Derek Lowe is always worth reading, and he provides a nice summary of the current state of superconductor research here. One of the things he points out is just how high-stakes this research has...
Derek Lowe is always worth reading, and he provides a nice summary of the current state of superconductor research here. One of the things he points out is just how high-stakes this research has gotten - the field is possibly, maybe, closing in on the Holy Grail of superconductivity without exotic conditions of temperature and pressure.
All in all, we’ve come a long way in superconductor applications, but there are huge improvements waiting to be made (and untold billions of dollars waiting for anyone who can make them). That makes this a pretty high-strung field of research, and there have been numerous claims over the years of superconductivity breakthroughs that have had to be walked back. The lab of Ranga Dias at Rochester invariably comes up in any such discussion - his group reported a startling room-temperature superconductivity measurement in 2020, but after months of controversy and serious questions about the data, the paper was retracted in 2022. That was no ordinary retraction, though: the editors at Nature took that step over the strenuous objections of all nine authors on the paper.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. There are many many many alternative explanations, which deserve investigation. If this is true, this is nearly an immediate Nobel and Ranga...
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. There are many many many alternative explanations, which deserve investigation. If this is true, this is nearly an immediate Nobel and Ranga will become a potential tech titan.
Derek Lowe is always worth reading, and he provides a nice summary of the current state of superconductor research here. One of the things he points out is just how high-stakes this research has gotten - the field is possibly, maybe, closing in on the Holy Grail of superconductivity without exotic conditions of temperature and pressure.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. There are many many many alternative explanations, which deserve investigation. If this is true, this is nearly an immediate Nobel and Ranga will become a potential tech titan.