Electric Fork Simulates a Salty Flavor By Shocking Your Tongue (med.news.am)

An anonymous reader writes: It's common knowledge that excess sodium can be detrimental to one's health. So researchers in Japan have built a prototype electric fork that uses electrical stimulation to stimulate the taste of salt. The battery-powered fork was engineered and designed at the University of Tokyo's Rekimoto Lab. It features a conductive handle that completes a circuit when the tines make contact with a diner's tongue, electrically stimulating their taste buds. The prototype fork, which was built from just $18 worth of electronics, creates a sensation of both salty and sour, and has adjustable levels of stimulation.

Comments

Re:What are the chances

[GrumpySteen]

ahem

Full Definition of electrocute
        transitive verb
      1 : to execute (a criminal) by electricity
      2 : to kill by electric shock

Notice that the definition of electrocute involves dying? When you say "mild electrocution", you're saying "mildly dead", which doesn't really make a lot of sense.

You're welcome to use the word as you want, of course (that's one of the fundamental things that makes English a living language) but when someone else is using the word, you need to be aware of the dictionary meaning of the word or communication suffers.

That having been said, electricity takes the path of least resistance. The only way the path between the tines of the fork will be through your heart or the nerves that drive your heart will be if the fork has been stabbed into your heart or your spine or, I suppose, just the right bit of your brain. In all three cases, you have much bigger and more lethal problems than the minuscule amount of current between the tines of the fork.

Common Knowledge is wrong

[darthsilun]

ISTR hearing about new research showing that the amount of salt in your diet has little to no effect on coronary heart disease.

While we're on the subject, the amount of fat in your diet has been shown to have no effect on blood cholesterol levels.

Not that I'm suggesting you consume salt by the bucketful or anything.

Re:Common Knowledge is wrong

[Anonymous Coward]

Very much this.

The links between salt consumption and disease is only apparent in a small number of people that seem to have some sensitivity to salt.
These people have an underlying condition(s) that has remained un-diagnosed for decades because of a horribly flawed STUDY (one, ONE!) that was never re-tested until recently, where it was ripped apart.

I've known people to actually eat salt in massive amounts and he is 86 this year.
No heart issues. No high blood pressure.
He had a minor stroke. Want to know why? He had a bad habit of sleeping on a tough leather couch. That would make even the fittest people have a stroke, regardless of sodium amount.
Deep vein thrombosis is a huge problem with frequent travellers, which is why you should always get some exercise. Even doing some in-seat exercises will help prevent it. The things you can do to prevent such simple blood clots are easy.

Yet there are people that go nuts over even minor amounts of salt that it is almost likely the stress and anxiety OVER salt itself that is causing the high blood pressure. (it isn't entirely the case though)
This device will certainly help some people out with intolerance to it, at least until they figure out the root cause of it. (which could just be salt, there are people with intolerances to water on skin!)
Whatever it is, the fact it has remained unnamed for decades pisses me off more than the fact that salt was being blamed for it!

Re:It is also known..

[GrumpySteen]

Walk into any building that sells food on this planet and ask where the low-sodium-soy-free-non-MSG-no-additives-no-preservatives-no-growth-hormones-no-HFCS isle is.

You don't even have to ask. Just use some common sense.

Start with the fresh produce department, where the bulk of what you should be eating should be coming from anyway.

Rice of all sorts, quinoa, wheat, oats and other grains are also readily available and contain none of the things you listed, so you can get some variety in your carbohydrates if you're tired of potatoes and yams.

For protein, most stores will have at least half a dozen different types of dried beans. If you don't want to eat a vegetarian diet, it's not hard to find meat and eggs produced without growth hormones, antibiotics and so forth.

In other words, the only reason you're stuck with all the stuff you've listed in your food is because you're choosing to buy products that contain all that stuff. Buy the ingredients and cook your own food and you get to choose what goes into it.

Re:It is also known..

[mrchaotica]

Raw ingredients don't have "manufacturers." If you think eating healthy means buying the hipster organic processed food, you're doing it wrong.

Re:What are the chances

[ComputerGeek01]

Look up super capacitors.

Argh! Supercapacitors are special because of their resistance to leakage and a high energy density. They actually have a lower voltage so they discharge slower, are heavier AND more expensive than regular electrolytic or ceramic capacitors making them exactly the WRONG choice for the purpose of electrocuting someone based on every possible consideration. What you want is an electrolytic capacitor in series with the power supply and a pull-up resistor set in parallel with the resistor going to ground. Go back to the eighth grade you AC retard!