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Notice: GeekPress is back up and running, thanks to Paul! It's still a not-so-serious tech news blog, but the format is significantly looser. Diana, having given up programming for philosophy, has her own philosophical blog NoodleFood. More of her work can be found at DianaHsieh.com.

 

Mechanical taster passes cheese test

9:29:55 am mst / 22 January 2001 found by paul / filed in inventions / source Nature 16 hits / 1 comment / 0 e-mails

Using a new technique known as "proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry" (PTR–MS) Italian food scientists have developed an "artificial nose" capable of discerning subtle differences in the smell and flavor of mozzarella cheese just as accurately as human experts. The device "could distinguish milky aromas from olive smells, for instance, and correctly picked out the only one of eight mozzarella samples prepared using citric acid."

Pretty amazing. Too bad they haven't gotten it to work yet for wine tasting. I'd love to see a version that could generate snooty-but-accurate reviews like a pretentious wine critic. ("A laughable rose, with just a hint of impertinence...")

Comments

This comment board has been retired.

When it can be comparable to Robert Parker's nose- by wen 1:54:57 pm mst / 22 January 2001 / # 1

Then maybe we could do the wine thing: The Atlantic Monthly article.