Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2020 November 25

= November 25 =

Preservation of the senses
I have lately been thinking of the five major senses in humans. I have come to the conclusion that taste is the only sense that cannot be preserved. Here is my reasoning: Is this reasoning correct? J I P &#124; Talk 00:34, 25 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Sight. Can be digitally preserved forever.
 * Hearing. Can be digitally preserved forever.
 * Smell. The physical object emits a stench continuously.
 * Touch. The physical object can be touched at any time.
 * Taste. Requires actual consumption of the physical object, which destroys all or part of it.
 * Googling the question of whether scents fade over time, consensus is that they do. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 02:53, 25 November 2020 (UTC)


 * Maybe they can be preserved digitally with good enough mass spectrometry though it's more complicated than taking a picture. 2602:24A:DE47:BB20:50DE:F402:42A6:A17D (talk) 06:34, 25 November 2020 (UTC)
 * That would suggest a way to artificially produce the scent, just as a given flavor can be artificially produced. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 08:51, 25 November 2020 (UTC)
 * mass spectrometer wouldn't help. You need to reconstruct the molecules (which may be very complex) and not just the elements ratios. אילן שמעוני (talk) 18:59, 1 December 2020 (UTC)
 * The reasoning has only a limited validity. The inviting smell of a freshly prepared bowl of chili con carne will within a few days become a stench indeed; while the bowl may keep emitting this stench for a considerable time, I think you cannot say the (original) smell has been preserved. The Yangtze giant softshell turtle is functionally extinct. Can we preserve the delicate touch of a live Yangtze giant softshell turtle? And what about the gentle nuzzling of a Bramble Cay melomys? Later generations will never know. There is no principled distinction between smelling and tasting. In either case, molecules stemming from a finite collection are consumed. Physical touching will also generally remove some molecules from the touched object. In the Grimm story "The Shepherd Boy", we are told that the first second of eternity will be over when the Diamond Mountain, two miles and a half high, wide and deep, is worn away by a little bird sharpening its beak on the mountain once every hundred years. Eventually, the mountain will be worn away. --Lambiam 09:05, 25 November 2020 (UTC)


 * Just to echo Lambiam's point re: tasting and smelling. Aside from the basic types of taste (sweet, sour, bitter, salt, umami, but see also taste for the nuances), most of what we consider "flavour" is smell. And, per their other points, smells definitely do change and fade over time. Matt Deres (talk) 18:41, 25 November 2020 (UTC)
 * Hence the old blindfold, nose-pinch taste test between an apple slice and a raw potato slice. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 14:05, 26 November 2020 (UTC)


 * This seems to be only a question of how long something can be preserved. It will disappear sooner or later..--Shantavira|feed me 09:48, 25 November 2020 (UTC)

What material is this?
What material are these birds made of? They were made in India decades ago. Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 23:13, 25 November 2020 (UTC)
 * It might be some sort of animal horn or hoof. It has grain, looks translucent, and could be bent at the heads, so probably not stone or wood. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 02:10, 26 November 2020 (UTC)


 * I was thinking it might be a horn or tusk of some kind. They are 12 inches and 10 inches tall, for scale.  Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 02:15, 26 November 2020 (UTC)
 * This similar figure and numerous others on Google are carved from horn. Given the religious status of cattle in India, water buffalo seems to be the most likely donor. Alansplodge (talk) 08:53, 26 November 2020 (UTC)


 * That link is to one that is very similar, thanks! Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 17:04, 26 November 2020 (UTC)
 * That also seems most likely, given their sizes. The figures could represent egrets or cranes. --Lambiam 11:33, 26 November 2020 (UTC)
 * India has a fair number of birds of that shape, but my guess would be the sarus, as it seems particularly revered. Matt Deres (talk) 14:51, 26 November 2020 (UTC)