Hidden Brain
Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam
Science
From First Principles
by Krishna Choudhary and Lester Nare
Today: #43 in Science on our combined chart.
Chart positions today
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Ranking history
History builds daily. We started tracking this show on the Science chart recently, so the trend line appears after a second day of data.
View as table
| Date | Apple Podcasts | Spotify |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 1 | #54 | #32 |
About the show
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.
Latest episodes
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Golden Goose Awards 2026: The Science Behind the Winners (Part 1) (EP 59)
September 29, 2026 · 2 hr 7 minWhat 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 explore the science…
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What OpenAI Actually Did to Navier-Stokes (EP 58)
September 24, 2026 · 4 hr 9 minWhat 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 Choudhary build the…
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What’s Next in Science? Nobel Prizes, Space Missions & More (EP 57)
September 14, 2026 · 1 hr 4 minWhat 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 their radar. In…
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The Yak Mutation That Could Help Repair the Brain (EP 56)
September 7, 2026 · 1 hr 36 minWhat 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 an evolutionary…
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Why Spin Qubits Will Win the Quantum Race (Part 2) (EP 55)
August 31, 2026 · 3 hr 46 minWhich 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, and silicon spin qubits…
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How Quantum Computing Actually Works (Part 1) (EP 54)
August 20, 2026 · 2 hr 11 minQuantum 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 computing deep dive, Lester…
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What Claude Actually Did to the Riemann Hypothesis (EP 53)
August 14, 2026 · 1 hr 47 minClaude 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 Nare and Krishna…
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The Amazon’s Hidden Civilization (One Year Anniversary) (EP 52)
August 6, 2026 · 1 hr 47 minIn 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 what they hope to…