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  • Different sections of tongue do NOT actually detect different types of tastes!

    // Gradly // blog, Rants & Raves, science 1 Response

    This myth is commonly proliferated by diagrams (like the one on the right) which depict a tongue’s primary senses of taste: sourness, sweetness, bitterness, saltiness, and savoriness (umami). These pictures typically show a tongue separated into quadrants by taste, but each of its 10,000 taste buds are identical! Every one of these buds contains 50-100 specialized receptor cells, each with a specialized taste hair that sticks out and detects food chemicals in saliva. Each test hair is programmed to respond to one of the five basic tastes, and when a hair is stimulated, it sends nerve impulses to the brain.Check what this BBC science article had to say about the matter:

    Your mouth contains around 10,000 taste buds, most of which are located on and around the tiny bumps on your tongue. Every taste bud detects five primary tastes:

    * Sour
    * Sweet
    * Bitter
    * Salty
    * Umami – salts of certain acids (for example monosodium glutamate or MSG)

    Each of your taste buds contains 50-100 specialised receptor cells. Sticking out of every single one of these receptor cells is a tiny taste hair that checks out the food chemicals in your saliva. When these taste hairs are stimulated, they send nerve impulses to your brain. Each taste hair responds best to one of the five basic tastes.

    Tastes and flavours

    For you to enjoy the full flavour of a sizzling Sunday roast or a rich chocolate mousse, you need more than your basic tastes. You also require your sense of smell. If you have a cold, the lining of your nose swells and you temporarily lose your sense of smell. Even though your tongue is still able to identify the basic tastes, the food you eat will taste bland.

    Additionally, temperature and texture influence how much you appreciate foods. When you eat ‘hot’ foods like chilli peppers, you actually excite the pain receptors in your mouth.

  • Samsung will ship half of its processors to Apple in 2011

    // Gradly // Apple, blog, News, Rants & Raves 1 Response

    Samsung and Apple look to be on good terms. Samsung is planning to quadruple the shipment of its mobile processor chips to chief smartphone rival Apple. Apple was receiving about 5,000 application processor sheets per month from Samsung, this is to increase to 20,000 sheets. Fifty percent of Samsung’s application processors will be given to Apple, meaning Apple will receive more processors than Samsung’s own mobile division.

    The application processor is like the CPU for PCs in mobile devices and with interests in smartphones and tablet PCs exploding this is a smart move for both companies. Samsung is now building a $3.6 billion chip processing factory in Austin, TX and a majority of the processors from that factory are thought to be for Apple.

    [Via: Korea Times]

  • Heavy Rain Film Adaptation on the Fast Track

    // Gradly // blog, Movies, News, PS3 1 Response

    The film rights to Heavy Rain have been owned for several years now, and it looks as if things are moving in a very positive direction. According to Variety, David Milch has signed on to adapt the game for the big screen.

    Milch was a co-creator and writer for NYPD Blue, John from Cincinnati, and Deadwood, among other things. He’s currently at work on a new series about horse racing for HBO called Luck. Once he’s done with the first season, he’ll begin writing Heavy Rain, Variety had to say about the project:

    David Milch is heading into “Heavy Rain,” signing to adapt the noir-style videogame with Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne producing through their Unique Features banner.

    As first reported on Variety.com, “Rain” is being developed via Unique’s first-look deal with Warner Bros., which is fast-tracking the project. Milch will start writing “Rain” once he’s finished work on the first season of HBO’s horse-racing series “Luck,” on which he’s creator and exec producer.

    “Heavy Rain,” based on the Sony Computer Entertainment game released last year, spans four days of mystery and centers on the hunt for a murderer known as the Origami Killer. Four characters, each following his own leads and with his own motives, take part in a desperate attempt to prevent the killer from claiming a new victim, with each character’s decisions affecting the plans of the other three.

    Milch has a big following from his role as creator/exec producer of “NYPD Blue” and “Deadwood.” “David Milch’s incredible ability to transform intense and complex storylines into gripping, popular drama makes him the perfect partner for us to have on ‘Heavy Rain,’ ” Shaye said.

    The game was created by Paris-based Quantic Dream, developers of “Indigo Prophecy,” and built around a 2,000-page script written by founder and CEO David Cage. Unique’s Dylan Sellers and Jonna Smith will join Shaye and Lynne in the development of the project along with Warner exec Courtenay Valenti.

    Shaye and Lynne, the former toppers at New Line, signed their first-look deal at Warners in 2008 a few months after the studio dramatically cut operations at the mini-major.

  • Is Apple taking steps toward Liquid Metal?!

    // Gradly // Apple, blog 3 Responses

    Are Apple’s computers heading to a darker liquid metal from their now standard aluminum just like the bar on the Apple.com website (and Lion OS)? Perhaps, we’re not sure if the new material makes a good exterior shell. But Apple has invested into the new technology that is radio transparant and has some unique properties (like crazy bounce!). Some have noted that the change in color change of the top bar coincides with the new material’s outward appearance:

    Reports have suggested that Apple would use the liquid metal in battery cases and it was revealed before that Apple was already using the material as the SIM ejector tool in iPhones.