Last month human saliva got its due, with the awarding of the 2018 Ig Nobel Prize for chemistry, as an effective agent to clean surfaces. This month, pillars and pancakes are served up as an effective way to pattern surfaces so that those surfaces will be self-cleaning. Pillar/pancake details are in the new study “Pillars […]
Tag: saliva
Techniques in Saliva Collection: Bacon Smell Rules, Lozenge Drools
Certain studies are tongue in cheek. This certain study is interested in the fluids between the tongue and cheek. Mouthwatering science abounds in the article, “New Techniques for Augmenting Saliva Collection: Bacon Rules and Lozenge Drools.” Hoping to find a method that increases the rate mouth fluids can be collected, researchers had volunteers’ saliva analyzed […]
What the Frog’s Saliva Does for the Frog’s Tongue
Ig Nobel Prize winner David (“urination duration in mammals”) Hu and colleagues turned their intense gaze toward frog tongues and saliva. They published this study: “Frogs use a viscoelastic tongue and non-Newtonian saliva to catch prey,” Alexis C. Noel, Hao-Yuan Guo, Mark Mandica, David L. Hu, Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 2017, 14, 20160764. […]
How much saliva does a five-year-old kid produce? (podcast #92)
How do you measure how much saliva a five-year-old kid produces in a day? A Japanese study describes one approach, and we go with that flow (to an extent), in this week’s Improbable Research podcast. SUBSCRIBE on Play.it, iTunes, or Spotify to get a new episode every week, free. This week, Marc Abrahams discusses a published saliva-filled study, with dramatic readings from Nicole Sharp, creator of FYFD, the internet’s most popular […]
Parents’ Saliva: A Cleaning Fluid for Pacifiers
The presumed link between cleanliness and parental goodliness may need a slight refocusing, suggests this study: “Pacifier Cleaning Practices and Risk of Allergy Development,” Bill Hesselmar [pictured here], Fei Sjöberg, Robert Saalman, Nils Åberg, Ingegerd Adlerberth and Agnes E. Wold, Pediatrics, epub May 6, 2013. The authors, at Queen Silvia Children’s Hospital, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, […]
“Mouth to Nose Merging System”
A new “Mouth to Nose Merging System” (the crucial components of which can be seen in the diagram above) has been developed by a joint research team from L’UNAM Université and Université de Caen France. The researchers having noted that : “The relations between odour and texture notably are not very clear and results from […]
Mouthwatering research — What, Exactly, is “Mouthwatering”?
“Although widely perceived, there is no clear physiological mechanism for the sensation known as ‘mouthwatering’ “ say researchers Yovaan Ilangakoon and Dr. Guy Carpenter in the Journal of texture studies (Volume 42, Issue 3, pages 212–216, June 2011). The team, based at the Salivary Research Unit of King’s College London Dental Institute, performed a set […]
The virtues of bread & saliva
Saliva as a food ingredient is not an entirely new concept. (See the item here on saliva noodles.) For an earlier take, sample Nicholas Robinson’s book TREATISE ON THE VIRTUES and EFFICACY OF A CRUST of BREAD, Eat early in a Morning Fasting: To which are added, Some particular REMARKS concerning CURES accomplished by the […]
Discouraged from eating saliva noodles
“Chinese locals discouraged from eating saliva noodles” says the CRI.cn headline (thanks to Barfblog for spotting it). The report, about the town of Changxing, says: “The Chinese Business View reported on Thursday that the township government has launched a 500 yuan award for the first six families that do not treat their guests to ‘xian […]