Podcast Summary: The Dream – “Magnets: How Do They Work?”
Host: Jane Marie (with Dan Gallucci)
Original release: October 10, 2025
Main Theme:
Jane Marie kicks off the revamped weekly format of The Dream by embarking on a whirlwind tour of Los Angeles’ wealthiest neighborhoods, investigating the faddish, often pseudoscientific world of wellness treatments that claim to harness “magnetism” and “frequencies.” She tests these treatments herself—and, with the help of real physicist Dr. Liam Dodd, explores whether there’s any actual science behind slick “magnetic” machines like the Magnusphere or the infamous Rife Machine.

Episode Overview

Jane Marie explores the modern incarnation of the “American Dream” via the wellness industrial complex—specifically, treatments involving magnets and vibrations that promise relaxation, pain relief, or mental health improvement. This episode is a mix of investigative journalism, experiential reporting, and a reality check from genuine science.

Key Topics & Insights

1. Jane’s “Tour of Hellness”

• Jane sets out to try LA’s wildest wellness treatments: not just yoga or CBD, but the truly bizarre stuff “Gwyneth Paltrow and her friends know about, but that I’ve never heard of.”
  • [03:20] Jane Marie: “I wanted to try the wilder ones…the ones that Gwyneth Paltrow and her friends know about, but that I’ve never heard of.”
• She uses the app Reggie to book services, focusing on categories like injectables, massages, and, notably, “wellness.”
• First stop: Sauna Bar and the “Magnisphere.”

2. The Magnisphere Experience

• Magnisphere Pitch:
  A magnetic resonance device claimed to “enhance relaxation while relieving stiffness, pain, and stress.”
• Inside the Magnusphere:
  • The treatment is basically sitting in a reclined chair with some sort of electromagnetic device present.
  • The practitioner (Kim) frames the machine as not having “healing powers” but, instead, “creating an environment where your body can heal itself.”
    • [08:55] Kim (Wellness Coach): “These machines don’t heal people, but they create the environment that allows your body to do what it does best.”
• Jane’s Review:
  • No significant change to her physical ailment.
  • The experience is mostly “fancy chair & dim lighting…for $70.”
  • “If you need to get a fart out, just tip upside down. Gas rises. You can venmo me 70 bucks if you want.”
    • [12:25] Jane Marie

3. The World of “Ear Seeds”

• Next stop: Ear Seeds at Neiman Marcus (presented as “24 karat plated ion seeds to stimulate reflex centers in your brain”).
• Services are more about luxury and status than actual effectiveness:
  • Jane encounters confusion, gets stood up for her appointment, and discovers that “spa” just means three rooms in a basement cosmetics department.

4. Rife Machine Therapy

• Background:
  Invented in the 1930s by Royal Rife, promises to cure virtually anything by “vibrating” pathogens or negative energies out of you.
• Jane’s Experience:
  • Clinic is cluttered, filled with alternative therapies and “body-focused therapy sessions.”
  • The process: Hold paddles, input “codes” for ailments (each with its own frequency), sit for 30-50 minutes.
  • “Do I need to take my jewelry off? No, it’s fine.”—another clue there’s little actual magnetism at play.
• Reality Check:
  Jane concludes the treatment is completely unscientific, especially after her experience is compared to that of “people lingering after getting colonics and booking more sessions.”

Science Reality Check: Interview with Dr. Liam Dodd (Quantum Physicist)

[29:40–48:52] Main Interview

• Who is Dr. Dodd?

  • PhD in physics, specializing in antimatter at CERN, world expert on magnetism and quantum effects.

• On “Quantum” Wellness Claims:

  • “The major issue…I have with the way the wellness centers and essential oils and all those lot coopt quantum mechanics, is that they treat the word quantum as if it means weird or spooky or something that’s hard to understand…”
    • [31:30] Dr. Liam Dodd
  • Emphasizes that true quantum mechanics is rigorous and precise—co-opting this language to sell wellness is “just a lie.”

• On the Rife Machine and Frequency Treatments:

  • Dodd finds the underlying claims scientifically incoherent:
    • “It’s really hard to understand what they’re trying to do because there’s so little science behind it…”
      • [33:14] Dr. Liam Dodd
  • No plausible mechanism for how a fixed-frequency device could “target” ailments, let alone systemic issues like depression.

• On the Magnusphere and MRI Comparisons:

  • Magnusphere’s website, like many alternative treatments, borrows language from real science like MRI machines but fundamentally misleads:
    • “The thing that drove me really nuts is it compared it to an MRI machine…MRI is a beautiful piece of technology…When we’re talking about me getting inside a Magnusphere, that is not at all what’s happening.”
      • [37:02–38:03] Dr. Liam Dodd
  • Absence of basic magnetic safety procedures (not removing jewelry, no strong magnets) is a key red flag that these devices are not what they claim.

• Science, Trust, and the Allure of the Grift:

  • Dr. Dodd explores why people distrust scientists and are drawn to wellness pseudoscience:
    • The insularity of scientific culture and difficult jargon makes outsiders feel alienated.
    • For devastating issues like cancer, it’s comforting to believe in secret cures or conspiracies—rather than accept “the world is just random and no one knows what happens for any reason.”
    • [40:18–46:09] Dr. Liam Dodd

• On Grifters and Victims:

  • Lower-level practitioners: “a mixture of desperation...or general understandable ignorance.”
  • The real villains: “The people higher up…I have very little patience for…they are actively promoting a thing which is highly likely to cause someone to die or get worse because they will actively avoid traditional treatment over their alternative treatment…So I think people at the top are generally disgusting and are not worthy of any respect.”
    • [46:41] Dr. Liam Dodd

• Motivations of Real Scientists:

  • “The professional answer is we’re trying to increase humanity’s understanding of the world around us and to gain a better appreciation for our position and place in the universe. The real answer is that we just like playing with things…”
    • [46:12] Dr. Liam Dodd

Notable Quotes & Moments

• [12:25] Jane Marie: “If you need to get a fart out, just tip upside down. Gas rises. You can Venmo me 70 bucks if you want.”
• [31:30] Dr. Dodd: "They co-opt quantum mechanics as if it means 'weird' or 'spooky.' But quantum mechanics is a very rigorous mathematical branch of physics…When I hear in things like the Young Living Manual, when they talk about balancing your vibrational frequencies...it drives me nuts."
• [38:03] Jane Marie/Dr. Dodd: “When we’re talking about me getting inside a Magnusphere, that is not at all what’s happening.” – Jane, after Dodd’s MRI explanation.
• [46:41] Dr. Liam Dodd: “The people higher up ... I have very little patience for. I think they are either completely delusional ... or they know it's a grift, at which point they are actively promoting a thing which is highly likely to cause someone to die or get worse because they will avoid traditional treatment."
• [10:12] Jane Marie: "I appreciate Kim's disclaimer that this magnisphere isn't actually going to do anything. ... But then I start to wonder ... if that's the real treat ... then why is she charging me 70 bucks for it?"

Important Segment Timestamps

• [03:20] Jane Marie introduces her “hellness” tour and motives
• [08:21] Inside Sauna Bar, meeting Kim, first look at Magnusphere
• [10:55] Recap and critical reflection on Magnusphere experience
• [13:10] Arrival at Beverly Hills for “ear seeds” experience
• [20:50] Neiman Marcus “spa” fiasco, realization of empty wellness promises
• [22:38] Entry into Rife machine clinic, messy, unscientific environment
• [29:40] Interview with Dr. Liam Dodd begins
• [31:30] Dr. Dodd on pseudoscience, quantum misuse, and “vibrational frequencies”
• [33:14] Discussion of the Rife Machine’s scientific impossibility
• [36:15] Dodd dissects Magnusphere pseudoscience and MRI misappropriation
• [40:18] Deep dive into science distrust, culture, and why pseudoscience is alluring
• [46:41] On grifters and the harm of false wellness

Conclusion / Takeaways

• Pseudoscientific wellness devices like the Magnusphere or Rife Machine exploit scientific language to sell expensive treatments that offer, at best, relaxation in a nice chair—and at worst, a dangerous diversion from effective medical care.
• Jane Marie’s open, skeptical but curious reporting, paired with Dr. Dodd’s clear explanations, expose the gulf between real science and the grifty world of “wellness tech.”
• The takeaway, summarized in Jane’s own irreverent style: “If you need to fart, just tip upside down.”

For those seeking the real American dream—and real wellness—this episode is a sharp, funny, and ultimately sobering guide to separating science from snake oil in the world of modern self-care.