Chat with Greg Fridman

Gregory Fridman
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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. 15h ago

    Can Plasma Change Your Hair? Regrowth, Gray Reversal, and Why Purple Is Off the Table

    Next in the "Can Plasma?" series: a two-part viewer question about hair. Closer shave? Change your haircut? Change your hair color? And a callback to the ball lightning idea from a previous episode. Short one. Big finding buried in the middle. ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 Today: hair growth and hair color 00:08 The viewer's question in full 00:19 Interesting question, and not a silly one 00:22 What the research actually covers: hair regrowth 00:29 Our work: indirect plasma treating a proprietary liquid, applied to the scalp 00:36 Yes, plasma stimulates hair follicles to regrow hair 00:45 Closer shave? Not really 00:49 The laser hair removal analog 01:04 Plasma as a photocatalyst with additive chemicals for hair reduction 01:18 Or plasma-treated liquid as a surfactant replacement for shaving gel 01:34 Summary: closer shave no, hair removal maybe, hair regrowth yes 01:49 The commercialization problem: this is home use, hard business model for expensive plasma machines 02:06 Can plasma change your hair color? 02:10 Not the way hair dye does 02:13 But gray hair is follicles failing to produce pigment 02:20 Preclinical trials: plasma stimulates pigmentation 02:34 Plasma-treated follicles can regrow darker hair 02:43 Not purple. But silver can go, and darker hair grows back. 03:00 Callback: the viewer asked about ball lightning 03:07 I'm totally into the ball lightning project 03:13 Warning: many have tried to weaponize plasma, it gets tricky 03:32 Starting point: plasma welder, slightly conductive water (a bit of salt) 03:41 You're welding water. Be careful, buddy. 03:44 Wrap-up, questions in the comments If you're in cosmetics, dermatology, hair loss research, or you saw a "plasma comb" ad and wondered if any of it is real, this is the episode. 🔔 Subscribe for more in the "Can Plasma?" series: @gregfridman #CanPlasma #PlasmaScience #HairRegrowth #GrayHair #Dermatology #PlasmaMedicine #CosmeticScience #HairLoss

    Can Plasma Change Your Hair? Regrowth, Gray Reversal, and Why Purple Is Off the Table

  2. 2d ago

    How Ionized Does It Have to Be to Be Plasma? The Simple Answer (And the PhD Answer)

    A viewer asked a great foundational question: how ionized does something have to be to be called plasma? Some sources say all electrons stripped from all atoms. Others say one is enough. What's the actual answer? Here's the simple version and the PhD version. ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 The question: how ionized to count as plasma? 00:07 Quick intro, Greg Friedman, plasma bioengineer 00:16 Reading the viewer's question in full 00:24 One source says: strip every electron from every atom 00:31 The viewer's guess: one electron, not all atoms 00:39 Do highly excited atoms count? Is the cutoff 1%? 50%? 00:53 My take on the source: I don't know them, don't need to fight 01:07 The color analogy: what makes something "white"? 01:20 The Pantone system, and why plasma physicists needed the same 01:31 A print shop story from my undergrad 01:52 The formal answer: plasma physicists devised a curve from dark discharges to thermonuclear plasmas 02:17 The simple answer for undergrads and summer high-schoolers 02:23 If you can see it and hear it, it's plasma 02:56 Beyond that, it's books and books of details 03:02 Either adhere to the peer-defined convention or make up your own 03:21 What being a scientist means (adhering to peer conventions) 03:38 So on the "every electron stripped" claim: no thanks 03:49 My working definition: at least one electron stripped from at least one atom 04:17 The density math: 10^19 atoms per cubic centimeter of gas 04:29 1% of that is 10^17 atoms ionized (enormous) 04:38 That degree of organization is huge, and I don't work anywhere near it 04:57 Atmospheric-pressure dielectric barrier discharges: closer to 10^12 ionized/cm³ 05:07 7 orders of magnitude lower, so about 0.001% ionization 05:20 That's a strong DBD in air, and that's definitely plasma 05:32 Welding torch: possibly up to ~90% ionization 05:44 Fusion reactors and tokamaks: nearly every molecule stripped 05:55 So 1% is a lot. 50% is huge. 06:04 The correct answer depends on what plasma you're working with 06:08 Fusion: 50% is probably not enough 06:11 Surface treatment: 1% is way too much 06:20 Wrap-up: either the PhD study version, or "see it, hear it" 06:37 Send deeper questions in the comments If you're a physics student, plasma researcher, or you got into an argument on Reddit about what actually counts as plasma, this is the episode. 🔔 Subscribe for more: @gregfridman #PlasmaScience #PlasmaPhysics #Ionization #ScienceCommunication #Physics #PhysicsEducation

    How Ionized Does It Have to Be to Be Plasma? The Simple Answer (And the PhD Answer)

  3. 5d ago

    Can Plasma Fix Potholes? Silence a Loud Neighbor? Pop a Pimple? (Gloriously Dumb, Round 4)

    Round 4 of the Gloriously Dumb series. I had AI scout the channel and generate the silliest "Can Plasma?" questions it could imagine. This time: 6 questions in the Household & Random category. Two more rounds coming after this. Comment if you want them. ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 These are just fun for me. AI is good at silly questions. 00:11 Round 4: Household & Random, six questions 00:24 Quick intro, Greg Friedman, plasma bioengineer 00:57 Q1: Can plasma fix a pothole? 01:00 A spinoff company we started to remove old road lane markings with plasma (no scarring, unlike grinding) 01:29 Referenced Tesla crash tied to old ghost lane markings 01:33 Same tech works for potholes: clean, partially melt bitumen, better adhesion of the patch 02:04 Q2: Can plasma silence a loud neighbor? 02:16 Ball lightning: a poorly understood phenomenon 02:22 My personal theory: initial plasma strike breaks down water, hydrogen and oxygen burn, self-sustaining 03:03 Control ball lightning, launch it at the neighbor's house 03:15 Military uses plasma as a radar shield (stealth), but not sound blocking 03:39 Otherwise, no 03:43 Q3: Can plasma remove a stripped screw? 03:56 Deposit hydrophilic coating so WD-40 gets into the threads 04:13 Better: use plasma to weld something to the screw, crank it out 04:26 Or weld over the whole area, drill through, forget the screw was ever there 04:33 Q4: Can plasma dry wet socks faster? 04:49 Plasma really likes water (polar molecule, attracted to charges) 05:25 Used industrially as a drying process in printing 05:36 Yes, but expensive electricity, and will discolor and destroy the fibers like bleach 05:56 Verdict: can, but don't 06:08 Q5: Can plasma pop a pimple? 06:30 Two kinds of acne: viral (rare) and bacterial (common) 06:33 Plasma kills bacteria directly, disrupts biofilm 06:59 Reactive species dissolve through skin oils, stimulate immune response 07:15 Attacks from outside AND from inside, without scarring 07:29 Not "pop" a pimple, but yes plasma clears them 07:32 Q6: Can plasma unclog a drain? 07:52 Hydrophilic coating to make the drain slippery (prevent future clogs) 08:09 Chemical etching for many hours (impractical) 08:22 Plasma-treated water penetrates the clog, ROS/RNS break down organic matter 08:41 Or, you know, just use a stick 08:53 Overkill, but can 08:56 Two more rounds left in the series 09:23 Wrap-up, send your own questions in the comments If you liked the first three rounds (Food & Kitchen, Personal & Grooming, Animals), this is your continuation. 🔔 Subscribe for more in the "Can Plasma?" series: @gregfridman #CanPlasma #GloriouslyDumb #PlasmaScience #AI #Household #Acne #Potholes #SciComm

    Can Plasma Fix Potholes? Silence a Loud Neighbor? Pop a Pimple? (Gloriously Dumb, Round 4)

  4. Aug 13

    Cryogenic Engineers in Plasma: 0 Kelvin on One Side, Millions of Degrees on the Other

    A viewer asked: are cryogenic engineers often found in the plasma industry, and what would they do there? Short answer: not in my part of the field. But there is one place where they're essential, and it happens to be the most extreme engineering job you can pick. ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 The question: cryogenic engineers in the plasma industry? 00:07 Quick intro, Greg Friedman, plasma bioengineer 00:24 The viewer's question in full 00:41 Reframing: plasma is the 4th state of matter, not "an industry" 00:43 It's like saying "the liquid industry" or "the solid industry" 01:15 Most commodity plasma work is atmospheric pressure (cheapest option) 01:31 Ag, medicine, environmental remediation: no cryo needed 01:45 Where cryogenic temperatures do become essential 02:01 Fusion is the exception 02:03 Fusion people are a different discipline from plasma people 02:26 Superconducting magnets cooled with cryogenic systems 02:39 Near zero Kelvin on one side of the wall 02:46 Multi-million degree plasma on the other side of the same wall 02:57 If I had to do it all over again, I'd consider fusion 03:15 The lowest and highest temperatures humanity can make, one wall apart 03:55 What I actually am: atmospheric-pressure plasma chemist 04:11 Why I avoid low pressure (expensive pumps and chambers) 04:32 Why I avoid high pressure (30+ atmospheres is another kind of expensive) 04:41 Where I actually work: plasma for agriculture, PFAS cleaning, commodity applications 04:49 Cost minimization and robustness 04:57 Skills required to enter the field 05:05 Find good schools, find advisors 05:12 My PhD had 7 advisors (yes, you can do that) 05:22 The hack: tell advisor #1 you're with #2, tell #2 you're with #3, take the day off 05:29 Have multiple mentors, ask them for guidance 05:32 Not the easiest field. Rewarding when it works. 05:43 If I'd studied fusion instead of ag tech and sewer water, I could be designing reactors 05:52 …which is what I'm working on now 05:59 Can't talk about it until the patent is granted 06:10 It's running at about 1 Kelvin. So yes, we'll need cryogenic engineers. 06:15 Wrap-up, thanks for the question, post more in the comments If you're a student choosing a field, an engineer thinking about a career pivot, or you've ever wondered why fusion feels different from the rest of plasma, this is the episode. 🔔 Subscribe for more in the "Can Plasma?" series: @gregfridman #PlasmaScience #FusionEnergy #CryogenicEngineering #Careers #Engineering #PlasmaPhysics #PhD #Fusion #IndustrialEngineering

    Cryogenic Engineers in Plasma: 0 Kelvin on One Side, Millions of Degrees on the Other

  5. Aug 11

    Can Plasma Make Food Safer? 10,000 Papers Say Yes. Here's How.

    Next in the "Can Plasma?" series: can plasma make food safer? Yes. And it's a Pandora's box, with over 10,000 Google Scholar papers on the topic. Let me classify it for you, then share my favorite application: pre-loaded antimicrobial ice on your strawberries. ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 A very broad question, a shallow dive today 00:10 Quick intro, Greg Friedman, plasma bioengineer 00:32 Let's classify. Three plasma types plus food types. 00:40 Non-equilibrium atmospheric-pressure cold plasmas 01:03 Type 1: Dry plasma in humid air (cheapest option) 01:10 Antimicrobial: biofilms, bacteria, fungal spores, mold, viruses 01:36 Type 2: Moist plasma with water droplets, vapor, or alcohol 01:49 Boosted OH radicals and hydrogen peroxide production 02:14 Type 3: Plasma-treated liquid as a bleach replacement 02:22 Foods that need each: dry grains, coffee, spices (dry only); milk, eggs (low temp) 03:04 The full food chain: harvest, chill, transport, package 03:13 Bird poop on lettuce: plasma at the source 03:38 Yuma, Arizona harvest at 100°F, rapid chilling, cross-contamination risk 04:04 Plasma coatings on the packaging itself 04:24 Plasma gel developed for the diaper under raw chicken (kills salmonella on contact) 04:51 My favorite application coming up 05:36 Plasma-treated water droplets carry hydrogen peroxide and peroxynitrite 05:56 Fly them through a freezer with strawberries 06:02 Droplets freeze on the berries as snowflakes and ice 06:17 Antimicrobials sit dormant while frozen 06:25 On defrost, they release and kill any surface bacteria as the fruit thaws 06:55 You eat safe, freshly defrosted strawberries 07:06 The broader field: over 10,000 papers on Google Scholar 07:22 Wrap-up, ask specific food safety questions in the comments If you work in food processing, packaging, agriculture, cold chain, or food safety regulation, this is the map episode. The chicken diaper and strawberry ice examples are ready to steal. 🔔 Subscribe for more in the "Can Plasma?" series: @gregfridman #CanPlasma #PlasmaScience #FoodSafety #FoodProcessing #Agriculture #Sterilization #FoodTech #ColdChain #Packaging #PlasmaChemistry

    Can Plasma Make Food Safer? 10,000 Papers Say Yes. Here's How.

  6. Aug 8

    Gloriously Dumb "Can Plasma?" Questions: The Animals Round

    Round 3 of the Gloriously Dumb series. I had Claude scout my channel and generate the silliest "Can Plasma?" questions it could invent. Today's category: Animals. Four questions. Three actually had real answers, and there's a Caribbean mosquito-zapper story you'll want to hear. ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 Quick note on embracing AI (before we dive in) 00:26 AI scouted my channel for silly questions again 00:39 Round 3: Animals. No prep, just answering as I go. 00:49 Quick intro, Greg Friedman, plasma bioengineer 01:09 Four questions in the Animals category 01:13 Q1: Can plasma make a dog smarter? 01:20 Dog training whistles: inaudible to humans, audible to dogs 01:36 Plasma frequency is also inaudible to humans, audible to dogs 01:40 My lab dog always runs away when I turn on plasma 02:02 Plasma-to-LED training progression: sound cue then light cue then just light 02:16 Yes, indirectly, plasma can make a dog smarter 02:26 Q2: Can plasma stop a cat from knocking things off tables? 02:43 Tuned plasma can deliver a mild shock (like a plasma toy) 03:01 A plasma coaster the cat learns to avoid 03:09 Hydrophilic coatings to help things stick to the table better 03:26 Where did AI even come up with this one? Definitely gloriously dumb. 03:33 Verdict: plasma can't really solve this one 03:38 Q3: Can plasma repel mosquitoes? 03:47 Two angles here 03:59 Angle 1: plasma-charge mosquito spray droplets so they stick to skin more uniformly 04:20 Angle 2: the bug zapper. UV lamps and plasma zappers. 04:38 The Amazon tennis-racket plasma zapper (a few bucks) 04:51 A Caribbean Airbnb story: 26 mosquitoes in one evening 05:12 That's kill, not repel. Direct repel via plasma sound? Not sure. 05:19 What plasma can do: deposit repellent coatings more uniformly 05:41 Q4: Can plasma make fish glow brighter? 05:48 (Thanks, Claude) 05:54 GFP (green fluorescent protein) fluoresces in UV 06:18 Plasma produces lots of UV, so yes, it can charge fluorescent proteins 06:35 Same logic as the old glow-in-the-dark watch dials 06:52 UV lamps get dirty, plasma sources don't (no moving parts) 07:09 These aren't that dumb. AI is surprisingly good at edge-case questions. 07:15 Where plasma UV beats lamp UV (durability, no moving parts) 07:28 Where lamps beat plasma UV (cost, broad spectrum, sun) 07:52 Wrap-up, keep sending your questions, I read all of them If you're a dog owner, mosquito-hater, biologist, or you just enjoyed the first two rounds of Gloriously Dumb (Food & Kitchen, Personal & Grooming), this is your continuation. 🔔 Subscribe for more in the "Can Plasma?" series: @gregfridman #CanPlasma #GloriouslyDumb #PlasmaScience #AI #Claude #Animals #Mosquitoes #GFP #SciComm

    Gloriously Dumb "Can Plasma?" Questions: The Animals Round

  7. Aug 6

    Can Plasma Kill Airborne Viruses? Yes, Easily. Then the Real Problem Starts.

    Next in the "Can Plasma?" series: can plasma destroy viruses in the air? Short answer: yes, easily. Long answer: the killing is the easy part. Getting it deployed on an airplane, in your HVAC, or in a respirator is where the real engineering happens. ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 The question: can plasma destroy viruses in the air? 00:03 Easiest thing plasma does 00:07 Quick intro, 2.5 decades of doing this 00:26 What a virus actually is (DNA plus a thin wrapper, very little protection) 00:38 Why bacteria are much harder to kill (cell walls, spores) 00:53 Bacteria have more protection built in than viruses 00:56 Viruses don't travel alone: cough droplets carry biological material 01:12 Approach 1: trap on a filter, plasma treat the filter 01:27 Approach 2: plasma mesh, air passes through with zero pressure drop 01:44 The number: about 1 log reduction (90% kill) in a single pass 01:56 Trivial to do in a petri dish in the lab 02:05 The real challenge starts when you leave the lab 02:14 Case study: airplane cabin air 02:24 Trapped in an aluminum tube with strangers who are coughing 02:32 Airplanes are terrified of ignition sources 02:35 Small fuel leak plus plasma equals spark plug equals boom 02:52 Not going to happen in a passenger cabin 02:56 Where are you installing it? Humans? Pets? What about ozone? 03:16 Ozone management options: heat destruction or activated carbon 03:22 Both are proven in air filtration systems 03:46 90% kill per pass, from thousands of experiments 03:51 The catch in HVAC: heating to destroy ozone also heats the house 04:10 What about plasma respirators? 04:17 Great in theory: plasma treats air as you breathe 04:26 The catch: no ozone requires a no-oxygen plasma, which means no oxygen to breathe 04:36 So can plasma destroy viruses? Very easily. 04:40 What plasma makes: OH radicals, H2O2, atomic oxygen, NO, peroxynitrite, plus VUV 05:19 The real question is not "can it kill" but "how do you commercially implement" 05:29 That's most of my daily focus 05:33 Regulatory bodies, OSHA, thousands of implementation issues 05:46 Come to school, become a plasma chemist, join us 05:52 Wrap-up, questions welcome in the comments If you're in HVAC, air filtration, aerospace, medical device design, or public health, this is the deployment reality episode. 🔔 Subscribe for more in the "Can Plasma?" series: @gregfridman #CanPlasma #PlasmaScience #AirFiltration #Viruses #Aerosols #HVAC #IndoorAirQuality #PublicHealth #PlasmaChemistry

    Can Plasma Kill Airborne Viruses? Yes, Easily. Then the Real Problem Starts.

  8. Aug 4

    Can Plasma Cure Everything? No. Killing My Own Running Joke.

    Next in the "Can Plasma?" series, a meta episode: can plasma actually cure everything? My running joke on this channel is that if your question starts with "can plasma," the answer is usually yes. Time to be honest about where that joke breaks. ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 The question: can plasma cure everything? 00:06 Quick intro, Greg Friedman, plasma bioengineer 00:23 My running joke: open a medical dictionary, plasma probably does something 00:47 The honest answer: no, that's just a joke 00:52 What plasma actually does: strong oxidizer, controllably skews redox balance 01:08 Coagulation cascades (intrinsic and extrinsic) respond to redox 01:25 A lot of biological processes are influenced by plasma 01:32 Cure everything? No. 01:38 Severe mental disorders: I can't think of much plasma can do 02:03 Decayed tooth with damaged nerve: can plasma revive it and rebuild the tooth? No. 02:13 Biology is complicated 02:20 The dose and dose rate argument 02:27 Whiskey analogy: one bottle can be a lot, or nothing, depending on rate 02:50 Dose is how much you deliver. Dose rate is over what time. 03:03 100 pounds of steak? Not too much, if it's over 5 years 03:11 The chemistry you deliver controls what happens 03:20 Some changes are irreversible 03:23 The thermoset vs thermoplastic analogy 03:34 Once a thermoset is set, you can decompose it but you cannot melt it 03:44 That's why we can only recycle half of plastics 03:53 Location matters too 04:07 Can plasma even reach where you need to treat? 04:15 Plasma inside the brain: how do you deliver it? Drill a hole? Not gonna work. 04:30 Bottom line: can plasma do a lot of things? Yes. Everything? No, sorry. 04:39 Wrap-up: send more questions, comment section is open If you've watched a bunch of "Can Plasma?" episodes and started to wonder where the honest limits are, this is that episode. 🔔 Subscribe for more in the "Can Plasma?" series: @gregfridman #CanPlasma #PlasmaScience #PlasmaMedicine #Bioengineering #DoseResponse #Biology #ScienceCommunication

    Can Plasma Cure Everything? No. Killing My Own Running Joke.
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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.

Information

  • Creator
    Gregory Fridman
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    87
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Gregory Fridman
  • Show Website
    Chat with Greg Fridman