Ever wonder why it feels so good to pop a piece of, say, I don't know, holiday chocolate in your mouth?

Most of the aversion for food, if you think, of or liking actually comes from texture, which is much, much less studied.

We always say about taste, but food is much more than that.

It's Friday, December 29th, but food is much more than that.

It's Friday, December 29th, but you know, it tastes just like Science Friday.

I'm SciFri producer Shoshana Bucksbound.

A piece of good chocolate melting in your mouth is one of life's greatest pleasures. Coming up, we'll talk with

a researcher who created a sort of artificial tongue to better understand the friction required

to taste a tasty piece of chocolate. But first, looking at the science of owls. Here's

Cyphi's John Dankosky. I love these birds. I find the mysterious. In recent years, too,

I've been seeing a lot of them in the woods near my house. I love how they can just hunt so

silently, but also make really distinctive sounds when they want to be heard. I love having them

watch me from the trees. I could go on forever, but needless to say, I really,

really love owls. And scientists are learning a lot more about why they're such good predators,

how they're hearing and their night vision is so sharp, and how their flight is just so

quiet. So here to talk more about all things owls is my guest, Jennifer Ackerman.

She's the author of a new book What an Owl Knows, the New Science of the World's Most Enigmatic

Birds. She's based in Charlottesville, Virginia. Jennifer, welcome back to Science Friday.

It's such a pleasure. Thank you for having me.

The hoot of the owl is probably the most recognizable bird call that we have, but it's not just hoots that owls make or shrieks.

They've got a very sophisticated form of communication. What have scientists learned about how owls communicate?

Yeah, well, they've learned that a hoot is not just a hoot. you know, it's one of the really delightful surprises I learned

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