From First Principles

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 Nature paper showing that physical networks in nature (brains, blood vessels, fungal networks) appear to organize like energy-minimizing surfaces—spitting out the same branching rules yo...

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 — and why it “self-heals.” Then we pivot into a Princeton neuroscience idea that the brain builds complex thought like LEGO bricks (compositional neural subspaces). From there, we br...

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 predicted reconnection should be slow, why nature (and tokamaks) disagree, and how modern “plasmoid” reconnection helps explain solar flares, plasma instabilities, and the real engineerin...

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 to Rosalind Franklin’s groundbreaking x-ray crystallography, from Cavendish–King’s College rivalries to the famous Photo 51, this episode follows the scientific and ethical arc behi...

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 through our solar system — larger and stranger than ‘Oumuamua and Borisov, with new imagery released as NASA reopened operations. Then we break down a true-crime forensic breakthro...

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 Stevens Institute that experimentally validates a 60-year-old hypothesis underpinning hypersonic flight modeling. Then we head 3,000 meters below the Pacific to explore a newly discov...

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 hunting strategies against great white sharks; the bizarre chemistry behind civet-processed luxury coffee; and a UCLA breakthrough that pushes telescope resolution beyond the classica...

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 Principles explores three cutting-edge breakthroughs connecting medicine, technology, and astronomy. Summary • AI for Oncology, Minus the Privacy Risk: University of Toronto researchers develop OncoGAN —a generative model that creates realis...

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 transformed modern physics. Summary • Early Years & Mentorship: From China to Chicago — learning under Fermi and Chandrasekhar. • Parity Violation: How Yang & Lee overturned the mirror-symmetry assumption and changed physics forever. • Ga...

Aloha internet — Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary return with three extraordinary research stories: portable muon beams, sodium-ion batteries, and the secret to long life. Summary • Lawrence Berkeley’s compact muon beam technology and its applications in archaeology, volcanology, and security. • UC San Diego + U Chicago’s solid-state sodium battery that rivals lithium in power but not in cost. •...

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.” They revisit 2025’s Medicine, Physics and Chemistry winners and discuss why fundamental research and immigration policy are core to America’s scientific edge. Quick note: this week’s episode is in vertical format because of a technical hiccup...

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 tolerance and FOXP3), Physics (macroscopic quantum tunneling in superconducting circuits), and Chemistry (metal–organic frameworks and “new rooms for chemistry”). Summary Medicine: Regulatory T cells and the FOXP3 gene that prevent autoimmu...

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 domains—gene editing (CRISPR) and gravitational waves (LIGO)—and how AI is accelerating both. We trace CRISPR from bacterial immunity to Stanford’s new “CRISPR-GPT” lab co-pilot, then pivot to how machine learning upgrades are pushing LIGO...

Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary return for Episode 9 of From First Principles , breaking down the latest breakthroughs across AI, physics, biology, and astronomy. From China’s stunning AI leap with DeepSeek to time crystals you can actually see, hidden viruses in our DNA, and the brightest fast radio burst ever detected—this episode spans the cutting edge of science and its global implications....

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 actually found in Jezero Crater, why geochemical “life-adjacent” reactions matter, revisit April’s hyped K2-18b claim from Cambridge, and close with brand-new JWST hints of atmospheres on Earth-sized exoplanets. Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna...

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 dive into new telescope data on the interstellar visitor 3i Atlas, explore a major longevity study that suggests life expectancy may have plateaued, unpack a breakthrough nickel catalyst that could enable no-sort plastic recycling, and look at...

Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, Episode 6 of From First Principles covers four groundbreaking stories in science—from rare cosmic explosions to synthetic biology breakthroughs that could save our food supply. This week, we dive into a never-before-seen type of supernova, explore a surprising alliance of viruses and bacteria against cancer, unpack how scientists are turning electron sp...

This week we break down four big stories—no PhD required. Reading “inner speech”: Invasive brain–computer interfaces record neurons in motor cortex and decode attempted vs. inner speech into words. Results from Stanford even generalize to simple symbols and numbers. Cool science, huge privacy questions, and a proposed “brain password” to keep users in control. What makes us human: UC San Diego hig...

Interstellar visitor #3 is here. We unpack 3I ATLAS (why it’s moving so fast, why we finally saw a tail, and how Hubble/JWST—and maybe even Juno—could nail down its makeup). Then we dive into the Vera Rubin Observatory, the 32-gigapixel camera that will turn the entire sky into a time-lapse movie and supercharge discovery. Next: AI just boosted CRISPR by predicting and guiding DNA repair (Pythia),...

We go from the universe’s first chemistry to tomorrow’s designer biology, swing by Mars to tune Europa Clipper’s ice radar, and finish with a fresh take on the double-slit experiment. In this episode The “oldest molecule” puzzle (HeH⁺), cooling the early universe, and why JWST’s findings matter Programmable proteins: reassigning codons, recoding organisms, and real biosafety Europa Clipper’s REASO...

Lester and Dr. Krishna dive into: • Beetlejuice & “Bracelet” – why a red super-giant may soon swallow its tiny partner • Atomic Harlem Shake – 0.15 Å resolution images of thermal jiggles in 2-D materials • Too Fast, Too Furious – IceCube’s constraints on proton fractions in 10²⁰ eV cosmic rays • Interstellar Google Maps – New Horizons proves star-pattern navigation works • Mind-Body Woo-Woo –...

Last week the Earth finished a full rotation one millisecond early – but that’s just the opener. In this week’s From First Principles we dive into six mind-bending headlines with our trademark mix of hard science and light-hearted banter: Earth’s fastest spin ever recorded – what shaved a millisecond off the day and why your chakras are still safe. ALMA spots a “baby Earth” forming 1,300 light yea...