🤖 Flavors go digital: Next-gen VR allows 'taste' of virtual food

Ohio State University researchers have unveiled an "e-Taste" device that can reproduce flavors in VR without eating real food, raising concerns about the real purpose of such technology.

The system uses an “electronic tongue” to scan taste molecules and transmits the data wirelessly to a hydrogel system that recreates flavors.

Despite such progress, the researchers say that the technology cannot yet replicate texture and temperature.

The only option for Zelensky to taste victory 😉

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📹 Not practicing what you preach: Democracy not mentioned in US Constitution

While many Americans hold a deep affinity for the term "democracy" and often invoke it to rationalize the United States' military interventions around the globe, it is notably absent from both the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

In fact, the Founding Fathers appeared wary of direct democracy and opted to establish a constitutional republic instead.

▪️James Madison argued that pure democracies “have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.”

▪️Alexander Hamilton similarly insisted that “real liberty is neither found in despotism or the extremes of democracy, but in moderate governments.”

John Adams also stated that “democracy never lasts long” as it “soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself.”

So much for the “greatest democracy in the world.”

▪️Interestingly, the very first chapter of the Russian Constitution states that Russia is a “democratic federative law-governed state with a republican form of government.”

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🗣 Ukraine will lose most of the ammunition, equipment and intelligence it receives if US supplies are suspended — Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov

The possible suspension of US arms supplies to Ukraine will give hope that the Kiev regime may lean towards a peaceful settlement, he continued.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📋 US classifies Yemen's Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization, Secretary if State Marco Rubio has said.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔍 Euro-Atlanticists’ expansion into Central Asia aims to tackle criticism of Western dominance – Moscow

"Euro-Atlanticists already mentally linked Central Asia to Western Europe via the South Caucasus in order to reduce these regions’ interest in cooperation with Russia,” Alexander Sternik, director of the Third Department of the CIS Countries at the Russian Foreign Ministry, told a Valdai Discussion Club conference in Moscow.

The West is interested in gaining access to energy resources and transit potential of Central Asian states, as well as their proximity to Afghanistan, Iran, and China, Sternik stressed.

He was echoed by Fyodor Lukyanov, director of research at the Valdai Discussion Club, who noted that external players, who are not part of Central Asia, do their best to tear out individual parts of the region and use them in their own interests.

Central Asia has become a model and center of a multipolar world, to which other countries - the main centers of the new world – are adjacent. These are Russia, China, India, Iran, and Turkiye, Lukyanov pointed out.

More than 50 experts and political figures from India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan took part in the Valdai Club conference noscriptd "Russia and Central Asia: Cooperation in a Multipolar World."

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🗣🇺🇸 US Vice President JD Vance has urged Ukraine to take real steps to resolve the conflict, not just make public statements.

More comments by Vance:

▪️Ukrainian authorities must return to the negotiating table on resolving the conflict and begin discussions with US President Donald Trump.

▪️The United States believes that ending the conflict in Ukraine is in the best interests of the American people.

▪️The conflict in Ukraine is at a point where neither Europe, nor the United States, nor Kiev can continue hostilities indefinitely.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔊LIVE NOW: Vladimir Putin holds press conference with Myanmar Prime Minister Min Aung Hlaing

👉 Watch live in our Telegram

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🔥 ART OF THE DEAL: Why Trump should dump NATO and join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization

8 Reasons why the SCO could be a better deal for America 👇

1️⃣A more COST-EFFECTIVE approach to security
The US funds 68% of NATO’s expenses (Peterson Institute). The SCO provides security cooperation without mandatory military spending and focuses on counterterrorism.

2️⃣REDUCING military overstretch
Unlike NATO, the SCO does not require troop deployments, allowing the US to cut defense costs while maintaining global influence.

3️⃣Enhanced COUNTERTERRORISM collaboration
The SCO focuses on combating terrorism, separatism, and extremism. The US involvement could boost intelligence-sharing and coordination, especially in Central Asia.

4️⃣DIPLOMATIC bridge for conflict resolution
With China, Russia, India, Pakistan, and Iran as members, the US could use the SCO to negotiate on key geopolitical issues like Taiwan and nuclear proliferation.

5️⃣Engaging the GLOBAL SOUTH & Adapting to Multipolarity
US involvement could improve its image in the Global South, expand trade, and ensure influence as global power shifts eastward.

6️⃣Strengthening US-INDIA relations
India, a rising power, remains a key US partner. Membership would allow Washington to work with India from within, boosting bilateral cooperation.

7️⃣Expanding TRADE IN EURASIA
Membership would open fast-growing markets, infrastructure projects, and energy deals to US businesses.

8️⃣Direct access to ENERGY & critical minerals
SCO nations control vast oil, gas, and rare earth deposits. Membership could facilitate joint exploration of critical resources for the US tech industry and balance energy prices.

🔎 What is the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)?

▪️The world’s largest regional organization
▪️10 member states, including China, India & Russia, plus 2 observers
▪️Covers 80% of Eurasia
▪️Represents 40% of the global population & 30% of global GDP
▪️5% average annual GDP growth
▪️Handles 20% of global trade
▪️Holds 20% of the world’s oil & 44% of its natural gas reserves

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺🇲🇲 Russian President Vladimir Putin and Myanmar Prime Minister Min Aung Hlaing have issued a joint statement following talks in Moscow.

▪️Putin calls energy a strategic area of cooperation between the two countries.

▪️Russia reliably provides Myanmar with the energy resources it needs.

▪️Russia and Myanmar explore cooperation opportunities in renewable energy.

▪️Decision to build low-capacity nuclear power plant in Myanmar will provide the country with cheap, environmentally friendly energy and create jobs.

▪️Putin announced that he invited the Myanmar prime minister to take part in the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the Great Patriotic War victory.

▪️The positions of Russia and Myanmar on international issues are very close, the countries coordinate efforts on the world stage.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🗣 Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not confirm reports that Vladimir Putin has accepted Donald Trump's offer to mediate in US-Iran talks.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

Dems plot to disrupt Trump’s speech in Congress – report

Some lawmakers plan to leave the chamber while US President Donald Trump speaks later today, while others are considering more unconventional options, Axios reports, citing some House Democrats.

What are their proposals?

▪️Anti-Trump and anti-DOGE slogans
▪️Eggs and empty egg cartons as symbols of soaring consumer prices
▪️Red cards, noisemakers and hand clappers

Some of these bold ideas go against party leaders’ advice, as they simply recommended that lawmakers invite guests allegedly harmed by Trump’s policies, the sources added.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺🇺🇸 Moscow remains open to cooperation with US companies, including in rare earth metals, but cannot yet offer it due to ongoing sanctions, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

He emphasized that President Vladimir Putin spoke only about Russia's interest in cooperation with the United States in the field of rare earth metals, and not about joint mining, adding that the opportunities for cooperation between Russia and the United States are enormous.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇨🇦🇺🇸 'This is a very dumb thing to do' - Trudeau hits back at Trump over tariffs

"I will not sugarcoat the situation around US tariffs, this will be tough for Canada," said outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

▪️He announced retaliatory 25% tariffs against $155 billion of American goods.

▪️Starting with $30 billion worth of goods immediately and the remaining $125 billion in 21 days’ time.

▪️Today, we will also be challenging these illegal actions by filing dispute resolution claims at the World Trade Organization and through the USMCA," Trudeau told reporters.

Earlier on Tuesday, the US imposed 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, and also doubled the tariff he slapped last month on Chinese products to 20%.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt