Brussels

If Shawn Marcell and his colleagues succeed, the world will soon be introduced to a new kind of food additive that will change the taste of canned soups, coffee and dozens of other staples of the American diet. Called bitter blockers, these substances are designed to fool the cells in your taste buds into ignoring bitter elements in food, beverages or medicine. Bitter blockers represent a new approach to altering taste, based on the scientific understanding of the way the sense of taste works.

When Emily Wimberley, a University of Delaware senior, was in London on an exchange program last fall, she flew round-trip to Belgium for $30 one weekend. At those rates, some of her fellow students were jetting off every other weekend, going wherever the cheap seats took them and adding to the growing headaches that low-cost carriers are causing the major airlines in Europe. "All the airlines sent us e-mail updates," she said. "Some people flew based on where the best deal was. . . . For that little money, it was worth it. " Hopping from one European capital to the next used to be a preserve of movie stars and captains of industry because of the $400 to $500 cost.

Travelers scouting for economical ways to air-hop around Europe will soon have more choices: On April 5, the no-frills airline Ryanair plans to add six destinations from its base at Stansted Airport north of London. The new flights go to Brussels, from about $72 one way; G?teberg, Sweden, from about $87; Salzburg, Austria, from about $145; Stockholm, from about $116; Esbjerg, Denmark, from about $101; Pescara, Italy, from about $145; and Trieste, Italy, from about $145. The new routes represent the first service Ryanair has offered to Austria and Belgium.

For more than 100 years, Flemish men in flat wool caps have flocked to this city's famed Grand Place on Sunday mornings to nurse hot chocolate, resume old arguments, and occasionally sell a bird or two. Soon it will be a memory. City officials have decided to close the market, contending that the quaint stalls are unsanitary and provide cover for the illegal sale of birds protected by local and international law. The bird vendors have hired a lawyer. But the city expects the squawks to cease within a month.

The debate at the Brussels NATO conference over a moratorium on the use of depleted uranium in weapons offers a glimpse into the different national interests among the Allies. If NATO votes to accept the moratorium, the United States and Britain will have moved toward a multilateral center before it became too late, instead of forever hinging arguments on issues of national sovereignty.. . . The battles over the scientific evidence for the dangers of this uranium really were occasions on which [the United States and Britain]

After a flurry of U.S. cable deals in 1998 and 1999, the Comcast dealmakers at 1500 Market Street have grown quiet. With the industry's consolidation, Comcast Corp. has few options of U.S. cable companies it could buy. So Comcast is looking to Europe as one possible avenue for future growth. For the last several months, Comcast - through Broadnet, a separate Brussels-based company in which it is the majority owner - has been bidding to win national and regional wireless licenses throughout Western Europe.

Eva H. Gelernter, 61, a survivor of the horrors of Nazi occupation who went on to become a social worker after reaching the United States, died Wednesday of colon cancer at Keystone Hospice House in Wyndmoor. Before requiring hospice care a few weeks ago, Ms. Gelernter had been a longtime resident of Center City. Born in Brussels in 1938, Ms. Gelernter escaped the Nazi police state in Belgium with her family, crossing into France in 1942 before reaching America in 1951. They first settled in Chicago, but within a short time moved to Philadelphia.

World champion Marion Jones continued her dominance of the 100 meters yesterday, leading from start to finish in the Van Damme Memorial Grand Prix meet in Brussels. Jones' winning time of 10.80 seconds was too much for French rival Christine Arron, who settled for second in 10.95. Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie ran a season-best time of 7 minutes, 25.09 seconds in the 3,000 meters. Jones, undefeated in 28 consecutive finals in five different events over the last six months, heads the USA Track and Field team for next month's World Cup in South Africa.

Kenyan Daniel Komen shattered the world record in the 5,000 meters and countryman Paul Tergat smashed the 10,000-meter mark at the Van Damme Memorial meet in Brussels, Belgium. Both erased a mark held by Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie. Komen was timed in a sensational 12 minutes, 39.74 seconds, bettering Gebrselassie's record of 12:41.86 set 10 days ago at Zurich, and Tergat was clocked in a sizzling 26:27.85, chopping 3.47 seconds off the mark set by Gebrselassie last month at Oslo, Norway.

"This is how Belgian food is," said Michel Notredame, the jolly, bearded, chain-smoking owner of Cuvee Notredame at 17th and Green streets in Spring Garden. "We make it as good or better than French food and in portions big enough to satisfy the Germans. " Notredame is one of a small cadre of Belgians and Belgo-philes who are influencing the eating and drinking habits of Philadelphians these days. He came to Philadelphia 15 years ago after meeting a local woman while on vacation in the West African nation of Senegal.