Scientists on Monday said they have come up with an artificial “tongue” that can distinguish subtle differences between whiskeys.
Experts at the University of Glasgow have built the miniature taster that can even tell the difference between the same brand aged in different barrels, with more than 99 percent accuracy.
It can also distinguish between whiskeys aged 12, 15 and 18 years, and can identify a host of different chemicals within a complex mixture.
Photo: AFP / University of Glasgow
It could be used not only for quality control, but also to combat the booming counterfeit alcohol trade — the method found several hugely expensive bottles of whiskey to be fake.
“We call this an artificial tongue, because it acts similarly to a human tongue,” said Alasdair Clark, a lecturer at the University of Glasgow’s School of Engineering. “Like us, it can’t identify the individual chemicals which make coffee taste different to apple juice, but it can easily tell the difference between these complex chemical mixtures.”
Whiskey is poured over a checkerboard pattern of tiny pieces of gold and aluminum — which act as “taste buds” — and researchers then measure how they absorb light while submerged.
Slight color changes in the gold and aluminum pieces are measured to build up a statistical profile for each of the samples.
“In addition to its obvious potential for use in identifying counterfeit alcohols, it could be used in food safety testing, quality control, security — really any area where a portable, reusable method of tasting would be useful,” Clark said.
Valuation and consultancy service Rare Whisky 101 last year in laboratory tests found that of 55 “rare” Scotch whiskies bought on the secondary market, 21 were fake.
The 21 bottles collectively could have been valued at about £635,000 (US$770,631), had they been genuine.
Annabel Meikle, director of the Keepers of the Quaich, a society of whiskey experts, said that the industry would welcome the technology.
“We really, as an industry, would welcome something which would help to stamp out the counterfeit whiskey,” she told BBC radio. “I don’t think the master blenders are going to be quaking in their boots, but really quite grateful.”
Meikle said that she could identify counterfeit whiskey by taste, but the technology could be used to replace some of the vast amount of routine human taste checking.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of