Surprising factors that change your sense of taste
Our tongue recognizes five basic tastes: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami. As reported in Popular Science, the taste you actually experience is not that simple. For example, a dish with a descriptive name receives more praise than the same food with a mediocre name, such as “succulent Italian seafood filet” versus “seafood filet.” Also, spoons made from copper or zinc may be used to help people eat less salt, as they can enhance saltiness. Moreover, soda in a blue glass is more thirst quenching than other colours, likely because blue is associated with cold. In addition, temperature, environment, expectations, and memory can also influence your taste.
New waterproof coating can keep paper dry
Have you ever experienced the irritation that comes with having notes damaged by a bottle of water? According to a news release from SiO2 International Inc., the company has found a solution to keep paper dry. Their product, a special kind of coating called SiO2 Paper PROTECT, is “invisible,” distortion-resistant, and “better than any solvent or water-based product used for the paper industry today.” The biggest advantage is that the new paper coating is non-toxic, which means it can be used in food packaging, health care, cosmetics, and many other industries.
iPhone can track you, even when its battery dies
According to Daily Mail, Apple is able to collect user data even after an iPhone battery dies. This is because the phone reserves a small amount of power for its central processor (M7 for iPhone 5S) even after its battery runs out, which allows its built-in motion sensor to track a user’s movement. This data can then be used in selected third-party apps. Fortunately, the phone cannot track location, and all data on the M7 chip is encrypted and then deleted after seven days.