SSS 2008-02-12（在线收听）

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I am Adam Hintertheur, got a minute?

These days it seems no one's job is safe from computerized replacements, now it is time to add coffee experts to that list. Scientists at the Nestlé Research Center in Switzerland have developed a coffee-tasting machine that can sip and evaluate a brew almost as well as professional human tasters.The machine takes a sample of the gases produced by a steaming shot espresso and analyzes dozens of ions associated with taste and aroma. Those ions are assigned to categories in a sensory evaluation dataset, but that doesn't mean the results are dry chemical formulas. In fact the machine has a vocabulary that would make any sommelier jealous.After it crunches the numbers, it spits out words like floury,woody and butter toffee to describe its drinking experience. Researchers say machines like this could be efficient monitors of quality control in the food industry and no matter how many cups a day it samples, the mechanized coffee taster will never get jittery. Nevertheless rumor has it that the machine has already demanded a daily 15-minute anything-but-coffee break.

Thanks for the minute, for Scientific American's 60-Second Science, I am Adam Hintertheur.