Marshall+Crayton

=Smell and Taste=

Goals:
The purpose of this experiment was to figure out two things. First and most important was to figure out if and how the sense of smell was involved in the perception of taste. The second was to figure out if there was any sort of differences among taste perception in males and females. By doing this project I hope to gain a greater understanding of how the sense of taste and smell interact, and from there try to figure out how other senses interact with each other in everyday use.

Discoveries:
In doing this project i discovered a few key facts. One was that the sense of taste is by far the worst of the five basic senses. I also discovered that the taste in your mouth only accounts for about 20 % of the total taste; the other 80% comes from your nose. In doing this experiment I learned that receptors in your nose must be picky and recognize hundreds of thousands of scents to detect certain tastes and flavors. This explains why someone wouldn't be able to taste food when their nose is blocked. I also found out that there is not a great deal of difference in terms of how well you can taste, although an interesting project would to identify supertasters, regular tasters, and non tasters, an experiment that deals with how much you can taste. Another discovery I made was that you actually lose taste as you grow older so that things you may have found bitter before may become less bitter to you as you age.

Challenges/Solutions:
There were a few challenges that were presented when I did this project. The most urgent was finding time to do the project. But by testing my friends when i was around them, i was able to hang out with them, and get work done. Another problem i ran into was interpreting the data. Because the observations were second hand I had to rely on people's sensations in their mouth, I couldn't be sure that they were putting the right words to the sensations they were describing. To solve this, I tried as best as I could to outline the vocabulary and give them prompt questions that would help them accurately describe the sensations and flavors.

Looking Back:
In retrospect, there are two really important things i would have changed. First, I would have started earlier because the project takes up a lot of time. And the days go by so quickly that to procrastinate on the project makes it harder to do it. Secondly, I would have gone to Mrs. Sweeney a lot more often because she helps out so much in planning the next thing to do on the project, and things to look for or redo.

5 Things I Wish I Knew:
1. The best way to go about your bio project is getting started early 2. Check in with Mrs. Sweeney often; she knows what she's doing 3. Leave plenty of time to test volunteers.( More is always better) 4. Sometimes a picture can say just as much as words can. 5. Research is very important to adding and supporting details in your conclusion.