At first glance, it might not seem like strawberries and chicken have much in common. But look closer, and you'll find it: the flavor compound g-dodecalactone.
That sciencey-sounding gobbledygook probably doesn't mean much to you, but it means a lot to Chef Watson, IBM's (IBM, Tech30) cognitive computer.
That compound is found not only in chicken and strawberries, but in pork, mushrooms and pineapple. (It's also added to sunscreen to give it that tropical smell.)
Chef Watson understands food on a molecular level, and works off the theory that things that share similar flavor compounds taste good together. That knowledge makes Watson an interesting sidekick for both professional chefs and home cooks.
But Watson isn't just a chef. It's a computer system that learns by reading books, articles, or whatever you feed it. The cognitive system has been put to use in finance, healthcare, engineering and, most famously, on Jeopardy!
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