Classroom Questions

Questions for ‘Squirty gels bring food-like flavors to virtual reality’ 

a composite with a women holding a phone in front of her mouth. the phone has an image of a smiley face with tongue out.

A new device squirts chemical mixes — ones that mimic complex flavors — onto peoples’ tongues. It could be used to bring taste to virtual reality or help people recover a lost sense of taste.

Deagreez/Getty Images (photo) Yevhen Borysov/Getty Images (illustration)

By Science News Explores

To accompany ‘Squirty gels bring food-like flavors to virtual reality’

SCIENCE

Before Reading:

  1. How would you define virtual reality? What purposes does it have or could you imagine it having?
  2. List the five traditional senses. Consider how virtual reality (VR) technology has expanded the sensory experience of video games. (Even if you have not experienced VR, consider how you have seen it portrayed.) Does modern VR technology create sensory experiences for all five senses or only some of them? Briefly explain your answer.

During Reading:

  1. What does the e-Taste system detect in foodstuffs that allows it to mimic flavors?
  2. List the five basic tastes and the edible chemicals that are associated with them.
  3. Explain how e-Taste provides a tasting experience for one of the five basic tastes.
  4. The first stage of experimentation described in this story involves a sour taste. Write down a scientific question that this stage of experimentation worked to address.
  5. What flavors did researchers seek to mimic in the second experimentation stage?
  6. Write down a scientific question researchers worked to answer in the second experimentation stage. Summarize the findings of this experiment in one sentence.
  7. How are our senses of taste and smell similar in the way they operate?
  8. What are some next steps that researchers are planning to test using their VR taste technology?

After Reading:

  1. Researchers found that some complex tastes were easier than others for their subjects to recognize. Give one example from the article of an easier-to-identify complex taste. Then, give one example of a taste that testers struggled to identify. Consider the extent to which our other senses — not just taste — allow us to identify certain foods. Why do you think some tastes were easier to identify and some were more of a challenge?
  2. This article emphasizes the potential entertainment value of the e-Taste system. But what other applications of this technology does the story mention? Consider other ways this technology could provide benefits to people. Describe one potential application not mentioned in this story.

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