Shows / From First Principles
From First Principles
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. 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
From First PrinciplesDestroying Tumors With Sound: Histotripsy with Dr. Zhen Xu
Can sound destroy a tumor without an incision? Dr. Zhen Xu joins Krishna Choudhary to explain histotripsy: focused ultrasound that creates tiny bubbles to…
From First PrinciplesWhat Happens When AI Gets a Lab?
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…
From First PrinciplesNobel Prize 2026: The Science Gets Stranger
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…
From First PrinciplesNobel Prize in Chemistry 2026 Explained: Mirror Molecules (EP 63)
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…
From First PrinciplesNobel Prize in Physics 2026 Explained: IceCube & Neutrinos (EP 62)
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…
From First PrinciplesNobel Prize in Medicine 2026 Explained: Optogenetics (EP 61)
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…
From First Principles2026 Nobel Prize Predictions: Medicine, Physics & Chemistry (EP 60)
Who could win the 2026 Nobel Prizes? From the science behind Ozempic to quantum interference and droplets inside living cells, Lester Nare and Krishna…
From First PrinciplesGolden Goose Awards 2026: The Science Behind the Winners (Part 1) (EP 59)
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…
From First PrinciplesWhat OpenAI Actually Did to Navier-Stokes (EP 58)
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…
From First PrinciplesWhat’s Next in Science? Nobel Prizes, Space Missions & More (EP 57)
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…
From First PrinciplesThe Yak Mutation That Could Help Repair the Brain (EP 56)
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…
From First PrinciplesWhy Spin Qubits Will Win the Quantum Race (Part 2) (EP 55)
Which quantum computer will actually scale? In Part 2 of our quantum computing deep dive, Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary move from theory to…
From First PrinciplesHow Quantum Computing Actually Works (Part 1) (EP 54)
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…
From First PrinciplesWhat Claude Actually Did to the Riemann Hypothesis (EP 53)
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…
From First PrinciplesThe Amazon’s Hidden Civilization (One Year Anniversary) (EP 52)
In this anniversary episode, Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary look back at how two longtime friends turned their regular conversations about science into a…
From First PrinciplesThe Tech Elon Has Been Waiting For (EP 51)
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…
From First PrinciplesAI Breaks a 90-Year Math Problem, Life’s Alphabet in Space, and Science Funding (EP 50)
Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode moves from astrobiology to science policy to the rapidly changing frontier of artificial intelligence…
From First PrinciplesFIFA Data Scientists Explain Match Momentum (EP 49)
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…
From First PrinciplesBlack Hole Movies, Digital Heart Twins, and World Cup Tech (EP 48)
Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode returns to the FFP science rundown with stories spanning astrophysics, precision medicine, medical…
From First PrinciplesAmerica 250: The Breakthroughs That Built American Science — Part 2 (EP 47)
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…
From First PrinciplesAmerica 250: The Breakthroughs That Built American Science — Part 1 (EP 46)
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…
From First PrinciplesThe Physics of the World Cup: VAR, Smart Balls, and Soccer Aerodynamics (EP 45)
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…
From First PrinciplesNew Rules For Heredity (Non-Mendelian Inheritance of Epigenetics) (EP 44)
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…
From First PrinciplesDr. Michael Blanton on Open Data, Galaxy Surveys, and the Future of Astronomy (EP 43)
Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode is the second interview in our ongoing collaboration series with Carnegie Observatories. Krishna sits…
From First PrinciplesHow Scientists Actually Study Dark Matter (EP 42)
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…
From First PrinciplesDr. John Mulchaey on Carnegie Science and the Future of Astronomy (EP 41)
Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this interview features John Mulchaey, the 12th President of Carnegie Science and former Director of the Carnegie…
From First PrinciplesAnt Scans, Lunar Chickpeas, Hidden Galaxies & Superconductivity (EP 40)
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…
From First PrinciplesThe Prometheus Constellation: Dramaturgical and Scientific Analysis of the Physicists in Oppenheimer (EP 39)
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…
From First PrinciplesHarder Than Diamond? The New Hexagonal Diamond Breakthrough (EP 38)
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…
From First PrinciplesArtemis II: Deep Dive on the Moon Flyby, Earthset, and Reentry (EP 37)
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…
From First PrinciplesArtemis II, Claude Code Leak, iPhone Spyware & Project Hail Mary (EP 36)
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…
From First PrinciplesCan AI Help Wake Coma Patients? The Science of Consciousness (EP 35)
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…
From First PrinciplesAI Cancer Vaccines, Strange Fish, Ketamine, and Ancient Life (EP. 34)
Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode is a fast-moving science rundown covering four remarkable stories from across AI, genetics…
From First PrinciplesCan Human Neurons Really Play Doom? The Science Behind Wetware (EP. 33)
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…
From First Principles5,000-Year-Old Bacteria, Solar Storms, Dogs, and Meta’s AI War (EP. 32)
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…
From First PrinciplesOptovolution: Teaching Proteins to Think Like Computers (EP. 31)
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…
From First PrinciplesCan We Stop an Asteroid? The Physics Behind NASA’s DART Mission (EP. 30)
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…
From First PrinciplesAstrobiology’s Biggest Survival Test + A Vaccine Against Everything? (EP. 29)
Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode starts in astrobiology with a fresh experimental challenge to one of the biggest objections to…
From First PrinciplesDark Galaxies, Fuzzy Dark Matter, and an Alzheimer’s Breakthrough (EP. 28)
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…
From First PrinciplesDream Engineering, the Proton Radius Puzzle, and an ALS Breakthrough (EP. 27)
Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode has three main stories: interactive dream engineering (yes, two-way “communication” during lucid…
From First PrinciplesWinter Olympics Deep Dive: Ice Physics, Performance Pressure, and Climate Change (EP. 26)
Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode is a Winter Olympics deep dive from first principles—physics, neuroscience, and climate science in…
From First PrinciplesPlants, Quantum Sensors, and Predicting Cancer Evolution (EP. 25)
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…
From First PrinciplesArtemis II, Apollo, and the Physics of Going Back to the Moon (EP. 24)
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…
From First PrinciplesJWST’s “Little Red Dots,” TimeVaults, and the Dawn of Math (EP. 23)
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…
From First PrinciplesCloud9 Dark Matter Halo, Jellyfish Sleep, and String Theory Hidden in Nature (EP. 22)
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”…
From First PrinciplesRoman Concrete, Brain “Cognitive Legos,” DeepSeek, and Econophysics (EP. 21)
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…
From First PrinciplesThe Physics Behind Fusion’s Biggest Problem (Season Finale) (EP. 20)
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…
From First PrinciplesThe Race to the Double Helix — Watson, Crick, Franklin & the Real Story of DNA (EP. 19)
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…
From First Principles3I/ATLAS Explained, Forensic Fingerprints & Alzheimer’s Breakthrough (EP. 18)
Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode spans astrophysics, forensic chemistry, and neuroimmunology. We begin with a deep dive into 3I/ATLAS…
From First PrinciplesHypersonic Physics, Deep Sea Life & Princeton’s Millisecond Qubits (EP. 17)
Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode dives into three breakthroughs stretching across aerospace engineering, astrobiology, and quantum…
From First PrinciplesOctopus Camouflage, Orcas vs. Sharks, Civet Coffee & Sub-Diffraction Telescope Tech (EP. 16)
Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this super-episode spans four wildly different frontiers: bioengineers hijacking bacterial evolution to…
From First PrinciplesAI-Generated Genomes, Retinal Implants, and Palomar’s Mystery Lights Explained (EP. 15)
AI, Eyes, and the Sky — From Synthetic Genomes to Restored Vision and Cosmic Mysteries Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode of From First…
From First PrinciplesChen Ning Yang — The Man Who Unlocked Symmetry (EP. 14)
Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode tells the story of Nobel laureate Chen Ning Yang and how his ideas on symmetry and gauge theory…
From First PrinciplesPortable Muon Beams, Sodium Batteries, and the Secret to Long Life (EP. 13)
Aloha internet — Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary return with three extraordinary research stories: portable muon beams, sodium-ion batteries, and the secret…
From First PrinciplesFrom Princeton to the Nobel Prizes — How FFP Started + 2025 Nobel Recap (EP. 12)
After a packed week of Nobel Prize coverage, Lester and Krishna look back on how From First Principles began and why they built it as an “ESPN for Science.”…
From First PrinciplesFrom Cells to Circuits to Crystals — 2025 Nobel Prizes Unpacked (EP. 11)
Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this one-episode special brings all three 2025 Nobel Prizes in the sciences into a single listen: Medicine (immune…
From First PrinciplesAI Supercharges CRISPR & LIGO (Nobel Prize Week Preview) (EP. 10)
Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this two-story, 2.5-hour special sets the table for Nobel Prize Week with deep dives into two recent Nobel-winning…
From First PrinciplesChina’s AI Breakthrough, Time Crystals, Hidden Viruses, & Brightest Cosmic Signal (EP. 9)
Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary return for Episode 9 of From First Principles, breaking down the latest breakthroughs across AI, physics, biology, and…
From First PrinciplesStrongest Evidence for Alien Life? (Mars, K2-18b & JWST) (EP. 8)
NASA just dropped what they’re calling the strongest evidence yet for biosignatures on Mars, so we spun up an emergency pod. We break down what the rover…
From First PrinciplesInterstellar Visitor 3I/Atlas, Human Longevity Plateau, New No-Sort Plastic & Analog AI (EP. 7)
Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, Episode 7 of From First Principles covers four stories at the frontier of science and technology. This week, we…