Chat with Greg Fridman

Gregory Fridman

I'm Greg Fridman, a PhD in Bioengineering and an expert in non-equilibrium plasmas. This channel is a space for direct chats about the things that actually matter: the future of biotech, the fascinating physics of plasmas, and the unfiltered reality of the scientific life. No jargon, no gatekeeping—just the science. Subscribe to join the conversation as we explore how bioengineering is reshaping our world and what it’s really like to work at the edge of discovery.

  1. Can Plasma Do Anything for Fireworks? Yes — But Not the Colors (4th of July Special)

    1 day ago

    Can Plasma Do Anything for Fireworks? Yes — But Not the Colors (4th of July Special)

    Next in the "Can Plasma?" series — a 4th of July special: can plasma do anything for fireworks? Yes, but with caveats. Three real applications, and a chemistry lesson about why the colors in the sky aren't from plasma. ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 Spirit of the season: can plasma do fireworks? 00:09 Quick intro — Greg Friedman, plasma bioengineer 00:25 The short answer: kind of, not directly 00:29 Application 1: Moisture control via hydrophobic encapsulation 00:53 Why fireworks materials are so moisture-sensitive 00:56 The reactive metals: strontium, barium, copper 01:13 These metal salts react readily with water 01:22 Moisture-proofing as a quiet, critical step 01:26 Application 2: Surface activation of castings and tubes 01:33 Why fireworks are mostly encapsulation engineering 01:41 Application 3: Plasma ignition 01:48 Why a small battery + a thermal arc beats a fuse 02:09 Plasma ignition is much faster than chemical combustion 02:23 Why it's also more reliable 02:32 The minimum hardware: 2 metal needles + a trigger 02:42 Microsecond-scale ignition timing 02:55 What plasma can't do: the colors 02:58 Plasma creates light — but in atmospheric air, it's just faintly purple 03:04 Nitrogen overtakes everything in atmospheric plasma color 03:15 Carrying batteries up into the sky is its own challenge 03:25 Where the colors actually come from: metal salts 03:28 Strontium = red, barium = green, copper = blue 03:45 So can plasma do something for fireworks? Yes, but limited 03:54 As pyrotechnics improves, plasma is a contender for making fireworks better 04:06 Happy 4th of July If you're into pyrotechnics, materials chemistry, or just curious about what's actually happening in the sky tomorrow night — this is the episode. 🔔 Subscribe for more in the "Can Plasma?" series: @gregfridman #CanPlasma #PlasmaScience #Fireworks #4thOfJuly #Pyrotechnics #PlasmaIgnition #MaterialsChemistry #IndependenceDay #PlasmaChemistry

    4 min
  2. Can Plasma Be Used in Cosmetics Manufacturing? 4 Applications I Missed Last Episode

    3 days ago

    Can Plasma Be Used in Cosmetics Manufacturing? 4 Applications I Missed Last Episode

    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. 🔔 Subscribe for more in the "Can Plasma?" series: @gregfridman #CanPlasma #PlasmaScience #CosmeticsManufacturing #BeautyIndustry #PlasmaActivatedWater #Nanomaterials #SurfaceTreatment #Sterilization #PlasmaChemistry #IndustrialEngineering

    5 min
  3. Can Plasma Be Used in the Beauty Industry? Real Science, Marketing B******t, and a 60% Placebo Effect

    6 days ago

    Can Plasma Be Used in the Beauty Industry? Real Science, Marketing B******t, and a 60% Placebo Effect

    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 b******t 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, b******t, 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 b******t 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. 🔔 Subscribe for more in the "Can Plasma?" series: @gregfridman #CanPlasma #PlasmaScience #BeautyIndustry #Dermatology #SkinCare #AntiAging #PlasmaMedicine #CosmeticScience #Acne #HairRegrowth

    8 min
  4. Can Plasma Make Things Smell Better? It's a Trick Question

    25 June

    Can Plasma Make Things Smell Better? It's a Trick Question

    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 🔔 Subscribe for more in the "Can Plasma?" series: @gregfridman #CanPlasma #PlasmaScience #OdorControl #IndoorAirQuality #VOC #PlasmaChemistry #IndustrialHygiene #EnvironmentalEngineering

    3 min
  5. Can Plasma Kill Prions? Yes — But Low Doses Made Them 3× More Infectious

    23 June

    Can Plasma Kill Prions? Yes — But Low Doses Made Them 3× More Infectious

    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. 🔔 Subscribe for more in the "Can Plasma?" series: @gregfridman #CanPlasma #PlasmaScience #Prions #Neuroscience #Biophysics #PlasmaMedicine #InfectiousDisease #PrionDisease #BiomedicalEngineering #ResearchOpportunity

    6 min
  6. Can Plasma Help at the World Cup? Field, Players, Equipment, Locker Room

    20 June

    Can Plasma Help at the World Cup? Field, Players, Equipment, Locker Room

    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 🔔 Subscribe for more in the "Can Plasma?" series: @gregfridman #CanPlasma #WorldCup #PlasmaScience #SportsScience #PlasmaMedicine #SurfaceTreatment #SportsTech #MaterialsScience #Soccer #Football

    8 min
  7. Can Plasma Treat Milk? The Honest Answer (Plus a Chocolate Bar Story)

    18 June

    Can Plasma Treat Milk? The Honest Answer (Plus a Chocolate Bar Story)

    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. 🔔 Subscribe for more in the "Can Plasma?" series: @gregfridman #CanPlasma #PlasmaScience #FoodScience #PlasmaProcessing #Dairy #Sterilization #FoodTech #Bioengineering #PlasmaChemistry

    8 min
  8. Elon Musk Told Me the Future. So I Read the Book.

    16 June

    Elon Musk Told Me the Future. So I Read the Book.

    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. 🔔 Subscribe for more: @gregfridman #CanPlasma #ElonMusk #IanBanks #IsaacAsimov #ScienceFiction #PostScarcity #ArtificialIntelligence #PlasmaScience #Engineering #Foundation #CultureSeries

    6 min
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About

I'm Greg Fridman, a PhD in Bioengineering and an expert in non-equilibrium plasmas. This channel is a space for direct chats about the things that actually matter: the future of biotech, the fascinating physics of plasmas, and the unfiltered reality of the scientific life. No jargon, no gatekeeping—just the science. Subscribe to join the conversation as we explore how bioengineering is reshaping our world and what it’s really like to work at the edge of discovery.

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  • Creator
    Gregory Fridman
  • Years Active
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  • Episodes
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