this post was submitted on 28 May 2024
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[–] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 116 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (14 children)

There are lots of weird genetic traits. Sneezing triggered by sunlight is another funny one.

Veritasium video on that one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e69XZJ9DEj0

[–] Stern@lemmy.world 121 points 6 months ago (6 children)

I got the "cilantro tastes like soap" gene personally. Would much rather have gotten the, "Always remember where I left my car keys" gene, or maybe the, "Come up with witty retorts on the spot instead of two hours later in the shower" one.

[–] ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works 48 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (5 children)

At least you don't have my "sky-high cholesterol no matter what you eat" gene.

Also artificial sweeteners have an unpleasant chemical aftertaste that lingers for a long time. Apparently that's generic too...

[–] zod000@lemmy.ml 30 points 6 months ago (1 children)

TIL about the artificial sweetener thing, this explains a lot. I have never been able to understand people enjoying diet soda.

[–] 01101000_01101001@mander.xyz 10 points 6 months ago

Dude, same, and this is the first time I've heard of it. I thought the Diet Dr. Pepper commercials were just being cheeky when trying to compare it to dessert.

[–] massive_bereavement@kbin.social 15 points 6 months ago

have you tried ants?

[–] TexasDrunk@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)

My grandfather had low cholesterol no matter what. It was always perfect. This man ate more bacon and had more buttermilk and cornbread than anyone I've ever met in my life.

I have to watch mine pretty closely. Well, I should, but I'll just die horribly and early I guess. The alcohol will get me first anyway.

[–] ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works 4 points 6 months ago

Hah, my grandfather had heart problems and very high cholesterol so we gave him such a hard time for eating unhealthy food. But now I have been a vegetarian for almost twenty years (I try to avoid eggs and dairy too) and my cholesterol is just as high as his was, unless I take medications. So we should have just let him eat whatever he wanted to...

[–] Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 6 months ago

I find that most sweeteners have the aftertaste, like Canderel and Sweetex, but Hermesetas taste fine. It might be worth trying a few brands and seeing if any work for you

[–] MalReynolds@slrpnk.net 2 points 6 months ago

Look at Triglyceride to HDL ratio from the basic test, cholesterol is mostly about statins these days (sugar/carbs in the past), which only help mortality in ppl who've had heart attacks. Look into it.

[–] TurtleTourParty@midwest.social 25 points 6 months ago (5 children)

I love cilantro, but I got the celery tastes bitter and spicy gene. So many people tell me it's tasteless but it has a strong, terrible taste to me.

[–] ryannathans@aussie.zone 40 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Bitter and spicy kinda sounds like an allergy my dude

[–] Duranie@literature.cafe 8 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Celery tastes like that too me as well, but no allergy. I can eat it with no negative effects, other than the fact that I've had to taste celery.

[–] ryannathans@aussie.zone 3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

It's just that a lot of mild allergies sound just like that, no big obvious ill effects

[–] rudyharrelson@kbin.social 7 points 6 months ago (3 children)

Celery man. Everyone tells me it has no taste, but to me it tastes like an entire lawn's worth of grass clippings compressed into a stick. Extremely pungent.

Same with cucumbers. They taste awfully strong and bitter to me.

[–] The_v@lemmy.world 8 points 6 months ago

Look up the "TAS2R bitter taste receptor gene family". It's a fun little group of genes that control how well bitterness is detected.

I am a moderate bitter taster. So I do not like celery (mildly unpleasant flavor) and prefer cucumbers that contain the recessive bi gene that stops the production of cucubitacin in the plant. The ones that contain the bt gene, the skin gets too bitter for me. This gene mostly stops the cucubitacin production in the fruit but not the plant.

[–] Juice@midwest.social 4 points 6 months ago

Yeah I really don't like celery. Cucumbers are pretty good if they're peeled, but yeah they have a very strong taste to me, and the peel is very bitter

[–] MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 3 points 6 months ago

Your celery description seems apt to me, but for me it's much less pungent. It's actually super mild for me, so I don't mind it. I actually quite like celery.

[–] CobblerScholar@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago

Just to signal boost the other guy that sounds a lot like a food allergy friend

[–] jabathekek@sopuli.xyz 1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

I think I have half of that gene (2/3, cilantro is nice), fresh celery tastes salty and spicy. If it's old, then it tastes like water.

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[–] Juice@midwest.social 10 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Cilantro tasted like soap to me until my wife described it as lemony, and it suddenly tasted different and now I like cilantro. Senses are weird

[–] veganpizza69@lemmy.world 15 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Cognitive Modulation of Olfactory Processing: Neuron

We showed how cognitive, semantic information modulates olfactory representations in the brain by providing a visual word descriptor, “cheddar cheese” or “body odor,” during the delivery of a test odor (isovaleric acid with cheddar cheese flavor) and also during the delivery of clean air. Clean air labeled “air” was used as a control. Subjects rated the affective value of the test odor as significantly more unpleasant when labeled “body odor” than when labeled “cheddar cheese.” In an event-related fMRI design, we showed that the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)/medial orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) was significantly more activated by the test stimulus and by clean air when labeled “cheddar cheese” than when labeled “body odor,” and the activations were correlated with the pleasantness ratings. This cognitive modulation was also found for the test odor (but not for the clean air) in the amygdala bilaterally.

[–] jabathekek@sopuli.xyz 2 points 6 months ago

I think it's great how a screenshot of comment about a tiktok video is leading to some pretty great discussion.

[–] chatokun@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 6 months ago

If I eat cilantro by itself and focus on the idea of it tasting like soap, I can kinds taste it. It still tastes good to me, just with a hint of soapiness. It's not enough to ruin it for me, and I have to be looking for it.

[–] pigup@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

I love cilantro but one time I tasted the soap flavor. I had done a stir fry with cilantro and left the spoon in the still hot pot and there had been some cilantro stuck to the bottom of the spoon that sat there and cooked for as long as it took for the big pot to cool down. Then when I was doing dishes I picked up the spoon and I saw big bunch of cilantro so I ate it and it was horribly nasty and tasted like straight up hand soap. I thought for sure that some soap fell or splashed onto it but no it was just the cilantro. Never happened again either.

[–] tja@sh.itjust.works 2 points 6 months ago

I believe that's all on the same gene

[–] MalReynolds@slrpnk.net 2 points 6 months ago

The Frech have this good phrase, L'esprit de l'escalier

[–] MacStache@programming.dev 41 points 6 months ago (3 children)

I have that! Sneezed twice today because of bright sunlight. It can sometimes also be triggered voluntarily by looking at a bright light. You can't trigger it multiple times in a row though. I suspect this is because sinuses need to recover from the shock of the sneeze.

[–] OfCourseNot@fedia.io 13 points 6 months ago

I can sneeze several times in a row if a light is bright enough. I've even triggered it just thinking of the sun, a few times.

[–] QuantumStorm@lemmy.world 9 points 6 months ago

Yep same here! It's nice when you feel a sneeze coming on and then it stops, you can kinda force it to happen!

[–] Maalus@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Wait that's a genetic quirk? I do that shit all the time with "the sneeze that won't sneeze"

[–] llamapants@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

Sure is! It's my favourite superpower.

[–] FooBarrington@lemmy.world 19 points 6 months ago (3 children)

Still can't believe that some people are unable to smell rain coming in the summer!

[–] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 8 points 6 months ago

I honestly love that smell. It's relaxing.

[–] essteeyou@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Is that petrichor, or is that after rain?

[–] FooBarrington@lemmy.world 7 points 6 months ago

Petrichor is after the rain, also an amazing smell! But sometimes there's also a distinct note before summer rain starts. Similar to petrichor, but different.

[–] theneverfox@pawb.social 2 points 6 months ago

People used to make fun of me all the time for sniffing and saying "smells like it's going to rain soon". Couldn't even tell you what it smells like... It just smells like the concept of it starting to rain

I've met others who knew exactly what I was talking about, but not many

[–] insufferableninja@lemdro.id 7 points 6 months ago (1 children)

wait, not everyone gets that?

Nope, i dont remember the occurence rate tho. Just watch the video if u wanna know more lol

[–] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I have sunlight-sneezing, my thoughts are spoken word, I can read in dreams, the dress is gold, and I alway hear "laurel."

What others are there?

[–] fiercekitten@lemm.ee 3 points 6 months ago

Wait, you can read in dreams? The letters don't constantly change?

[–] Webster@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago

I have a slightly different version of this. I get sneezing fits when too full. It's genetic and happens to most people on one side of my family. Thanksgiving is always fun.

[–] Ibaudia@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago

I have the sunlight sneeze. I would much rather be able to smell ants.

This feels like a shitty superpower what-if.

[–] Aussiemandeus@aussie.zone 5 points 6 months ago

I sneeze from sunlight, luckily it's only the first time for the day or very bright light.

[–] jupyter_rain@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Maybe not genetically, but fun fact about sneezing-quirks: There exists "Sneezing induced by sexual ideation or orgasm. Source: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=2084455232396039941&hl=de&as_sdt=0,5#d=gs_qabs&t=1716906331494&u=%23p%3D-Y8j_fJVLLsJ

[–] fiercekitten@lemm.ee 3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Wait, I'm not the only one?? Amazing!

Me: -- Seeing bright light -- coughing -- thinking certain sexy thoughts

Brain: "Make her sneeze!"

That'd be me. Nobody else I know does it, either. I try to explain it and they're like "yeah, I try to look up at a light to help sneeze" and that's just not it.

[–] Winter8593@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

Wait I have that one! My dad has it too, but my brother doesn't. All three of us are colorblind too lol.

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

The sneezing one must be an extreme case of our normal reactions, because I read years ago that if you're on the verge of a sneeze, and it's not happening, you should look at a bright light. 50% of the time, it works every time.

[–] FlihpFlorp@lemm.ee 1 points 6 months ago

I have the sun sneezes

Actually it also triggers if go from really dark to really bright like turning on the bathroom light at night

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