The nose knows combos
Q. Their unit was 80 strong and about to start a tour of duty that would see them deployed to war zones around the world to assist U.S. military operations. Can you guess the composition of the group? A. Bottlenose dolphins that with their agility, trainability and incredibly sensitive sonar proved invaluable to the U.S. Navy, says Arran Frood in “New Scientist” magazine. With little knowledge of cetaceans, veterinary officer Sam Ridgway — now called the grandfather of marine mammal science — took on their care. He also carried out pioneering research, establishing that dolphins “could dive to more than 300 meters and hold their breath for up to 10 minutes…,” and “could dive to those depths in less than a minute without getting the bends, something that a human can avoid only by descending over several hours.”
With these skills and specialized training in marking the location of targets, the marine mammals were deployed during the Vietnam War in 1968, after the Navy suffered the greatest loss of lives in a single incident. For the nine months the dolphins were at work in the harbor area, looking for swimmers and deterring anyone trying to reach the ships, no seaborne attacks occurred.
As Frood details, “Since then, US Navy dolphins have been deployed in Bahrain during the Iran-Iraq war of the late 1980s, and in Umm Qasr harbor during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. They have even guarded nuclear submarines.” The program continues to this day. Q. The Japanese celebrate Valentine’s Day with a twist and a turnabout. Can you explain? A. First, the twist: On Valentine’s Day in Japan, “girls and women give gifts of chocolate to boys and men, and not necessarily to those they are romantically linked to,” says Dan Lewis on his “Now I Know” website. Women present high-quality chocolate to their romantic interest and something called “obligation chocolate” to friends and co-workers. Men are the recipients, no gifts given.
For the turnabout, credit Japan’s National Confectionery Industry Association that in 1978 established “White Day” to be celebrated on March 14, one month after Valentine’s Day. Now, men are expected to “triple the return” to gift-givers, delivering not just chocolate but also cookies, marshmallows and even jewelry or lingerie. White chocolate was also heavily marketed for the occasion.
Concludes Lewis: “The White Day custom does not imply that a return-gift comes with specific romantic overtures, but simply a repayment of obligation — except, one assumes, in the case of things like lingerie.” Q. Chili powder and fruit: Yum! Coffee and olives: Yuck! More than taste buds are at work to tell the difference. Can you name the other factors? A. The nose, able to distinguish thousands of different flavor molecules, starts the process, with aroma compounds in the air reaching our noses even before we put food into our mouths, reports “How It Works: Book of Amazing Science.” Then, as we chew and swallow, air from the mouth and throat moves into the nose, carrying flavor molecules with it. Additional molecules are released as we break our food down even more. Once engaged, the taste buds respond to five basic tastes: salty, sweet, bitter, sour and umami, “enabling us to distinguish good food from bad.”
So, please pass the salt for the hot chocolate. (As the book explains: “Salt actually helps the cells on your tongue sense the presence of sugar, so it makes chocolate taste even sweeter.”) Yum!