Babble - 4-14-04

Bedtime for Bandit

So, every night, Bandit sleeps in his crate that's in our bedroom. He's allowed on our bed while we're watching TV and stuff, but when we go to sleep, he has to go into his crate. Anyways, Marc and I (jokingly) argue about this every night, because I want to let the dog sleep on the bed, but Marc doesn't. Like when it's bedtime, Marc will tell the dog to "go to bed" and I'll try to cover his ears or something, hehe.

So yesterday Marc had to get to work really early, and we were going to carpool in together. Everyone knows I'm notorious for not being a morning person and being extremely difficult to wake up unless I'm very motivated for some reason or another. So Marc made a deal with me that if I could get up by 5:30 am, the dog could sleep on the bed for one night.

And I did it! I got to work sooo early yesterday (one of the maintenance guys was like, "how come you're here so early?" because literally no one else was there). Heck, I even beat my boss to work (by like a minute), and he's always one of the first people at work.

So anyways, last night, the cats got locked out of the room, and Bandit got to stay outside his crate. The funny thing is, Marc woke up really early this morning, and found that he'd gone to sleep inside his crate anyways! So he closed the door to the crate, and let the cats back in the room (Stubby had been pounding on the door).

Silly dog!

Toothpaste

A few days ago, Marc and I were talking about how some foods, like orange juice, taste really nasty after you brush your teeth. I started thinking about it because I tried to have lemonade after brushing my teeth one day, and an entire glass later, and it still tasted gross.

My thought was maybe because toothpaste is alkaline and orange juice and lemonade are acidic, and the combination of the two was what caused the bad taste. Because things like milk seem to taste perfectly fine.

So I tried to Google the question, "Why does food taste bad after you brush your teeth?" But I didn't get a sufficient answer. So I tried Ask Jeeves, and asked the same question. I got a few things that were close, but not close enough. So I went and changed "food" to "orange juice" and tada! I got my answer. It was from a webpage with a bunch of chemistry Q&A for kids.

Kids, does orange juice taste awfully bitter to you right after brushing your teeth? If so, you are one of about 2/3 of the population who has a taste gene on your tongue that allows you to detect certain bitter compounds. The other 1/3 of you lacks this gene. When one of you who has the gene brushes your teeth with a toothpaste that contains sodium lauryl sulfate (or SLS), you notice this bitterness effect. SLS reduces the sweet taste of sucrose (sugar) and at the same time strengthens the bitterness of citric acid (responsible for the sour and bitter taste of orange juice) by about ten times! If you would like to see if you inherited this gene or not, select a toothpaste that contains SLS in the list of ingredients. Take a sip of orange juice and note the relative strength of the sweet, sour, and bitter tastes. Rinse your mouth with water, then vigorously brush your teeth with the toothpaste. Rinse with water again, then taste the orange juice again. Are the relative intensities of the tastes very different now?

Taste begins with an ion or molecule docking in receptors on the tongue or palate. The substances that trigger sweet and bitter tastes are usually large, complex organic molecules that fit these receptors like keys in a lock. In contrast, salty and sour tastes are triggered by tiny positive ions. SLS is one of the most widely used detergent molecules. It is a large organic molecule found in toothpaste, laundry detergents, and specialty detergents such as Woolite®. The reason why some of you won't notice the taste effect of SLS is because you may be insensitive to the bitter tastes of compounds called phenylthiourea and propylthiouracil, and less sensitive to bitter flavors such as caffeine, potassium chloride, and certain preservatives. These people have failed to inherit a gene from their parents that makes them sensitive to bitter tastes. Some people have inherited the gene from just one parent, and they experience the bitterness effect to a lesser degree.

So I guess this doesn't affect everyone, whoever you lucky people are. Boy am I glad to have that question off my chest!

Talk about this in the forums!