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. 1d ago

    Can Plasma Stop Metal From Rusting? Yes. It Can Also Make It Rust Faster.

    Next in the "Can Plasma?" series: can plasma stop metal from rusting? Yes, in a few ways. But air plasma is a strong oxidizer, so it can also make rust worse. Three parts: plasma as a coating tool, plasma for growing protective layers, and the catch. ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 The question: can plasma stop rust? 00:04 Three topics: coating deposition, surface prep, and the catch 00:25 Plasma to stop rust 00:32 Master's days: the lab next door had a plasma thermal spray tool 00:46 His party trick: feed zinc wire into a thermal plasma torch, spray it onto pencils 00:56 No burning, no paint peeling 01:04 Plasma deposits all sorts of protective coatings onto metals. Works like a charm. 01:19 The more interesting approach: grow the protection from the metal itself 01:24 Aluminum, titanium, and other metals in oxygen-containing plasma 01:34 Oxidize aluminum into a thick aluminum oxide (ceramic) layer 01:49 Non-conductive, and it won't rust 01:55 Iron oxide is rust. Aluminum oxide is ceramic. 02:11 The catch: air plasma is a strong oxidizer 02:21 Use air plasma on the wrong metal and you can increase rust 02:28 Story: our "aging box" 02:37 A chamber with a thermal plasma torch on top 02:44 Multiple powder, gas, and liquid feeds 02:52 Simulate high humidity, salt water, high temperature, even sand blasting 03:09 Test materials for aging, not just rusting 03:16 Built for microelectronics aging validation 03:23 Typical aging test: put it in an oven. Ours: heat, humidity, salt, and sand at once. 03:42 Plasma also simulates atmospheric reentry for spacecraft materials 04:01 So can plasma stop rust? No magic. 04:06 Deposit protective coatings, grow protective layers, or age materials to test them If you work in corrosion engineering, surface finishing, aerospace materials, or electronics reliability, this is the map episode. 🔔 Subscribe for more in the "Can Plasma?" series: @gregfridman #CanPlasma #PlasmaScience #Corrosion #ThermalSpray #SurfaceEngineering #MaterialsScience #Aerospace #Reliability

    Can Plasma Stop Metal From Rusting? Yes. It Can Also Make It Rust Faster.

  2. 4d ago

    Can Plasma Disinfect Without Damage? Why Bacteria Die and Your Skin Doesn't

    Episode 150. Thanks for sticking with the channel. Next in the "Can Plasma?" series: can cold plasma kill bacteria on your skin without burning you? Yes. Three parts: why it stays cool, why bacteria die while your tissue survives, and where the safety limits really are. ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 The question: plasma on skin, bacteria die, no burn? 00:16 Three things to cover 00:28 Why plasma stays cool 00:40 Dielectric barrier discharges were bred for very gentle surface treatment 00:45 My master's/PhD lab did a lot of work with Kodak processing photographic film in plasma 00:59 Uniform, close to room temperature by design 01:16 Early experiment: a drop of human blood on a slide, plasma coagulated it 01:24 Lightbulb: this could do wound treatment (coagulate + disinfect in one) 01:34 Starting about 25 years ago 01:47 But who sticks their finger in plasma first? 01:52 I did (as a master's student). Felt nothing. 02:03 Temperature rose about 1°C in 10 minutes of treatment, with very low current 02:34 The sensation experiment 02:39 Three kinds of experiences I've witnessed 02:43 About 1/3 feel nothing 02:51 About 1/3 feel a tingle 02:54 About 1/3 feel very mild warmth 03:05 My theory: nerve ending interaction with the high electric field, not actual heat 03:29 Why it stays cool, really: short-pulsed plasma, designed to 03:41 Why bacteria die 03:48 High local electric fields rupture bacterial cell membranes 04:01 Oxidizers and peroxides degrade bacterial DNA 04:13 Localized UV right at the discharge 04:32 Pressure waves from micro-lightning hits 04:48 Multi-vector attack. Very hard for bacteria to develop resistance. 04:53 We've seen resistance to broad-spectrum UV. We've seen resistance to antibiotics. 05:06 We have not seen bacterial resistance to plasma treatment. Full stop. 05:13 Why tissue survives 05:16 Intact outer skin is dead cells, essentially a dense rubber-like polymer membrane 05:33 Nothing there for oxidizers to kill 05:38 Cells under your skin are much larger than bacteria and already handle oxidative stress 05:48 Plasma treatment actually stimulates them 05:52 Where safety limits kick in: higher doses 06:06 Which is also how we started on cancer: cancer cells divide fast, kill them selectively 06:31 Safety considerations are the most important design element here 06:39 Early-career story: a lab mate asked me to treat her eczema 06:48 I said no. No clinical protocols. I'm not going to experiment on you on a whim. 06:54 That's a hard rule I still keep 07:12 By the way, 15 years later, plasma does work for some cases of eczema (not through me on a whim) 07:25 Recap: plasma kills via multi-vector attack while leaving tissue alone, by design 07:50 Safety limits are the most important engineering constraint in this whole field If you work in clinical plasma medicine, wound care, dermatology, or microbiology, this is the mechanism map episode. 150 episodes in, this one is foundational. 🔔 Subscribe for more in the "Can Plasma?" series: @gregfridman #CanPlasma #PlasmaMedicine #WoundCare #AntimicrobialResistance #Dermatology #Microbiology #PlasmaScience

    Can Plasma Disinfect Without Damage? Why Bacteria Die and Your Skin Doesn't

  3. 6d ago

    Can Plasma Cool a Datacenter? LinkedIn Told Me I'm Wrong. I'm Not Convinced.

    Next in the "Can Plasma?" series: in a recent episode I said plasma datacenter cooling isn't practical. LinkedIn picked up on it. Comments, messages, emails, phone call. All telling me I'm wrong. Let me defend my position with specifics. ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 Recap: I said plasma cooling of server farms won't work 00:15 LinkedIn disagreed. Loudly. 00:30 Let's deconstruct this 00:32 Ion wind: asymmetric electrodes + electric field = wind, no moving parts 00:52 Demonstrated for boundary layer attachment on airplanes and rockets (flight control) 01:13 The problem there was batteries: too heavy, too big 01:26 My running joke: if your question starts with "can plasma," yes 99% of the time 01:32 Can plasma create wind? Yes. Can wind cool a server? Yes. Is it practical? No. 01:48 Problem 1: Open high voltage + dust = ignition risk 02:14 Ball bearing fans don't ignite dust 02:49 Problem 2: Open high voltage safety for service technicians 02:59 Problem 3: Ozone generation in open air (unavoidable unless pure N₂, argon, helium, neon) 03:11 Short pulses and catalysts can reduce it. Not eliminate it. 03:40 Ozone is corrosive to electronic components 03:50 The COVID mask disinfection machine story 04:04 Internal components corroded in 20-30 runs 04:20 Fix: acrylic spray coating. Still failed after a few hundred cycles. 04:35 Ozone affects workers AND corrodes servers 04:51 My claim was never "impossible." My claim was "not practical." 05:01 Problem 4: Heat. Power supply efficiency is never 100%. 05:12 Reflected energy from the discharge dissipates as heat in the power supply 05:25 So your "cooling system" is also making heat 05:30 Reactive species in plasma also relax to light or heat eventually 05:47 Meanwhile ball bearing fans: my 15-20 year old computer still has original fans 06:06 My NAS has been running for more than a decade on original fans 06:17 Clean the dust off, keep going 06:20 Four problems to overcome: ozone, inefficiency, high voltage safety, heat generation 06:36 Prove me wrong. Comments, LinkedIn, email, whatever. I'd love to make this work. 06:43 I have all the engineering components for a DBD ion wind generator in my lab 06:51 I've played with it. I can't figure out how to make it practical for datacenters. If you work in datacenter cooling, ion wind systems, DBD engineering, or you were one of the people telling me I'm wrong on LinkedIn, this is the one. Prove me wrong. 🔔 Subscribe for more in the "Can Plasma?" series: @gregfridman #CanPlasma #PlasmaScience #IonWind #Datacenter #ServerCooling #DBD #Ozone #CoolingTechnology

    Can Plasma Cool a Datacenter? LinkedIn Told Me I'm Wrong. I'm Not Convinced.

  4. Oct 6

    What Jobs Exist in Plasma? Every Layer of Chip Manufacturing (All 9 of Them)

    The #1 question I get from students, high schoolers, and undergrads: "What kind of job can I get in plasma? Isn't plasma just welding?" Short answer: no. And semiconductors alone have 9 layers of plasma jobs. Big thank-you to the Thin Film Engineer on LinkedIn, who makes the clearest plasma-industry graphics I've seen. Follow that account. The specific image I use in this video: https://lnkd.in/p/d5nUhPMp ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 Let's talk about jobs (the #1 student question I get) 00:19 "Isn't plasma just welding?" 00:26 I toured the Edison Welding Institute in Columbus, OH about a year ago 00:42 Welding research is active, well funded, and growing (ask SpaceX, which is held together by it) 01:04 Tons of jobs in welding research alone 01:18 But today, let's talk semiconductors 01:23 New computers, RAM, SSDs, data centers, reshoring. All demand chips. All demand plasma. 01:47 A LinkedIn image from the Thin Film Engineer breaks it down into 9 layers 02:11 Just the wafer, not even the whole device. 9 plasma-touched layers. 02:24 Layer 1: Materials. Texas A&M colleagues built a drill head that uses plasma to drill rock for materials extraction 02:53 Layer 2: Thin film deposition. Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition is the workhorse. 03:05 Layer 3: Patterning and lithography. UV, VUV, lasers (plasma people argue lasers are plasmas too). 03:36 Workers, scientists, machine builders. Reshoring means we need more. 03:39 Layer 4: Material removal. Etching is dry process = plasma 03:54 Layer 5: Material modification. Oxidation chambers, ICPs, coronas, DBDs, low/high pressure variants. 04:17 Layer 6: Metrology and inspection. Inductively coupled plasma for gas chromatography (vaporize sample, analyze composition). 04:34 Layer 7: Device building. Welding, cutting, coatings = plasma. 04:45 Layer 8: Integration. Soldering sparks are plasma. 04:55 Layer 9: Finished wafer and device. See how Apple makes an iPhone: plasma coatings, plasma cutting, laser cutting. 05:17 Are there jobs in plasma? Heck yes. More and more every year. 05:30 I've been arguing US universities need dedicated Plasma Departments 05:37 In Europe you have Department of Biology, Department of Math, Department of Plasma 05:43 In the US, plasma is tucked into electrical or mechanical engineering 05:50 Fast growing field. You should get into it. Image source (follow this account): https://lnkd.in/p/d5nUhPMp If you're a high schooler, undergrad, grad student, or career changer considering plasma, this is the map. 🔔 Subscribe for more in the "Can Plasma?" series: @gregfridman #CanPlasma #PlasmaScience #Semiconductors #Jobs #Careers #ChipManufacturing #Reshoring #STEM #Engineering

    What Jobs Exist in Plasma? Every Layer of Chip Manufacturing (All 9 of Them)

  5. Oct 3

    Can Plasma Be Invisible? EUV Lithography Says Yes.

    Next in the "Can Plasma?" series: can plasma be invisible? Yes. In fact, some of the most important industrial plasmas are. Time to walk back my own "see it and hear it" rule from a few episodes ago. ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 The question: is plasma always loud and visible? 00:05 Not really. The important cases usually aren't. 00:12 Three points: why we see plasmas, invisible cases, why it matters 00:21 Natural plasma: lightning in air at high power 00:34 Arcs produce vibrational and electronic excitation, which relaxes into light 00:47 My undergrad rule: "if you can see it and hear it, there's plasma" 01:01 Walking it back today. Many cases where it isn't true. 01:05 My master's work: vacuum ultraviolet 01:14 Spectrum map: UVA, UVB, UVC, then VUV (vacuum UV), then EUV (extreme UV) 01:30 EUV is what makes microchip masks in semiconductor manufacturing 01:43 Is it important? Oh, hell yeah. Is it visible? Nope. 01:51 Second case: plasma diagnostics is increasingly important 02:14 Industrial burners (not your fire pit): huge, serve downstream processes 02:22 When the flame goes out, you need to reignite with a plasma spark 02:36 Then you need diagnostics: is the flame on? Did the re-ignition work? 02:58 Measurement in optical emission, including deep UV and infrared 03:11 Lots of spectrum human eyes don't see 03:21 Industrially viable plasmas are often invisible 03:27 Which means we need new sensors to see them electronically If you're in semiconductor manufacturing, industrial burner diagnostics, or you watched my earlier "ionization degree" episode and want the correction, this is the one. 🔔 Subscribe for more in the "Can Plasma?" series: @gregfridman #CanPlasma #PlasmaScience #EUV #Lithography #Semiconductors #PlasmaDiagnostics #OpticalEmission #IndustrialPlasma

    Can Plasma Be Invisible? EUV Lithography Says Yes.

  6. Oct 1

    Can Plasma Replace Bleach? I Just Got a Hot Tub and I'm Wondering the Same Thing.

    Next in the "Can Plasma?" series: I just got a hot tub and it smells like bleach. Can plasma replace it? Same job, different chemistry. Let's talk about where plasma already competes with bleach and where bleach still wins on cost. ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 The question, from my new hot tub 00:09 The devil is in the details 00:12 Three points: same job different chemistry, where plasma competes, where bleach wins 00:31 My hot tub uses a slow-release sodium hypochlorite bubble (I call all chlorine products bleach) 00:59 Can plasma do the same job? Sure 01:07 Plasma is expensive (electricity) and high voltage (safety) 01:29 I'm not sitting in a bucket of water with a high voltage system underneath me 01:37 Better safe than sorry 01:42 Chemistry side by side: bleach uses hypochlorite (ClO⁻) to oxidize organics 01:55 Plasma uses reactive oxygen and reactive nitrogen species 02:01 Plasma wins where liquid chemistry loses 02:10 Where they already compete: spinach fogging in food processing 02:23 Fresh spinach climbs a long conveyor, falls into the bag 02:56 Plasma-fog the spinach mid-fall, it lands sterile 03:12 Everybody wins. Still costs electricity + high voltage. 03:20 Where bleach still wins: dirt cheap. 50-gallon drum. 03:47 The catch: workers smell chlorine all day 03:51 I go to food processing facilities and my eyes water immediately 03:58 It's not doing wonders to their lungs either 04:02 So should bleach be replaced? Plasma does the same job with different chemistry. 04:18 What needs to happen: either regulatory pressure, or the market has to accept 1-2 cents more per bag 04:26 Then marketing kicks in ("plasma disinfected") 04:33 Marketing always wins in these situations If you're in food processing, water treatment, occupational health, or you've ever wondered if your pool/hot tub could be chemical-free, this is the episode. 🔔 Subscribe for more in the "Can Plasma?" series: @gregfridman #CanPlasma #PlasmaScience #Bleach #WaterTreatment #FoodProcessing #FoodSafety #OccupationalHealth #Disinfection

    Can Plasma Replace Bleach? I Just Got a Hot Tub and I'm Wondering the Same Thing.

  7. Sep 29

    Can Plasma Work Without Heat? Yes. Timing Is the Whole Trick.

    Next in the "Can Plasma?" series: can plasma work without any heat? Yes. And it's the whole business case for most modern industrial plasma. The trick is timing. ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 The question: most plasma is hot. Can it work without heat? 00:11 Three points: thermal vs non-equilibrium, how we generate it, and the business case 00:29 Callback: there are 4 temperatures in a plasma 00:41 Translational, rotational, vibrational, electronic 00:49 What normal people mean by "heat" is only translational 01:01 Engineers can control which degree of freedom the energy goes into 01:26 We want energy in vibrational and electronic modes: high reactivity, low temperature 01:34 That's how we process materials at low energy input and high output 01:42 Thermal plasma: all 4 temperatures high and in equilibrium 01:52 Non-equilibrium plasma: cold gas, hot electrons, industrial and medical work 02:02 You want to treat a surface without melting the crap out of it 02:14 How we generate non-equilibrium plasma 02:17 Two metal electrodes, high voltage between them 02:28 The trick: turn the voltage on and off before any heating starts 02:45 Accelerate the electrons (light) without giving heavier molecules time to move 02:59 Turn the voltage off before the ions catch up 03:05 That's why researchers develop nanosecond and picosecond pulse systems 03:16 Uniform plasma, no heat, everything off 03:24 The problem: over time, everything relaxes into heat 03:31 You have to be clever with heat dissipation 03:34 Recent read: companies using plasma to cool data center servers 03:47 Not sure how yet. Everything ends in heat. Story for another time. 03:54 The business case for no heat 04:01 Setting aside welding and melting 04:04 Reduce energy use, maximize chemical output 04:11 Surface treatment, air cleaning, industrial exhaust, diesel exhaust 04:23 All benefit from lower energy, lower heat plasmas 04:34 Callback: the frozen strawberry example 04:41 Plasma-treated water microdroplets frozen onto strawberries 04:47 The snow disinfects the fruit as it melts on your counter 04:54 Recap: yes, plasma can work without heat 05:13 Non-equilibrium plasma achieves its chemistry at low heat 05:23 Timing is how we get there. Low heat is where industry is heading. If you're a plasma engineer, a nanosecond pulser designer, or you saw a data center advertising "plasma cooling" and wondered what they meant, this is the map episode. 🔔 Subscribe for more in the "Can Plasma?" series: @gregfridman #CanPlasma #PlasmaScience #NonEquilibriumPlasma #NanosecondPulse #IndustrialPlasma #PlasmaChemistry #DataCenters #PlasmaEngineering

    Can Plasma Work Without Heat? Yes. Timing Is the Whole Trick.

  8. Sep 26

    Can Plasma Kill Only Bad Cells and Leave the Good Ones Alone? A 25-Year-Old Discovery

    Next in the "Can Plasma?" series: can plasma only kill the bad cells and leave the good ones alone? Selective toxicity is one of the holy grails in medicine. Plasma has a door cracked open on this problem, and my story with it goes back 25 years. ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 The question: bad cells only, good cells alone 00:18 Three points: mechanism, research status, and why "selective" is not "simple" 00:45 What I mean by "bad cells": cancer, pathogens 00:55 Example 1: soil. E. coli 0157:H7 on bird poop can get your farm recalled 01:27 Can you kill bad E. coli but leave the soil rhizosphere alone? 01:35 Plasma itself is not selective. It makes ROS/RNS, electric fields, UV, mechanical disruption. 01:59 But E. coli on fresh bird poop is on the surface 02:11 If plasma doesn't penetrate deep, that IS your selectivity mechanism 02:18 Example 2: cancer cells divide fast 02:30 Fast division = DNA replicating = more vulnerable to attack 02:46 This is the same selectivity chemotherapy uses (and why patient hair falls out) 03:09 Fast-dividing hair follicles get hit too 03:20 So the door is cracked open on selectivity 03:44 My personal cancer story starts about 25 years ago 04:11 We took normal human cells vs a melanoma cancer cell line 04:17 Very low dose plasma treatment 04:24 Cancer cells went into apoptosis (programmed cell death, cell suicide) 04:32 Apoptosis is normal biology 04:35 Your esophagus lining sloughs off continuously to rebuild after damage from bread's sharp edges 04:52 It's a normal, inflammation-free process 05:05 Since then: massive progress 05:12 In human clinical trials on every populated continent (Americas, Europe, Asia) 05:22 The holy grail 05:28 We used to have one plasma medicine conference. Now there's a separate cancer-focused workshop. 05:38 Jury is still out. Not through FDA yet. Hopefully optimistic. 06:04 Selective is not simple. Plasma is complex, biology is complex. 06:14 Depends on air, surface, oil content, everything 06:34 My favorite lever: dose vs dose rate 06:40 Hit bad cells fast, put them in apoptosis mode before normal cells wake up 06:54 Recap: door open on selectivity, research progressing, in human trials, we need more young minds If you're in oncology, ag tech (E. coli on produce is real), or considering a PhD in plasma medicine, this is the map. 🔔 Subscribe for more in the "Can Plasma?" series: @gregfridman #CanPlasma #PlasmaMedicine #Cancer #Oncology #Apoptosis #Chemotherapy #Selectivity #PlasmaScience #Ecoli

    Can Plasma Kill Only Bad Cells and Leave the Good Ones Alone? A 25-Year-Old Discovery
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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
    110
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Gregory Fridman
  • Show Website
    Chat with Greg Fridman