Have you ever rubbed nuts ON your nuts? Because maybe you should. According to Business Insider, researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Center were studying the ability of mice to taste stuff, and they accidentally found mice testes have taste receptors. And as unlikely (and kinda unappetizing) as it sounds, they’re there for a reason:
New research, published today (July 1) in the journal Proceedings Of The National Academy of Sciences, found that these taste proteins for sweet and umami (the amino acid taste of soy sauce) not only exist in the testes, but they play an important role in mouse fertility.
They were originally trying to develop mice that didn’t have these receptors for use in taste-related studies, but soon realized that these mice were unable to reproduce if they were missing the taste receptors.
The researchers saw that if you either removed these receptors from the mouse testes or blocked their function, the mice became infertile.
So if anyone gives you flak for putting sushi down your pants, just tell them it’s science.
Thankfully, those of us without balls can also enjoy tasting things with unexpected body parts. The researchers also reported that the brain, lungs, pancreas, and intestines have taste receptors, so all those times I accidentally inhaled powdered sugar off a donut* weren’t for naught.
Science has no idea WHY your cojones can taste stuff (or why eliminating those taste receptors contributes to infertility), so just enjoy the food play while you can.
*Not a coke euphemism. I eat a lot of donuts.
