Chat with Greg Fridman

Quick follow-up to my last "Can Plasma?" episode on the beauty industry: I forgot to talk about a whole industry segment — cosmetics manufacturing. I've actually done R&D work in that space, and there are four applications worth walking through, from the boring to the genuinely cool.

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 Confession: I forgot a whole industry last episode

00:19 Today's structure: boring → coolest

00:29 Quick intro — Greg Friedman, plasma bioengineer

00:47 Application 1: Surface activation for packaging

00:55 Plasma surface modification before paints, labels, and coatings

01:11 Packaging is a huge, fully-industrial implementation today

01:16 …but it's boring

01:17 Application 2: Sterilization of raw materials, equipment, and filling lines

01:29 Why traditional sterilization fails for temperature- and chemistry-sensitive materials

01:50 Plasma as an emerging contender in this regulated space

02:03 Why cosmetics manufacturing is heavily regulated (it stays on your skin for hours)

02:33 Application 3: Plasma-activated water as a manufacturing input

02:42 Introducing new short-lived chemistry into water

02:53 PAW as a precursor — and why this matters in a lucrative industry

03:04 When a few grams of cream sells for hundreds of dollars, novel ingredients pay

03:20 Application 4 (my favorite): Nanomaterials and nanopores

03:27 How plasma grows and structures nano-scale materials

03:41 Nano-enclosed actives — multilayered controlled-release systems

03:51 "A chocolate cake, except a few nanometers big"

04:06 Why microelectronics surface modification translates directly to cosmetics

04:14 R&D work I've done with a large cosmetics manufacturer

04:27 "Sorry I forgot this — really cool, rapidly developing field"

04:38 As earth gets richer, this industry will only grow

04:48 Tons of space for R&D advancements

04:58 Let's get it done

05:05 Wrap-up — keep the "Can Plasma?" questions coming

If you work in cosmetics manufacturing, formulation, regulatory, or you're curious about the industrial side of beauty — this is the episode I should have made last week.

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#CanPlasma #PlasmaScience #CosmeticsManufacturing #BeautyIndustry #PlasmaActivatedWater #Nanomaterials #SurfaceTreatment #Sterilization #PlasmaChemistry #IndustrialEngineering

Next in the "Can Plasma?" series: can plasma be used in the beauty industry? A dozen applications, some of them real, some of them total marketing bullshit on Amazon and at Sephora, plus a 60% placebo effect that's its own kind of medicine. And a pig story.

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 The question: can plasma be used in the beauty industry?

00:22 Quick intro — Greg Friedman, plasma bioengineer

00:36 Setting up the answer: real applications, bullshit, and a cool story

00:57 Application 1: Skin rejuvenation and anti-aging

01:05 How plasma stimulates collagen and triggers repair

01:33 Why these are big in Korea but not yet FDA-approved in the US

01:41 Application 2: Acne treatment

01:54 Why bacterial acne responds particularly well to plasma

02:31 Application 3: Transdermal drug delivery

02:42 The Thanksgiving pig-massaging story (6 AM, vitamin D, bloodstream measurements)

03:23 Application 4: Hair regrowth and scalp treatment

03:37 How oxidative stress from plasma-activated fluids wakes up follicles

03:49 Application 5: Nails

03:55 Killing nail fungus

04:10 Plasma as an adhesion promoter for manicures and pedicures

04:26 Application 6: Scars, pigmentation, and post-aesthetic wound healing

04:38 Microsurgery: plasma coagulation of micro-bleeds

05:13 If that's not enough for you, let's talk about bullshit

05:16 Sephora's "plasma cream" — nothing to do with plasma

05:35 It's a marketing word — plasma sounds like lasers, Star Wars, cool

05:43 Amazon's "plasma pen" is a thermal needle, also nothing to do with plasma

05:54 Why you shouldn't buy medical devices on Amazon

06:04 The funny story: my friend's girlfriend, the clinical dermatologist

06:34 "Where can I buy one of these?"

06:48 The placebo effect in clinical dermatology

07:05 60% of patients improve on a cream with no active ingredient

07:13 Plasma's mild tingling feeling can be its own contribution

07:35 Why this fits the beauty industry perfectly — and is also doing real chemistry underneath

07:53 Wrap-up — keep the "Can Plasma?" questions coming

If you work in dermatology, cosmetic science, regulatory affairs, or you've ever bought a "plasma" anything and wondered what it actually was — this is the episode.

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#CanPlasma #PlasmaScience #BeautyIndustry #Dermatology #SkinCare #AntiAging #PlasmaMedicine #CosmeticScience #Acne #HairRegrowth

Next in the "Can Plasma?" series: can plasma make things smell better? Short answer: depends on what "better" means. Plasma is incredible at destroying smells. There are two reasons that's not always what you want.

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 The question — and why it's a trick question

00:04 Quick intro — Greg Friedman, plasma bioengineer

00:13 What "smell better" actually means

00:22 Plasma destroys volatile organic compounds (VOCs)

00:27 Use case: residual smell control in the laundry dryer

00:37 How VOCs get oxidized to CO₂ + water

00:52 Gym locker rooms, stinky bathrooms, industrial VOC sources

01:07 The trick: what if you remove ALL smell from your refrigerator?

01:16 A real consumer study — and why people hated it

01:43 Sometimes the smell is the signal to clean it up

01:56 Atmospheric-pressure plasma in a room: the byproduct problem

02:04 Managing what plasma generates while it removes the smell

02:08 Why incomplete fluorocarbon breakdown is dangerous

02:17 Carbonyl fluoride (COF₂) — a phosgene-class gas, carcinogenic and mutagenic

02:28 Ozone, hydrogen peroxide, and peroxynitrite also need management

02:45 So — can plasma make things smell better?

02:53 The real engineering problem isn't removing the smell. It's everything around that.

02:59 The short answer this time

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#CanPlasma #PlasmaScience #OdorControl #IndoorAirQuality #VOC #PlasmaChemistry #IndustrialHygiene #EnvironmentalEngineering

Next in the "Can Plasma?" series: can plasma kill prions? The honest answer is yes at high doses — and at low doses, the result scared me off the topic.

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 The question: do you know how to kill prion disease?

00:13 Quick intro — Greg Friedman, plasma bioengineer

00:27 The question in full: "Dear Gregory…"

00:36 What prions actually are — misfolded, self-replicating proteins

00:46 Why prions meet my definition of "alive"

01:20 What happens to an infected human or animal (spongiform degeneration)

01:53 The problem: prions are absurdly tough

02:05 Why proteins are harder to kill than bacteria

02:12 What prions survive: autoclaves, UV, bleach, hydrogen peroxide

02:31 Our research collaboration with a New York researcher and her mouse model

03:09 What we found

03:13 "Scared the shit out of me"

03:15 High dose result: plasma destroys everything (carbon → CO₂ + water)

03:35 LOW dose result: prion activity more than tripled

03:48 Plasma can supercharge prions at sublethal doses

04:13 Why "kills half" is fine for most pathogens — but catastrophic for prions

04:31 The dead ones stayed dead. The survivors became far more infectious.

04:39 Mechanism: unknown

04:43 We didn't get funding to follow up

04:48 Why I'm personally uneasy continuing this work

05:06 So — can plasma kill prions?

05:39 A career-worthy open research question

05:42 Wrap-up — keep the "Can Plasma?" questions coming

If you're a neuroscientist, virologist, or biophysicist looking for a high-impact and underexplored research problem — this is the episode.

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#CanPlasma #PlasmaScience #Prions #Neuroscience #Biophysics #PlasmaMedicine #InfectiousDisease #PrionDisease #BiomedicalEngineering #ResearchOpportunity

Next in the "Can Plasma?" series — a World Cup special: can plasma help soccer? Yes, in more places than you'd think — from the grass under the players' feet, to the ball, to the locker room, to the cuts on the players' knees. Most of these aren't practical today. All of them are possible.

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 World Cup special: can plasma help soccer?

00:27 Quick intro — Greg Friedman, plasma bioengineer

00:51 The LinkedIn post on World Cup ball chemistry that inspired this video

01:18 1. The field surface — real grass

01:32 Plasma treatment of grass seed and plasma-activated water

01:59 Activating the soil before the turf goes down

02:06 2. The field surface — artificial turf

02:17 Cleaning between matches + hydrophobic coatings so dirt doesn't stick

02:40 Quickly adding nitrogen to dead spots for rapid green-back

02:56 3. Player health and safety

03:04 The military origin: portable battery-powered plasma for forward surgical hospitals

03:23 Treating scrapes on the bench — coagulation, sealing, disinfection in one

04:02 Why this is realistic: no chemicals, no expiration, plug it in or run on battery

04:10 4. Muscle and joint recovery

04:23 Early research on mild electric therapy for player recovery

04:29 5. Equipment and materials manufacturing

04:38 Surface prep and gluing for cleats and shoes

04:47 Pre-treating fabrics for breathability and water resistance

05:05 Silver ion implantation — permanently mildly antimicrobial socks

05:19 6. Air and environment

05:29 Non-thermal odor destruction in indoor venues

05:40 Why you pair plasma with an activated carbon filter

05:51 Disinfecting shared equipment and benches between matches

06:00 7. Locker rooms (my favorite)

06:22 Drier, smell-free lockers with reduced bacterial load

06:35 Safety mechanism: plasma only fires 5 minutes after closing, opens only after ozone clears

06:53 8. The ball itself

07:01 Plasma for ink adhesion and interlayer bonding on the World Cup ball

07:17 Go team — and a soccer-loving kid from the Soviet bloc, watching from Columbus, Ohio

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#CanPlasma #WorldCup #PlasmaScience #SportsScience #PlasmaMedicine #SurfaceTreatment #SportsTech #MaterialsScience #Soccer #Football

Next in the "Can Plasma?" series: can plasma treat milk? Yes — and the result is sterile, green, smells like crap, and probably curdled. But there's an interesting bioengineering challenge hidden underneath, and a chocolate bar story you'll want to hear.

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 The question: can plasma treat milk?

00:05 The short answer: yes, but it ruins the milk

00:11 The devils and the details — and a couple of fun twists

00:17 Quick intro — Greg Friedman, plasma bioengineer, food science background

00:35 The actual question: can plasma extend shelf life by killing bacteria?

00:58 Milk is a complex colloidal solution — proteins, fats, sugars

01:07 Assuming raw cow milk (almond milk is a totally different beast)

01:21 What happens when you ionize air over milk

01:37 Reactive oxygen species oxidize fats — and fats burn easily

02:05 New volatile organic compounds → new smells (some good, mostly bad)

02:38 Why the color changes (nitrogen-bond rotation)

02:49 My experience: room-temperature DBD on raw milk → smells like crap, turns green

03:03 Sterile, nasty, curdled milk — congrats

03:11 Don't forget: nitrates and nitrites get dissolved in your drink

03:30 Short answer: not a good idea

03:35 The longer answer: DBD with room air isn't the only plasma

03:42 Noble gases, gas-phase additives, polymerizable monomers — open R&D

04:14 Why this is a bioengineering challenge, not just a plasma problem

04:33 Why a talented food scientist is irreplaceable here

04:49 Food scientists are magicians — they can turn nasty inputs into majestic outputs

05:30 A Turkish drink analogy — ingredients I hate, mixed = magic

05:42 Calling all food scientists: reach out, I'd love to collaborate

06:00 A cute plasma + food story from an Asian plasma conference

06:15 The chocolate-melting-on-your-fingers problem

06:29 Plasma-deposited micrometer-sized chocolate beads

06:56 Why the beads keep your fingers clean

07:19 Brilliant industrial application — solving a different problem with the same tool

07:43 You opened Pandora's box of engineering challenges

07:52 Wrap-up — keep the questions coming

If you're a food scientist, dairy researcher, or plasma R&D engineer working on novel food processing — this episode is an open invitation. Let's collaborate.

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#CanPlasma #PlasmaScience #FoodScience #PlasmaProcessing #Dairy #Sterilization #FoodTech #Bioengineering #PlasmaChemistry

Today's deviation from plasma (sort of): a meditation on the books that shape engineering visions. Elon Musk has been quietly telling the world what the future looks like — by recommending Ian Banks' Culture series. I bought all 10 audiobooks. I'm on book three. Let me tell you what I'm hearing — and the Asimov novel that built the mission of my own company.

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 I know the future. Elon Musk told me.

00:23 AI-driven post-scarcity society

00:43 Elon's actual recommendation: read Ian Banks' Culture series

00:49 Why I take reading advice from people I admire

00:59 Why Elon inspires engineers (love him or hate him)

01:17 Picking up all the Culture novels on Audible

01:27 What book 3 sounds like — AIs that demand citizenship and a personality

02:23 Isaac Asimov's Foundation and the direction of my company

02:32 Where "Our future is electric" actually came from

02:45 The motto AAplasma runs on

03:04 In Foundation, everything runs on atomics

03:33 What if all chemicals are gone? How do we make clothes, plastics, materials?

03:40 The answer: plasma

03:50 The grand vision — replacing the petrochemical industry with electric discharges

04:08 Why Asimov gave me a vision I still walk around quoting

04:18 What Elon's recommendation tells us about his vision

04:33 10 books in the Culture series (one is short)

04:42 Read along with me — let's play catch

04:53 A futuristic society with AI and no money

05:14 Bonus: what reading Artemis did for our NASA proposal

05:19 Moon colony oxygen from electrolysis of liquefied regolith

05:50 Proposing it to NASA — plasma, minimal moving parts

06:02 The future as per Ian Banks' Culture series

06:17 Wrap-up — drop your "Can Plasma?" questions below

If you're an engineer, founder, or anyone whose work needs a long-term vision: read what your heroes read.

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#CanPlasma #ElonMusk #IanBanks #IsaacAsimov #ScienceFiction #PostScarcity #ArtificialIntelligence #PlasmaScience #Engineering #Foundation #CultureSeries

Next in the "Can Plasma?" series: can plasma treat seeds? Short answer: yes — for disinfection, germination, and early plant growth. But where this matters most isn't where you might guess.

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 The question: can plasma treat seeds?

00:13 Quick intro — plasma like plasma TV, not blood plasma

00:39 What "treating seeds" actually means

00:45 Two goals: disinfection (eating) and germination (growing)

01:26 Use case 1: Disinfection

01:47 Why you don't want to steam autoclave seeds

01:56 Radiation: expensive, and customers don't love it

02:14 Bleach: alters taste and adds chlorine byproducts

02:26 Why plasma fits — dry, non-thermal, conveyor-belt compatible

02:41 4-log reduction (99.99%) of microbes in a fraction of a second

03:10 Use case 2: Seed germination & early development

03:27 Why this matters most for high-value crops where each seed costs dollars

03:41 The protective seed coat and the water-uptake problem

03:50 Microcracks: how plasma helps water get in

04:05 Reactive oxygen species and germination rate

04:23 Reactive nitrogen species (NO₃⁻) and early plant development

04:47 So… is plasma actually used here?

04:55 Why it's NOT used for endless cornfields

05:06 Monsanto-grade GMO seeds already germinate at ~99%

05:37 Where plasma seed treatment IS thriving: flowers, marijuana, niche high-value crops

05:56 The summary: disinfection, germination, growth enhancement

06:02 Drop your "Can Plasma?" questions below

If you work in agriculture, food safety, controlled-environment agriculture, or specialty crop production — this one's for you.

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#CanPlasma #PlasmaScience #PlasmaAgriculture #SeedTreatment #FoodSafety #AgTech #ControlledEnvironmentAgriculture #PlasmaChemistry

A viewer left a comment that I wanted to respond to properly. They mentioned learning programming and machine learning, the "overwhelming amount of knowledge" out there, and their decision not to let that discourage them. Great attitude — and I wanted to share one thing that took it further for me.

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 I can't 10X your life — but I can tell you what I did

00:30 The viewer comment that triggered this video

00:56 A fantastic attitude — and how to take it further

01:21 A plasma example: the impossible microplasma photo

01:42 The problem: catching a microsecond spark through a microscope

02:37 A new undergrad joins the lab

02:59 What I told her instead of dumping the manuals on her

03:27 She did it in a couple of hours

03:35 Turns out it was easy

03:43 The mindset shift: just assume it's easy

04:23 "Fake it till you make it" — and why I take this seriously

04:56 How this changed how I approach new tasks

05:17 What stoicism has to say about it

05:39 A funny story — the lumberyard open house

06:20 The matched pair of Pennsylvania black walnut slabs

06:55 "We did need a dining table…"

07:13 Turns out it was easy. Just took 400 hours.

07:35 The impossible task I had no business doing

07:43 In hindsight, easy

08:02 Wrap-up — drop your "Can Plasma?" questions below

If you've ever felt frozen by the scale of something you're trying to learn or build, this one's for you.

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#Mindset #Stoicism #Productivity #PhDLife #Woodworking #LifeAdvice #PlasmaScience #ScienceCommunication

A viewer asked me to review every type of plasma — and to do it like analyzing a sports car: engine, transmission, fuel, cooling, the whole spec sheet. I loved the analogy so much I built a full presentation around it. This one's now part of my undergrad and high school outreach materials.

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 Today's experiment: explaining plasma as sports cars

00:16 The viewer question that inspired this episode

01:25 Why the sports-car analogy works (especially for US audiences)

02:28 What plasma actually is — the fourth state of matter, defined by ionization

04:22 The plasma "spec sheet"

04:29 Engine size = temperature

05:02 Fuel = energy source (electric fields, lasers, RF, microwaves)

05:16 Transmission = degree of ionization

05:31 Cooling system = collisionality

05:48 Power-to-weight ratio = density

06:00 Track vs street legal = equilibrium vs non-equilibrium

06:21 Thermal (hot) plasma: the V12 — fusion cores, lightning, stars

08:14 Cold plasma: the Tesla/hybrid — DBDs, jets, RF, microwave plasmas

10:09 Weakly ionized plasmas: the street-legal sports car (most industrial plasmas)

11:35 Fully ionized plasmas: tokamaks and inertial confinement fusion

12:56 Dense vs diffuse plasmas: welding torches vs auroras

13:46 Dusty plasmas: novel materials, semiconductor manufacturing, space science

15:12 Magnetized vs unmagnetized: all-wheel drive vs rear-wheel drive

16:18 Plasma myths, busted

16:25 Myth: cold plasma = low energy

16:48 Myth: plasma is just hot gas

17:06 Myth: weakly ionized = weak

17:30 Myth: all plasma glows

18:35 Myth: plasma is exotic and rare (99% of the visible universe says hi)

19:21 (Aside: wood is rarer than plasma in the galaxy)

19:27 Applications by plasma "model"

19:56 Hot plasmas: fusion, astrophysics, materials testing, reentry simulation

20:21 Cold plasmas: medicine, agriculture, food safety, sterilization

20:57 Weakly ionized plasmas: lighting, semiconductors, displays

21:22 Magnetized plasmas: fusion confinement, ion thrusters, magnetic reconnection

22:16 Dusty plasmas: planetary science, novel material synthesis

22:24 Fully ionized plasmas: inside stars and fusion reactors

22:44 Recap of the lineup

23:11 The unifying thread between cars and plasmas

25:01 Why temperature alone doesn't define plasma

25:35 Plasma: the most engineerable state of matter

26:31 Thanks to the viewer who asked — drop your "Can Plasma?" questions below

If you're a student, educator, or science communicator looking for an intuitive way to teach plasma physics — this presentation was built for you. Feedback welcome in the comments; I'll be using it in classrooms.

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#CanPlasma #PlasmaScience #PlasmaPhysics #ScienceEducation #STEM #SportsCars #SciComm #FourthStateOfMatter