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Scientific American

March 1, 2001

1 min read

Making Sense of Taste

How do cells on the tongue register the sensations of sweet, salty, sour and bitter? Scientists are finding out and discovering how the brain interprets these signals as various tastes

By David V. Smith and Robert F. Margolskee

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Taste Fundamentals: Part 1

Taste Fundamentals: Part 2

Anatomy of Taste

DAVID V. SMITH and ROBERT F. MARGOLSKEE approach the study of taste from complementary angles. Smith's training is in psychobiology and neurophysiology. He is professor and vice chairman of the department of anatomy and neurobiology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where he has been since 1994, and is a member of the program in neuroscience there. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh and received postdoctoral training at the Rockefeller University. Margolskee's training is in molecular neurobiology and biochemistry. He is an associate investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a professor of physiology and biophysics and of pharmacology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, where he has been since 1996. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. in molecular genetics from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and did postdoctoral research in biochemistry at Stanford University. He founded the biotechnology company Linguagen in Paramus, N.J.

More by David V. Smith and Robert F. Margolskee
Scientific American Magazine Vol 284 Issue 3This article was originally published with the title “Making Sense of Taste” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 284 No. 3 ()
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