Podcasts · Science · Education

From First Principles

Krishna Choudhary and Lester Nare

65 episodes

From First Principles is a fast, funny, and rigorous breakdown of the biggest science stories of the week, hosted by Lester Nare and physicist Krishna Choudhary, PhD. We go past headlines into the actual mechanics: what happened, why it matters, and what everyone’s missing.

More about the show

Expect physics, space, AI, energy, biotech, and the occasional “wait… is that real?” story. If you’re curious, skeptical, and you like learning in public — you’re in the right place.

Episodes page 1 of 2

  1. What Happens When AI Gets a Lab?

    · 1 h 39 min · S2 E65

    What happens when AI moves beyond the chatbot and into the laboratory? From Claude-designed proteins that bind scorpion toxins to robots that assemble optics experiments, we examine what AI can do for science and what…

  2. Nobel Prize 2026: The Science Gets Stranger

    · 1 h 59 min · S1 E64

    Can light restore aspects of sight? Can recalling a cold experience change an animal's metabolism? And what can ghost particles and mirror-image molecules tell us about the universe? Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary…

  3. Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2026 Explained: Mirror Molecules (EP 63)

    · 1 h 21 min · S1 E63

    Why does life favor one molecular mirror image? The 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry honors Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai for nonlinear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis. Lester Nare and Krishna…

  4. Nobel Prize in Physics 2026 Explained: IceCube & Neutrinos (EP 62)

    · 1 h 02 min · S1 E62

    Why build a telescope inside a billion tons of Antarctic ice? The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics recognizes Francis Halzen's work on IceCube and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos from the cosmos. In Episode 62 of…

  5. Nobel Prize in Medicine 2026 Explained: Optogenetics (EP 61)

    · 1 h 11 min · S1 E61

    How do you prove what a brain cell actually does? The 2026 Nobel Prize in Medicine celebrates a remarkable answer: give cells a light-sensitive protein, then switch their activity on or off with light. In Episode 61…

  6. 2026 Nobel Prize Predictions: Medicine, Physics & Chemistry (EP 60)

    · 41 min · S1 E60

    Who could win the 2026 Nobel Prizes? From the science behind Ozempic to quantum interference and droplets inside living cells, Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary make their picks for Medicine, Physics and Chemistry, and…

  7. Golden Goose Awards 2026: The Science Behind the Winners (Part 1) (EP 59)

    · 2 h 07 min · S1 E59

    What connects a noise complaint, holiday lights seen from space, and the physics of a coffee stain? Three unexpected paths from basic research to discoveries with real-world impact. Krishna Choudhary and Lester Nare…

  8. What OpenAI Actually Did to Navier-Stokes (EP 58)

    · 4 h 09 min · S1 E58

    What does it mean to solve an equation that describes almost every fluid around us, from the air over a wing to the water swirling down a drain? In Episode 58 of From First Principles, Lester Nare and Krishna…

  9. What’s Next in Science? Nobel Prizes, Space Missions & More (EP 57)

    · 1 h 04 min · S1 E57 · Explicit

    What science should you be watching this fall? From Nobel Prize season to NASA’s Roman Space Telescope, Mars’ moons and Mercury, Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary take a relaxed tour of the discoveries and missions on…

  10. The Yak Mutation That Could Help Repair the Brain (EP 56)

    · 1 h 36 min · S1 E56

    What can a yak living thousands of meters above sea level teach us about repairing the human brain? In Episode 56 of From First Principles, Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary break down a new Neuron paper that traces…

  11. Why Spin Qubits Will Win the Quantum Race (Part 2) (EP 55)

    · 3 h 46 min · S1 E55

    Which quantum computer will actually scale? In Part 2 of our quantum computing deep dive, Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary move from theory to hardware—comparing superconducting qubits, trapped ions, neutral atoms,…

  12. How Quantum Computing Actually Works (Part 1) (EP 54)

    · 2 h 11 min · S1 E54

    Quantum computers do not simply “try every answer at once.” So what do they actually do—and why have governments and technology companies spent billions trying to build them? In Part 1 of our two-part quantum…

  13. What Claude Actually Did to the Riemann Hypothesis (EP 53)

    · 1 h 47 min · S1 E53

    Claude did not solve the Riemann Hypothesis. But what it actually did may be one of the clearest examples yet of how rapidly AI systems are changing the way difficult mathematics can be attacked. In Episode 53, Lester…

  14. The Amazon’s Hidden Civilization (One Year Anniversary) (EP 52)

    · 1 h 47 min · S1 E52

    In this anniversary episode, Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary look back at how two longtime friends turned their regular conversations about science into a show now shared by millions of people around the world, and…

  15. The Tech Elon Has Been Waiting For (EP 51)

    · 1 h 44 min · S1 E51

    What happens when electronics can operate at temperatures hot enough to melt aluminum? In this deep-dive episode, Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary examine a new high-temperature memory device developed by researchers…

  16. AI Breaks a 90-Year Math Problem, Life’s Alphabet in Space, and Science Funding (EP 50)

    · 1 h 53 min · S1 E50

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode moves from astrobiology to science policy to the rapidly changing frontier of artificial intelligence and mathematics. First, researchers analyzing pristine…

  17. FIFA Data Scientists Explain Match Momentum (EP 49)

    · 40 min · S1 E49

    In this special interview episode, Lester Nare speaks with Juan Busso, Senior Football Data Scientist at FIFA, and Arron Ackerman, FIFA’s Team Lead for Football Performance Analysis, about the data science behind the…

  18. Black Hole Movies, Digital Heart Twins, and World Cup Tech (EP 48)

    · 1 h 48 min · S1 E48

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode returns to the FFP science rundown with stories spanning astrophysics, precision medicine, medical imaging, artificial intelligence, and World Cup technology.…

  19. America 250: The Breakthroughs That Built American Science — Part 2 (EP 47)

    · 2 h 21 min · S1 E47

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode is part two of our July 4th America 250 special: a celebration of the scientific, technological, institutional, and cultural breakthroughs that helped shape the…

  20. America 250: The Breakthroughs That Built American Science — Part 1 (EP 46)

    · 1 h 50 min · S1 E46

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode is part one of our July 4th America 250 special: a celebration of the scientific, technological, institutional, and cultural innovations that helped shape the…

  21. The Physics of the World Cup: VAR, Smart Balls, and Soccer Aerodynamics (EP 45)

    · 1 h 00 min · S1 E45

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode is our World Cup special — a deep dive into the science, physics, engineering, and data behind the beautiful game. We start with the offside rule and the…

  22. New Rules For Heredity (Non-Mendelian Inheritance of Epigenetics) (EP 44)

    · 1 h 38 min · S2 E44

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode marks Krishna’s return to the studio after paternity leave — and the timing could not be more fitting. Today’s deep dive is about inheritance: not just the…

  23. Dr. Michael Blanton on Open Data, Galaxy Surveys, and the Future of Astronomy (EP 43)

    · 43 min · S2 E43

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode is the second interview in our ongoing collaboration series with Carnegie Observatories. Krishna sits down with Dr. Michael Blanton, the new Director of the…

  24. How Scientists Actually Study Dark Matter (EP 42)

    · 1 h 07 min · S2 E42

    Hosted by Lester Nare, this episode features astrophysicist Dan Gilman for a deep conversation on one of the biggest open questions in modern physics: what dark matter actually is. Starting from first principles,…

  25. Dr. John Mulchaey on Carnegie Science and the Future of Astronomy (EP 41)

    · 37 min · S2 E41

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this interview features John Mulchaey, the 12th President of Carnegie Science and former Director of the Carnegie Observatories. The conversation starts with his early work…

  26. Ant Scans, Lunar Chickpeas, Hidden Galaxies & Superconductivity (EP 40)

    · 37 min · S2 E40

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this rundown episode covers four new science stories at a high level: a huge new 3D ant imaging database built with synchrotron X-ray microtomography, a lunar agriculture…

  27. The Prometheus Constellation: Dramaturgical and Scientific Analysis of the Physicists in Oppenheimer (EP 39)

    · 1 h 37 min · S2 E39

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this special episode ranks the 26 scientists shown in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer by one standard only: their contribution to fundamental science. Starting with the…

  28. Harder Than Diamond? The New Hexagonal Diamond Breakthrough (EP 38)

    · 58 min · S2 E38

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode is a deep dive into one of the strangest and most hard-fought materials science stories in decades: the claim that researchers have finally synthesized bulk…

  29. Artemis II: Deep Dive on the Moon Flyby, Earthset, and Reentry (EP 37)

    · 1 h 26 min · S2 E37

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode is a full deep dive on Artemis II as the crew returns from humanity’s first crewed lunar flyby in more than 50 years. Lester and Krishna break down the mission…

  30. Artemis II, Claude Code Leak, iPhone Spyware & Project Hail Mary (EP 36)

    · 1 h 01 min · S2 E36

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this rundown episode covers five new science and tech stories at a high level: NASA’s Artemis 2 moon mission, what actually leaked in the Claude Code incident, a new cancer…

  31. Can AI Help Wake Coma Patients? The Science of Consciousness (EP 35)

    · 1 h 09 min · S2 E35

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode is a deep dive into one of the hardest questions in neuroscience: what breaks in the brain during a coma, and can we figure out how to turn consciousness back…

  32. AI Cancer Vaccines, Strange Fish, Ketamine, and Ancient Life (EP. 34)

    · 45 min · S2 E34

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode is a fast-moving science rundown covering four remarkable stories from across AI, genetics, neuroscience, and paleontology. We dig into the story of a machine…

  33. Can Human Neurons Really Play Doom? The Science Behind Wetware (EP. 33)

    · 1 h 13 min · S2 E33

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode is a deep dive into one of the strangest science stories of the year: a dish of human neurons allegedly learning to play Doom. We go back to the original 2022…

  34. 5,000-Year-Old Bacteria, Solar Storms, Dogs, and Meta’s AI War (EP. 32)

    · 39 min · S2 E32

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this is our first standalone rundown episode — a faster, looser format where we hit several stories we didn’t have room to turn into full deep dives. This week: bacteria…

  35. Optovolution: Teaching Proteins to Think Like Computers (EP. 31)

    · 56 min · S2 E31

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode is a deep dive into a new synthetic-biology breakthrough out of EPFL: OptoEvolution. The big idea is simple but powerful — traditional directed evolution is…

  36. Can We Stop an Asteroid? The Physics Behind NASA’s DART Mission (EP. 30)

    · 54 min · S2 E30

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode is a full deep dive on planetary defense. We break down NASA’s DART mission, why the goal was never to “blow up” an asteroid but to gently nudge it, and why the…

  37. Astrobiology’s Biggest Survival Test + A Vaccine Against Everything? (EP. 29)

    · 2 h 04 min · S2 E29

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode starts in astrobiology with a fresh experimental challenge to one of the biggest objections to lithopanspermia: can life actually survive the violence of being…

  38. Dark Galaxies, Fuzzy Dark Matter, and an Alzheimer’s Breakthrough (EP. 28)

    · 1 h 52 min · S2 E28

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode has two main stories: an astrophysics update on a candidate “dark galaxy” in the Perseus Cluster (a halo that’s ~99.9% dark matter), and a major Alzheimer’s…

  39. Dream Engineering, the Proton Radius Puzzle, and an ALS Breakthrough (EP. 27)

    · 2 h 12 min · S2 E27

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode has three main stories: interactive dream engineering (yes, two-way “communication” during lucid dreaming), the proton radius puzzle finally getting resolved by…

  40. Winter Olympics Deep Dive: Ice Physics, Performance Pressure, and Climate Change (EP. 26)

    · 1 h 50 min · S2 E26

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode is a Winter Olympics deep dive from first principles—physics, neuroscience, and climate science in one ride. • Why ice is slippery: the “water layer” story is…

  41. Plants, Quantum Sensors, and Predicting Cancer Evolution (EP. 25)

    · 1 h 49 min · S2 E25

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode jumps from plant biochemistry to quantum metrology to cancer evolution. We start with a University of York breakthrough that solves a ~50-year mystery in…

  42. Artemis II, Apollo, and the Physics of Going Back to the Moon (EP. 24)

    · 1 h 10 min · S2 E24

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode is a full-spectrum moonshot: why Artemis II matters, how the mission actually works (SLS, Orion, translunar injection, free-return trajectories), and a…

  43. JWST’s “Little Red Dots,” TimeVaults, and the Dawn of Math (EP. 23)

    · 1 h 41 min · S2 E23

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode runs from JWST’s “Little Red Dots” (and what they imply about early supermassive black holes), to a TimeVault method for recording gene expression over time, to…

  44. Cloud9 Dark Matter Halo, Jellyfish Sleep, and String Theory Hidden in Nature (EP. 22)

    · 1 h 40 min · S2 E22

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode runs from the deep math of string theory to the biology of sleep—then out to a starless “ghost cloud” that may be a naked dark-matter halo. We open with a…

  45. Roman Concrete, Brain “Cognitive Legos,” DeepSeek, and Econophysics (EP. 21)

    · 1 h 59 min · S2 E21

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode jumps from ancient engineering to modern AI and markets. We start with the newly uncovered Pompeii worksite that finally shows how Romans mixed their concrete —…

  46. The Physics Behind Fusion’s Biggest Problem (Season Finale) (EP. 20)

    · 1 h 18 min · S1 E20

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this Season Finale closes out Season 1 with a deep dive into the physics behind fusion’s biggest bottleneck: fast magnetic reconnection. We unpack why classic models…

  47. The Race to the Double Helix — Watson, Crick, Franklin & the Real Story of DNA (EP. 19)

    · 1 h 34 min · S1 E19

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this single-story deep dive tells the full story of how humanity uncovered the structure of DNA — and the human tensions that shaped it. From Mendel’s pea-plant mathematics…

  48. 3I/ATLAS Explained, Forensic Fingerprints & Alzheimer’s Breakthrough (EP. 18)

    · 1 h 28 min · S1 E18

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode spans astrophysics, forensic chemistry, and neuroimmunology. We begin with a deep dive into 3I/ATLAS, only the third confirmed interstellar object to ever pass…

  49. Hypersonic Physics, Deep Sea Life & Princeton’s Millisecond Qubits (EP. 17)

    · 1 h 33 min · S1 E17

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode dives into three breakthroughs stretching across aerospace engineering, astrobiology, and quantum computing. We start with a Nature Communications paper from…

  50. Octopus Camouflage, Orcas vs. Sharks, Civet Coffee & Sub-Diffraction Telescope Tech (EP. 16)

    · 1 h 18 min · S1 E16

    Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this super-episode spans four wildly different frontiers: bioengineers hijacking bacterial evolution to mass-produce octopus camouflage pigment; orcas developing cultural…

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