Insects recognize thousands of different tastes, not just basic categories like salty and sweet

Ever wonder why regular and diet soda taste so different? Both are sweet, but new research from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) may explain how you can tell one from another. The study, published in the September 1 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, shows for the first time that the moth brain can detect and interpret thousands of individual tastes, not just broad categories of taste as was previously thought.

Insects recognize thousands of different tastes, not just basic categories like salty and sweet

Photo courtesy of Dr. Graeme Lowe and the Journal of Neuroscience.

Read more View All News

This page was last updated on Friday, January 21, 2022