Explore the dynamic emergence of protons, neutrons, and nuclei from quark and gluon interactions in this Stanford Physics colloquium. Delve into first-principles theory calculations that provide new insights into matter structure, including recent predictions of gluon contributions to proton pressure distribution and subsequent experimental measurements. Examine studies of light nuclei relevant to dark matter direct-detection experiments and other intensity-frontier searches for new physics. Discover how provably exact machine learning algorithms are revolutionizing computational approaches in particle physics, enhancing our understanding of the Standard Model from the quark level to nuclear structures.