It started as a fun writing project - 9-year-old Martha Payne decided to blog each day about lunch at her school in Scotland, rating and photographing each meal.

Six weeks and more than 3 million page views later, her "NeverSeconds" blog has become an Internet sensation and provoked a minor political controversy.

The local government body - the Argyll and Bute Council - banned her from taking pictures in the dining hall, citing "the unwarranted attacks on its schools catering service which culminated in national press headlines which have led catering staff to fear for their jobs."

Its leader backtracked Friday in an interview with BBC radio.

Read the full story: Storm in a teacup over girl's school dinner blog

Scientists in Spain say they have developed an electronic "tongue" that can identify different types of the Spanish sparkling wine cava - a task more usually left to the skilled palate of the sommelier.

Using sensor systems and mathematical processes, the electronic tongue can currently distinguish between three types of cava - brut nature, brut and medium dry - researchers at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona say.

But they hope with proper training, it will soon be able to pick out all types of cava on the market, in the same way a human sommelier might, and quantify how much sugar each contains.

Read Brut or sweet? Spain gets electronic 'tongue' to taste cava

But can a robot tell you how to sex up your bargain bottle?