There is a very good chance that that you will be reading this while under lock-down somewhere in the world. In this episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast Margaret Harris describes a new initiative that we have launched to chronicle how physicists around the globe are coping with the COVID-19 pandemic.

A plasma to most physicists is an extremely hot state of matter that you would not want anywhere near your lunch or vegetable patch. But as Dave Graves of the University of California, Berkeley explains in this episode, cold plasmas are being used to process food, help germinate seeds and much more.

Graves also talks about a special issue of the Journal of Physics D that is dedicated to plasmas in agriculture and food.

You will also hear from Tushna Commissariat about a new series of articles in Physics World  that offer careers advice from leading physicists in academia and business.