Taste

Do you ever wonder about the science behind your food? We do, too. Our group of writers serves up juicy topics like genetic engineering, gut bacteria and the chemical reactions that occur during cooking.

For the first time, the public has been treated to the spectacle of lab-grown meat cooked and eaten via live Webcast. Backed by Google billionaire Sergey Brin, Dutch tissue engineer Mark Post unveiled his “cultured beef” at a press event on August 5, answering the question posed by a 2011 Scientific American feature: “When Will [...]

Favorite flavors might be programmed in infancy, leading to new research investigating how to rewire our bad dietary habits

Study subjects rated the same wine as tasting better when they were told it was more expensive. And their brains reacted differently to it when they thought it was pricier. Cynthia Graber reports.

Chemists have identified the key compounds that can make coffee too bitter--and caffeine is not the main culprit. Steve Mirsky reports.