There’s a reason why tequila makes you sick, vegetables are gross, and lemons taste like candy. Molecular biologist and neuroscientist Steven Munger explained some of the most unusual facts about odor in a Reddit AMA this week.
Tongue maps are bullshit.
"The tongue map was a mistake from the get-go...a mistranslation from the early 20th century (from a German manuscript, I believe). It persists to this day, even in college textbooks," said Munger.
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This is how smell and taste works:
"When you eat something, your tongue detects chemicals in the food that elicit one or more of those five basic tastes (sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and umami)... Umami is the savory taste of glutamate... Odors from the food pass through the back of your mouth to your nose," said Munger. Your brain basically processes all these different signals to give you the perception of flavor.
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Some people have a distorted sense of smell.
The disorder is called parosmia. Basically, people with this condition "smell something, but it's different then what it should be."
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