2026 5+6

A review examining the molecular and computational foundations of taste perception, charting progress toward a 'digital language of taste'—computational frameworks that could describe, model and predict taste in ways analogous to how odour has been mapped.

A comparative analysis mapping the flavourings used across tobacco and related products, characterising the flavour landscape of these categories and how their flavour components compare (Nicotine & Tobacco Research).

Harvard Medical School researchers report creating the first-ever 'smell map', a framework mapping how odours relate to one another and to the brain's olfactory system—an advance toward understanding and even digitising the sense of smell.

Analysing Pilsner beer by GC-O, only nine of 76 quantified odorants exceeded sensory thresholds, and a 25-odorant model failed to reproduce malty/estery notes. Reconstitution with all 76 showed many trace and sub-threshold compounds act synergistically to define beer aroma. Sensory tests found a metallic note when beer met dried squid—traced to (Z)-1,5-octadien-3-one, formed seven times less in sake—giving component-level evidence for sake's better seafood pairing.

University of Oregon researchers repurposed a potentiostat—normally used for batteries and fuel cells—to send current through coffee, yielding an electrical fingerprint of its flavour. This separates roast colour from strength, giving roasters and baristas a measurable target for consistency beyond refractive index alone. In a blind test it correctly flagged a failed quality-control sample, a step toward understanding why we enjoy coffee at molecular precision (Nature Communications).