TASTE BUDDIES

Enlarge this image

Boxes of lemons are packaged for sale at the New Covent Garden fruit and vegetable wholesale market, Nine Elms on February 4, 2017 in London, England. Jack Taylor/Getty Images hide caption

Boxes of lemons are packaged for sale at the New Covent Garden fruit and vegetable wholesale market, Nine Elms on February 4, 2017 in London, England.

Pucker up, duderinos! Short Wave's kicking off a series on taste we're calling, "Taste Buddies." In today's episode, we meet Atlantic science writer Katherine Wu and together, we take a tour through the mysteries of sourness — complete with a fun taste test. Along the way, Katie serves up some hypotheses for the evolution of sour taste because, as Katie explains in her article, "The Paradox of Sour," researchers still have a lot to learn about this weird taste.

Baffled by another mundane aspect of our existence? Email the show at shortwave@npr.org and who knows — it might turn into a whole series!

This episode was produced by Rebecca Ramirez, edited by Stephanie O'Neill and fact-checked by Katherine Sypher.

taste buds

taste perception

taste

See Short Wave sponsors and promo codes