Dr. Nimesha Ranasinghe, a National University of Singapore (NUS) researcher, has invented a digital gadget that can recreate the taste of virtual food and drinks. This so-called digital lollipop is capable of producing the four primary tastes: sweet, sour, salty and bitter.

There’s more: the NUS research team is developing Taste Over Internet Protocol (TOIP) that would allow taste information to be communicated between locations, a sort of instant taste messaging.

Potential applications of this technology could be virtually endless: health care, video gaming, social networks, digital taste sharing platforms, and many more.

Photo Credits: Jay Weidenbach