The first thing to note is that we are not talking about replacing someone’s tongue which may have been lost in an accident. At least, not yet. An artificial tongue has been designed to help to identify chemicals in a liquid environment. Don’t be disappointed, it is still interesting.
Our tongues contain taste buds which allow us to differentiate and identify a whole range of tastes and flavours. What scientists have done, is produce a device which copies how taste buds work. The artificial tongue is made from a remarkable material called graphene. It is a form of carbon which can be just an atom thick, but show amazing strength.
In this particular case, the artificial tongue uses graphene oxide membranes. These extremely thin membranes act as filters to identify ionic types of tastes. They are able to accomplish this by slowing the ions down in liquid. In this way, they are able to identify different chemicals in greater detail. Once identified, the device remembers this information and is able to use it in the future when identifying new substances. What we are saying is, that like the human tongue, the artificial one is learning the different tastes to help it in future identifications.
What are the practical applications of this process? It is hoped that it will be able to test that food is safe and mat even be able to identify some diseases. There is also another use, and that is it could help Artificial Intelligent computers to “think” and process information like the human brain. This is called “neuromorphic computing”. The future is said to be bright, but what will it taste of?
John Pullen 