaki Synthesizer: Taste Display Using Ion Electrophor... by bigiain on Monday June 01, 2020 @07:41PM (#23385429)
Damn, so you're saying this isn't gonna be smellovision?
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