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IMAGE: A pulsed laser is focused by a lens onto a point close to the surface of the fruit. The laser-induced plasma creates a shockwave that excites Rayleigh waves on the...
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Credit: Shibaura Institute of Technology
Most people are probably familiar with the unpleasant feeling of eating overripe or underripe fruit. Those who work in agriculture are tasked with ensuring a timely harvest so that ripeness is at an optimal point when the fruit is sold, both to minimize the amount of fruit that goes to waste and maximize the quality of the final product. To this end, a number of techniques to assess fruit ripeness have been developed, each with their respective advantages and disadvantages depending on the type of produce.