You know how watching the Food Network sometimes makes you want to lick your TV? No? Anyway. In the future we may be able to experience taste transmitted through television, ads, and our smartphones.

A group of researchers in Singapore are building a device that simulates taste by alternating electrical current to produce bitter, salty, sweet, and sour sensations on the tongue, reports New Scientist, enabling it to reproduce specific tastes.

The technology, which is still in development, would have a range of uses beyond cooking shows. It could be used to enhance video games or improve the quality of life for people with cancer or diabetes.

The team is also working on a "digital lollipop" that will simulate a sugar rush without the sugar. The researchers have also developed a data format to communicate different tastes. They're calling it TOIP — taste over internet protocol.