From First Principles
Krishna Choudhary and Lester Nare
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
Mentioned books
Nov 5, 2026 • 1h 5min
Destroying Tumors With Sound: Histotripsy with Dr. Zhen Xu
Dr. Zhen Xu, biomedical engineer and histotripsy pioneer, reveals how focused ultrasound can destroy tumors without incisions or heat. She recounts a noisy lab discovery involving discarded pig hearts, explains the physics of controlled cavitation, and discusses unexpected immune effects, liver-cancer trials, robotics, and the technology’s future in treating organs from the kidney to the brain.
Oct 21, 2026 • 1h 39min
What Happens When AI Gets a Lab?
Orangutan mothers may arrange playdates for their young, revealing a surprising form of social parenting. BrainChat lets people with epilepsy explore brain data and help refine seizure detection. AI-designed toxin binders, robotic optics, cloud laboratories, and closed-loop experiments show how science is moving from digital ideas into automated physical research.
16 snips
Oct 16, 2026 • 1h 59min
Nobel Prize 2026: The Science Gets Stranger
Light-sensitive cells help restore partial vision, while memories of cold can alter a mouse’s metabolism without any chill. IceCube’s ghostly neutrinos reveal cosmic flavors and may map Earth’s interior. Tiny quantum sensors tackle the mystery of molecular handedness, with tests ranging from amino acids to meteorites, plus a look at Nobel science and the ethical stakes of manipulating memory.
Oct 7, 2026 • 1h 21min
Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2026 Explained: Mirror Molecules (EP 63)
Why does life favor one molecular mirror image? Explore chirality through Pasteur’s crystals, Kagan’s nonlinear catalyst effects, and Soai’s astonishing asymmetric autocatalysis. The discussion connects molecular handedness to medicine, thalidomide, the origins of biological homochirality, symmetry in physics, and the hypothetical dangers of mirror life.
25 snips
Oct 6, 2026 • 1h 2min
Nobel Prize in Physics 2026 Explained: IceCube & Neutrinos (EP 62)
Why bury a telescope beneath a billion tons of Antarctic ice? Explore neutrinos, the elusive cosmic messengers that can reveal the universe’s most extreme particle accelerators. From beta decay and the “Oh-My-God” particle to Cherenkov flashes, AMANDA, IceCube’s 2013 breakthrough, blazars, and the first neutrino map of the Milky Way.
6 snips
Oct 5, 2026 • 1h 11min
Nobel Prize in Medicine 2026 Explained: Optogenetics (EP 61)
Optogenetics turns light into a precision tool for controlling living cells. Trace the journey from light-seeking algae and channelrhodopsins to neurons switched on and off with millisecond timing. The discussion explores memory, reward, fear, heart-brain signaling, vision restoration, and the ethical limits of manipulating neural circuits.
5 snips
Oct 3, 2026 • 41min
2026 Nobel Prize Predictions: Medicine, Physics & Chemistry (EP 60)
Which discoveries might earn Nobel recognition in 2026? Explore the science behind GLP-1 drugs, light-controlled neurons, and retinal imaging, alongside quantum interference, geometric phases, atomic force microscopy, biomolecular condensates, and a breakthrough bond-forming reaction in chemistry. The discussion also tackles how major awards can honor collaborative research when only three names are allowed.
Sep 29, 2026 • 2h 7min
Golden Goose Awards 2026: The Science Behind the Winners (Part 1) (EP 59)
A noise complaint sparks a breakthrough in histotripsy, using microscopic bubbles to destroy tumors with remarkable precision. NASA’s Black Marble satellites turn nighttime lights into clues about disasters, electricity access, and human activity. Meanwhile, coffee stains, falling drops, and jammed grains reveal new possibilities for robotic grippers and materials that can learn.
Sep 24, 2026 • 4h 9min
What OpenAI Actually Did to Navier-Stokes (EP 58)
A ground-up tour of fluid mechanics builds toward OpenAI’s claimed finite-time Navier-Stokes blowup result, its Lean verification, and a fierce scientific credit dispute. The conversation then widens to autonomous agents, emergent coordination, AI-assisted biology, recursive self-improvement, and why controlling increasingly capable systems may be harder than simply switching them off.
Sep 14, 2026 • 1h 4min
What’s Next in Science? Nobel Prizes, Space Missions & More (EP 57)
A lively tour of the science to watch this fall, from Nobel Prize predictions and the surprising payoffs of curiosity-driven research to the origins of GLP-1 drugs. The conversation then blasts into space with NASA’s Roman Telescope, JAXA’s Phobos sample-return mission, and BepiColombo’s investigation of Mercury’s ice, hollows, magnetic field, and oversized core.
