Image Source: Julian Litzel (CC BY-SA 3.0)

South Korean scientists have allegedly created a superconductor that works at room temperature and regular pressure. This is a big deal because superconductors transmit electricity with zero resistance and have special magnetic properties that are very useful in technology. Normally, superconductors require extreme cold temperatures, but this new one can apparently work outside the lab under normal conditions. If it’s true, this discovery could change the world.

From IFLS:

There have been previous claims of room-temperature superconductivity that have not panned out. The researchers uploaded a paper to arXiv, and it is unclear if it was submitted for peer review to a journal. IFLScience has emailed them to learn more about the research and the new material, which is called modified lead-apatite or LK-99.

One crucial aspect of superconductivity is critical temperature, the temperature below which the material becomes superconductive. The value stated for LK-99 is 127°C ( 261°F), meaning it could easily be employed in all environments on Earth. If this is confirmed, it would not be the only room-temperature superconductor. But it would be the first to not require enormous pressures to work.

The team also recorded the critical current in the material, the lack of electrical resistance, the critical magnetic field, as well as the Meissner effect. This is the ability of a superconductor to expel the magnetic field during its transition leading to the capacity to repel nearby magnets, allowing the material to levitate. These properties led the team to claim that LK-99 is indeed a superconductor.

“All evidence and explanation lead that LK-99 is the first room-temperature and ambient-pressure superconductor. The LK-99 has many possibilities for various applications such as magnet, motor, cable, levitation train, power cable, qubit for a quantum computer, THz Antennas, etc. We believe that our new development will be a brand-new historical event that opens a new era for humankind,” the researchers wrote in the paper.

From those interested, the paper is available at arXiv.

[IFLS]

Researchers have successfully pinpointed the processes responsible for causing gray hair and conducted experiments aimed at its reversal. Surprisingly, some of these potential solutions have been available for several decades. Watch this episode of SciShow to learn more about how one day, people with grey hair could go reverse their greying condition.

From TED Education:

Annually, we shower over 5 billion pounds of pesticides across the Earth to control insects, unwanted weeds, funguses, rodents, and bacteria that may threaten our food supply. But is it worth it, knowing what we do about the associated environmental and public health risks? Fernan Pérez-Gálvez weighs the pros and cons of pesticides.

Lesson by Fernan Pérez-Gálvez, animation by Mighty Oak.

[Source: Ted Education on Youtube]