The Taste of Science

The Core of the Milky Way NASA/JPL-Caltech/S. Stolovy (SSC/Caltech)

Locally sourced organic food is so passe. Meet "the world's first entirely synthetic gourmet dish." The future of haute cuisine, according to one Michelin chef, will be formed from tartaric acid, 4-O-a-glucopyranosyl-D-sorbitol, and triacylglycerol. After all, he says, sugar is just as artificial as anything else.

Also in today's links: the taste of evolution, the taste of the Milky Way, and more.

• Astronomers are suggesting that, due to the presence of a substance called ethyl formate, the Milky Way might taste like raspberries. It also sounds like birds chirping and feels like a puppy's belly.
• Perhaps it's important that we explore new culinary frontiers, if we want to evolve. One scientist argues that cooking was one of the main factors in the evolution from ape to human.
• Schizophrenics may want to beware of eating bread and pasta. Researchers have found a link between the illness and gluten, which seems able to prompt symptoms, or trigger schizophrenia in people who have a genetic predisposition.
• And as if pregnant women don't have enough to worry about what they eat, Canadian researchers are examining whether folic acid -- which women are urged to take to avoid spina bifida in their child -- is linked to a higher risk of cancer in offspring later in life.