By Kevin E. Noonan — Perception by the five human senses (sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch) varies significantly between individuals and populations. Some use these differences to their advantage, such as sommeliers capable of detecting exquisite shadings in wines (or even the difference between the taste of Coke and Pepsi; see Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink). Taste and smell are closely correlated, and the genetic bases of these differences and interdependencies have the potential to provide insights on how these differences can be accounted for, to better understand the genetic bases of perception itself. Recently, an international* team of researchers published…
