Today’s superconductors usually only function when cooled to incredibly low temperatures. Kiyoshi Takahase Segundo / Alamy Stock Photo
It would be unfair to call it a philosopher’s stone, yet there is something beguiling about the search for a room-temperature superconductor. This material would be able to transmit electricity perfectly, without any resistance. It could pick up renewable energy where it is abundant and deliver it efficiently to faraway cities, going a long way towards solving the climate crisis.
No wonder, then, that when not one, but two such materials were supposedly discovered last year, the physics world went into…
Article amended on 9 May 2024
We corrected Christopher Stiles' affiliation
