What’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 Choudhary take a relaxed tour of the discoveries and missions on their radar.In Episode 57 of From First Principles, we explore why curiosity-driven research matters, what the Golden Goose Awards celebrate, and how questions that once sounded impractical can lead to unexpected breakthroughs. Then we turn to space: Roman’s search for dark energy and exoplanets, JAXA’s Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission, and the mysteries ESA and JAXA’s BepiColombo mission will investigate at Mercury.Along the way, we tour the updated FFP website, revisit some favorite episodes, and ask which stories you want us to cover in depth next.A note before we begin: the main conversation was recorded before Labor Day weekend. The opening announcement addresses your requests for a separate episode on OpenAI, Navier–Stokes and the wider AI conversation. This episode is our fall science rundown; that deep dive is still to come.CHAPTERS00:00 Update on our upcoming Navier–Stokes and AI coverage03:43 Episode intro and football banter05:47 FFP intro06:01 Nobel Prize season and our coverage plans10:45 Golden Goose Awards: why basic research matters21:02 FFP website tour and favorite episodes42:24 Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope46:20 Microlensing, exoplanets and dark matter51:25 MMX: where did Mars’ moons come from?54:40 BepiColombo and the mysteries of Mercury1:02:17 Your questions, future deep dives and sign-off1:05:40 OutroSHOW NOTESNASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope:https://science.nasa.gov/mission/roman-space-telescope/JAXA’s Martian Moons eXploration (MMX):https://www.mmx.jaxa.jp/en/mission/ESA / JAXA BepiColombo:https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/BepiColomboExplore the research and episodes we cover:https://ffppod.comScience R&D Funding Tracker:https://ffppod.com/fundingScience Transfer Board:https://ffppod.com/transfersAmerica 250:https://ffppod.com/America250Support the show:https://ffppod.com/donateWATCH ON YOUTUBEhttps://youtu.be/snhQh0fjTX4Follow @FFPPod on X / Instagram / TikTok / FacebookBreaking down science news so it makes sense to curious people everywhere.Which mission or research story deserves a full FFP deep dive? Tell us in the comments.