WHY EVERYONE LOVES COLA

Your preference for Pepsi over Sprite may have nothing to do with the flavor. Australian researchers determined that even though caffeine can’t be tasted in soft drinks, it does make you like them more. “Caffeine is a mildly addictive compound that causes you to subconsciously favor beverages that contain it,” says study author Russell Keast, Ph.D. “The added benefit to soft-drink manufacturers is that it may also lead you to consume more.”

A MODERN SMELL TEST

Chinese scientists have invented a sensor that could detect spoiled milk and rancid canned goods at the checkout counter. For example, when passing under a magnetic device, a thin alloy strip in a milk carton would vibrate at a higher frequency in the more watery, spoiled product. The sensors could be guarding your supermarket milk within a year.

CRUSH YOUR MORNING CRAVINGS

A smart breakfast starts at night, according to Danish scientists. Participants in a recent study who at 10 grams of fiber at dinner reported feeling less hungry in the hours after their next morning meal than those who’d skipped the roughage. The extended effect of fiber appears to result from the way it’s broken down in the large intestine, say the study’s authors. The benefit: You’ll be less likely to raid the office candy bowl before lunch. So spoon some legumes onto your dinner plate. A cup of cooked black, kidney, lime, or garbanzo beans contains more than 10 grams of hunger-stomping fiber.

A STOMACH-SHRINKING PILL?

Gastric-bypass surgery may soon seem as medieval as the lobotomy. British scientists have discovered the two proteins that allow your stomach to expand to 4 liters from its “resting” capacity of 75 milliliters. (Just imagine two big soda bottles in your gut.) The researchers are now developing a drug that can block the proteins and keep your stomach from stretching-meaning you’ll feel fuller after a small meal, without the side effects of stomach stapling. The pill is expected to be available in 8 to 10 years.