Protons Taste Like Sour Balls

You’d think that the question “What do protons taste like?” would be one of those unanswerable questions like “What color are electrons?” or “Why does George Lucas think he can write dialogue?” But it turns out there is a taste for protons…and it’s sour as hell.

Professor Stefan Frings, of the Frings Group at Heidelberg University Institute of Zoology, Heidelberg, Germany, has published a paper called the The sour taste of proton current which posits that since “sour” tastes are linked to the presence of hydrogen ions, that our tongues are basically sensing the ion’s extra protons.

So our tongues aren’t just handy eating, speaking and sexual devices, they’re also proton detectors that communicate with our brains through sourness. How’s that for nifty science?

[Improbable Research via io9]

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