For decades we have been maligning airline meals and blaming the carriers for serving us drek, now it seems that the horribly tasting food might just be the result of hurtling through the atmosphere in a really noisy metal tube. Researchers at Cornell University in New York recently released a study that suggests the persistent noise levels experienced by flyers affects taste buds.

To test the hypothesis, Robin Dando and Kimberly Yan subjected 48 subjects to sounds at 80 to 85 decibels and then had them taste various foods. The Cornell team determined that noise while flying in jet aircraft promoted suppression of normal taste intensity. You can read all about it right here.