Chemistry For Your Life

Can shining a red light on your face really improve acne, wrinkles, inflammation, or wound healing, or is red light therapy just an expensive skincare scam involving a slightly alarming mask? How could ordinary visible light affect cells beneath your skin, and should you trust the products filling your social media feed? Melissa and Jam investigate photobiomodulation, mitochondria, collagen, blue light, FDA clearance, and the research behind this increasingly popular wellness trend. The answer is more scientifically interesting, and more complicated, than either of them expected.

Check out our website at chemforyourlife.com

Watch our episodes on YouTube

Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife

Timestamps

00:00 — Is red light therapy real or a scam?

03:41 — How light transfers energy to molecules

06:24 — Is red light therapy actually infrared?

08:03 — How deeply can visible light penetrate your skin?

09:34 — What red light may do inside your mitochondria

12:00 — Oxygen transport and other possible mechanisms

13:39 — Could red light trigger collagen production and healing?

16:26 — What scientists know—and still don’t understand

20:45 — Red light, blue light, inflammation, and acne

30:03 — The major problems with current red light research

33:20 — What FDA clearance does—and doesn’t—mean

35:20 — How to evaluate a red light therapy device

40:04 — So, should you buy a red light mask?

44:06 — A new series idea: Is it a scam or is it chemistry?

References from the Episode:

Thanks to our monthly supporters

Sara Hull

Dog Day Dan

Bri .

Summer Alden

Amanda Raymond

Kyle McCray

Justine

Ash

Vince W

Julie S.

Heather Ragusa

Autoclave

Dorien VD

Scott Beyer

Jessie Reder

J0HNTR0Y

Cullyn R

Erica Bee

Elizabeth P

Rachel Reina

Letila

Katrina Barnum-Huckins

Suzanne Phillips

Venus Rebholz

Jacob Taber

Brian Kimball

Kristina Gotfredsen

Timothy Parker

Steven Boyles

Chris Skupien

Chelsea B

Avishai Barnoy

Hunter Reardon

Check out our website at chemforyourlife.com

Watch our episodes on YouTube

Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

#007 Rebroadcast

Melissa finally explains to Jam how microwaves work after making him wait for an entire week. What the heck is going on inside microwaves? How does it do it's thing and make our food tasty? Is it magic?

Support this podcast on Patreon

Buy Podcast Merch and Apparel

Check out our website at chemforyourlife.com

Watch our episodes on YouTube

Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife

Thanks to our monthly supporters

Sara Hull

Dog Day Dan

Bri .

Summer Alden

Amanda Raymond

Kyle McCray

Justine

Ash

Vince W

Julie S.

Heather Ragusa

Autoclave

Dorien VD

Scott Beyer

Jessie Reder

J0HNTR0Y

Cullyn R

Erica Bee

Elizabeth P

Rachel Reina

Letila

Katrina Barnum-Huckins

Suzanne Phillips

Venus Rebholz

Jacob Taber

Brian Kimball

Kristina Gotfredsen

Timothy Parker

Steven Boyles

Chris Skupien

Chelsea B

Avishai Barnoy

Hunter Reardon

Check out our website at chemforyourlife.com

Watch our episodes on YouTube

Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What happens when a chemist and a non-chemist make a podcast together for seven years? Which chemistry lessons stuck, which episode ideas spectacularly refused to cooperate, and does Jam still count as a layperson after all this time? Joined by returning guest Claire, Melissa and Jam celebrate the seventh anniversary of Chemistry For Your Life with listener questions, behind-the-scenes stories, friendship reflections, favorite science facts, and one very large chemistry cookie cake. Come for the chemiversary; stay for the long-running argument about reality TV.

Check out our website at chemforyourlife.com

Watch our episodes on YouTube

Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife

Timestamps

00:00 — Celebrating seven years of Chemistry For Your Life

01:01 — Special guest Claire—and a chemistry cookie cake

03:04 — Nearly two million downloads and meeting listeners in real life

06:05 — What has the podcast done that Melissa and Jam never expected?

10:34 — The biggest surprises about making a podcast

16:35 — What has changed most over the past seven years?

18:30 — How the podcast changed Melissa and Jam’s friendship

25:24 — What would their past selves think of the show today?

27:24 — Episodes and guest collaborations that never panned out

35:02 — How has Jam used seven years of chemistry in everyday life?

39:09 — Is Jam still a chemistry layperson?

47:40 — Which chemistry concepts are hardest for Jam to understand?

52:12 — Their favorite things they’ve learned from the podcast

01:04:06 — Where do they hope to take the show next?

References from the Episode:

Thanks to our monthly supporters

Sara Hull

Dog Day Dan

Bri .

Summer Alden

Amanda Raymond

Kyle McCray

Justine

Ash

Vince W

Julie S.

Heather Ragusa

Autoclave

Dorien VD

Scott Beyer

Jessie Reder

J0HNTR0Y

Cullyn R

Erica Bee

Elizabeth P

Rachel Reina

Letila

Katrina Barnum-Huckins

Suzanne Phillips

Venus Rebholz

Jacob Taber

Brian Kimball

Kristina Gotfredsen

Timothy Parker

Steven Boyles

Chris Skupien

Chelsea B

Avishai Barnoy

Hunter Reardon

Check out our website at chemforyourlife.com

Watch our episodes on YouTube

Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What exactly is a swamp cooler, and why can it beat the heat in Arizona but leave you sweaty and betrayed in Houston? How can an air conditioner run on water, what does humidity have to do with its effectiveness, and could an icy new invention help prevent overloaded power grids? In the final installment of our air-conditioning series, Melissa and Jam explore evaporative cooling, ancient climate-control tricks, and some promising innovations for a hotter world. It turns out “It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity” is more scientifically accurate, and more annoying, than we’d like.

Check out our website at chemforyourlife.com

Watch our episodes on YouTube

Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife

Timestamps

00:00 — The happier finale to our air-conditioning trilogy

00:37 — What exactly is a swamp cooler?

02:34 — How water can be used as a refrigerant

04:16 — The benefits and drawbacks of evaporative cooling

06:26 — Why air can only hold so much water

08:08 — How much can a swamp cooler lower the temperature?

08:56 — Why swamp coolers only work in certain climates

09:47 — Are refrigerants basically reusable sweat?

12:55 — Jam explains the complete swamp-cooler process

15:45 — Ancient evaporative cooling technology

17:19 — Could swamp coolers affect indoor air quality?

18:40 — An ice-slurry air conditioner designed to relieve the power grid

25:06 — Could underground temperatures heat and cool our homes?

References from the Episode:

Thanks to our monthly supporters

Sara Hull

Dog Day Dan

Bri .

Summer Alden

Amanda Raymond

Kyle McCray

Justine

Ash

Vince W

Julie S.

Heather Ragusa

Autoclave

Dorien VD

Scott Beyer

Jessie Reder

J0HNTR0Y

Cullyn R

Erica Bee

Elizabeth P

Rachel Reina

Letila

Katrina Barnum-Huckins

Suzanne Phillips

Venus Rebholz

Jacob Taber

Brian Kimball

Kristina Gotfredsen

Timothy Parker

Steven Boyles

Chris Skupien

Chelsea B

Avishai Barnoy

Hunter Reardon

Check out our website at chemforyourlife.com

Watch our episodes on YouTube

Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Could a cheaper, more environmentally friendly refrigerant already exist, and could corporate lobbying be helping keep it out of American air conditioners? Why did the chemicals once hailed as safe alternatives become environmental villains, and are their replacements actually much better? Melissa and Jam follow the twisty history of Freon, ozone depletion, greenhouse gases, propane, and air-conditioning regulations to find out why choosing a refrigerant is never as simple as “this one works.” Grab your red string and conspiracy board, because the chemistry drama is heating up.

Check out our website at chemforyourlife.com

Watch our episodes on YouTube

Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife

Timestamps

00:00 — The chemistry and drama hiding inside refrigerants

02:31 — Is propane an ideal refrigerant?

05:37 — How an AC episode became an eight-hour research rabbit hole

09:57 — What makes a good—and safe—refrigerant?

11:19 — The hazardous chemicals used in early refrigeration

12:08 — The invention of Freon and chlorofluorocarbons

13:18 — How CFCs damage the ozone layer

16:40 — The Montreal Protocol and the next generation of refrigerants

18:08 — Solving ozone depletion while worsening global warming

22:24 — Why isn’t propane widely used in American air conditioners?

25:35 — How US refrigerant regulations differ from international standards

29:02 — The document requesting government protection for synthetic refrigerants

40:42 — What conspiracy theories might actually be true?

50:00 — Coming next: the surprisingly cool science of swamp coolers

References from the Episode:

Thanks to our monthly supporters

Sara Hull

Dog Day Dan

Bri .

Summer Alden

Amanda Raymond

Kyle McCray

Justine

Ash

Vince W

Julie S.

Heather Ragusa

Autoclave

Dorien VD

Scott Beyer

Jessie Reder

J0HNTR0Y

Cullyn R

Erica Bee

Elizabeth P

Rachel Reina

Letila

Katrina Barnum-Huckins

Suzanne Phillips

Venus Rebholz

Jacob Taber

Brian Kimball

Kristina Gotfredsen

Timothy Parker

Steven Boyles

Chris Skupien

Chelsea B

Avishai Barnoy

Hunter Reardon

Check out our website at chemforyourlife.com

Watch our episodes on YouTube

Find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @ChemForYourLife

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.