Strange metals and our own personal ‘oxidation fields’

Science Magazine Podcast

Science Podcast

News Commentary, News, Science

4.2 • 791 Ratings

🗓️ 22 May 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

First up on the podcast, freelance journalist Zack Savitsky joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about the strange metal state. Physicists are probing the behavior of electrons in these materials, which appear to behave like a thick soup rather than discrete charged particles. Many suspect insights into strange metals might lead to the creation of room-temperature superconductors, highly desired materials that promise lossless energy delivery and floating trains. A few years ago, researcher Nora Zannoni came on the show to talk about our oxidation fields: zones of highly reactive radicals our bodies naturally produce that surround us and interact with nearby chemicals. Now she’s back to discuss how our personal oxidation fields interact with personal care products—such as hand lotion, for example—and the resulting effects those products can end up having on the air we breathe indoors. Zannoni is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate of Italy’s National Research Council. The work for the paper was done when she was a postdoc scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry. This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy. About the Science Podcast Authors: Sarah Crespi; Zack Savitsky Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This podcast is supported by the Icon School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, one of America's leading research medical schools.
0:07.4	The school is the academic arm of the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City.
0:11.6	It's consistently among the top recipients of NIH funding.
0:15.3	Researchers at the Icon School of Medicine in Mount Sinai have made breakthrough discoveries in many fields vital to advancing the
0:21.7	health of patients, including cardiology, cancer, immunology, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence.
0:28.9	The Icon School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, we find a way.
0:34.7	This is a science podcast for May 22nd, 2025. I'm Sarah Cresby. First up on the show, freelance
0:41.2	journalist Zach Savitsky joins us to talk about the strange metal state. Physicists are
0:46.6	proving the behavior of electrons in these materials, which appear to behave like a thick
0:52.1	soup rather than discrete charged particles.
0:56.0	Next, a few years ago, researcher Nora Zanoni came on the show to talk about our personal
1:01.0	oxidation fields. These are zones of highly reactive radicals our bodies naturally produce
1:07.0	that surround us and interact with nearby chemicals. Now she's back to discuss how our personal fields interact with personal care products,
1:14.8	like hand lotion, and how the interaction between these two things affects the air we breathe indoors.
1:37.8	This week in science, freelance science journalist Zach Savitsky wrote about condensed matter physicists and their growing understanding of so-called strange metals.
1:45.3	Hi, Zach. Welcome to the podcast. Hi, Sarah. Nice to be back. You might have noticed I didn't summarize your story in my intro.
1:47.6	And I think it's just beyond my powers.
1:50.2	But I am looking forward to talking about this.
1:52.9	Can we start with what are strange metals?
1:56.6	To understand what strange metals are, I think we have to talk about what metals are.
2:00.7	The canonical understanding of metals and therefore electricity.
2:06.2	So when we think about metals, we think about normally a lattice of atoms.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Science Podcast, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Science Podcast and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.