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Show notes
“What is the sweetest thing in the world?” After co-host Latif Nasser’s sons ask him this deceptively simple question, he goes on a quest to find it. Is it a West African Katemfe berry? Or an industrial sugar substitute cooked up in a lab? Or an ingredient hiding in plain sight in all of our pantries? A simple mystery that will make you question what sweetness even is, how our tongues (and other body parts you wouldn’t expect) determine what we like, and how far you would go to taste something sweeter than anyone has ever experienced. _Thank you to Latif’s sons for indulging us, to Nicola Twilley and Cynthia Graber at Gastropod, to Anni Laffitte, Nazli Parvizi at Museum of Food and Drink, to food icons Claire Saffitz and Sam Seneveratne who did a live show version of this episode with us at the Tribeca Festival. And thank you to Davy Gardner and his wonderful team of audio folks at the Tribeca Festival._ _Thank you to Jialin Deng who composed the song that was our ‘sonic seasoning’. And to Laura Rickman and everyone else at Columbia University’s Mortimer B Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute for hosting us._ _And big thanks to experimental psychologist Charles Spence at Oxford, sweetness chemist Grant DuBois, Danielle Reed at Monell Chemical Senses Center, and nutritional scientist Sarah Berry at King’s College London who all talked to us about their research. And Brian Everett of_ [https://honestorganicfarms.com/"]( _Honest Organic Farms_ _._ _And a very special thanks to Sean Oomens, inventor of producer Jess Yung’s favorite candy, nerd gummy clusters_ **EPISODE CREDITS:** Reported by - Latif Nasser with help from - Jessica Yung, Maria Paz Gutierrez, Jessica Yung, Ekedi Fausther-Keeys, and Natalia Ramirez Produced by - Jessica Yung with help from - Mona Madgavkar, Maria Paz Gutierrez, Gabby Santas, and Maia Appleby Melamed with mixing help from - Jeremy Bloom Fact-checking by - Sophie Samiee and Edited by - Pat Walters **EPISODE CITATIONS:** **Videos:** [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdGalCuJ96Q"]( Youtuber Chemiolis tried to make Luguduname himself ([https://zpr.io/MmUbGfwwFrFH"]( [https://zpr.io/MmUbGfwwFrFH](https://zpr.io/MmUbGfwwFrFH %29 Articles)) **Articles \-** [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/09/28/the-race-to-redesign-sugar"]( _Race to Redesign Sugar_ ([https://zpr.io/VpsMxfPRbxaz"]( [https://zpr.io/VpsMxfPRbxaz](https://zpr.io/VpsMxfPRbxaz %29)) by Nicola Twilley[https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/05/22/the-search-for-sweet"]( _The Search for Sweet_ ([https://zpr.io/JmeDkVhrd2dK"]( [https://zpr.io/JmeDkVhrd2dK](https://zpr.io/JmeDkVhrd2dK %29)) by Burkhard Bilger[https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/25/magazine/quit-sugar.html?partner=slack&smid=sl-share"]( _How My Trip to Quit Sugar Became A Journey Into Hell_ _(_[https://zpr.io/ni6xgC38Qmyf"]( [https://zpr.io/ni6xgC38Qmyf](https://zpr.io/ni6xgC38Qmyf %29)_)_ by Caity Wever[https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-much-of-our-existence-do-we-owe-to-sugar/"]( _How Much of Our Existence Do We Owe to Sugar?_ ([https://zpr.io/M2py48SxnQAT"]( [https://zpr.io/M2py48SxnQAT](https://zpr.io/M2py48SxnQAT %29)) by Jackie Flynn Mogensen[https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/13/science/space/sugar-milky-way.html?eafs\_enabled=false"]( _Scientists Find Sugar In Space_ ([https://zpr.io/e94UtUuhPtbT"]( [https://zpr.io/e94UtUuhPtbT](https://zpr.io/e94UtUuhPtbT %29)) by Rebecca Dzombak_Sign up for our newsletter!! It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show._ [https://radiolab.org/newsletter"]( _Signup_ (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)! _Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of_ [http://members.radiolab.org"]( _The Lab_ _( today._ _Follow our show on_ [http://instagram.com/radiolab"]( _Instagram_ _,_ [http://twitter.com/radiolab"]( _Twitter_ _and_ [http://facebook.com/radiolab"]( _Facebook_ _@radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing_ [_radiolab@wnyc.org_](mailto:radiolab@wnyc.org)_._ _Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation._ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See [pcm.adswizz.com]( https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.