Each of the basic tastes, she explained, is perceived by taste buds in a unique region on the tongue: sweet at the tip, salty and sour at the sides, bitter at the back. She gave the girls Q-tips ...

“Taste stimuli are detected by taste receptors in taste buds. You have small pink bumps on the tip of your tongue, which are fungiform papillae – these house taste buds”, explains Dr Qian ...