Learn about an artificial sun from KSTAR that’s hotter than our actual sun; whether math really is a universal language; and what words like “fresh” really tell you about how fancy your food is.

South Korean researchers created an artificial sun that's hotter than our actual sun by Grant Currin

• Korean artificial sun sets the new world record of 20-sec-long operation at 100 million degrees. (2020, December 24). Phys.org. 12-korean-artificial-sun-world-sec-long.html">https://phys.org/news/2020-12-korean-artificial-sun-world-sec-long.html
• Nield, D. (2020). South Korea’s “Artificial Sun” Just Set a New World Record For High-Temperature Plasma. ScienceAlert. https://www.sciencealert.com/south-korea-s-artificial-sun-just-set-a-new-world-record-for-high-temperature-plasma
• Tala, T., & Garbet, X. (2006). Physics of Internal Transport Barriers. Comptes Rendus Physique, 7(6), 622–633. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crhy.2006.06.005
• Delbert, C. (2020, December 28). Korea’s Artificial Sun Just Ran for 20 Astonishing Seconds. Popular Mechanics; Popular Mechanics. https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a35084113/korea-artificial-sun-fusion-reactor-runs-for-20-seconds/
• Tokamak. (2015). ITER. https://www.iter.org/mach/Tokamak
• Home: 28th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference (FEC 2020) | IAEA. (2019, December 6). Iaea.org. https://www.iaea.org/events/fec-2020

Is math really a universal language? by Ashley Hamer (Listener question from John)

• PBS Idea Channel. (2013). Is Math a Feature of the Universe or a Feature of Human Creation? | Idea Channel | PBS [YouTube Video]. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbNymweHW4E
• Baidou, Alain. (2006). Briefings on Existence. State University of New York Press. https://s3.amazonaws.com/arena-attachments/769564/8b787039810debb75794401980b224d6.pdf
• Madden, J. J., Lakoff, G., & Núñez, R. E. (2002, August). Where Mathematics Comes From: How the Embodied Mind Brings Mathematics Into Being. ResearchGate; Mathematical Association of America. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/239547225_Where_Mathematics_Comes_From_How_the_Embodied_Mind_Brings_Mathematics_Into_Being
• Thaller, M. (2019, March 7). The evolution of mathematics, from agriculture to quantum mechanics. Big Think; Big Think. https://bigthink.com/videos/mathematics-universal-language

What Words Like "Fresh" Really Tell You About How Fancy Your Food Is by Arika Okrent

• Jurafsky, D. (2014). The Language of Food: A Linguist Reads the Menu. W. W. Norton & Company. https://amzn.to/3rgRJbY

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Find episode transcript here: daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/the-sun-2-0-fresh-food-fallacies-and-is-math-universal">https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/the-sun-2-0-fresh-food-fallacies-and-is-math-universal