Welcome to the quantum science podcast.

Each episode we bring you stories about developments in science and mathematics.

I'm Susan Vallett.

Three new species of superconductivity were spotted last year,

illustrating the many ways electrons can join together

to form a frictionless quantum soup.

That's next.

Quantum Magazine is an editorially independent online publication supported by the Simon's Foundation

to enhance public understanding of science.

Superconductivity, or the flow of electric current with zero resistance, was discovered in three

distinct materials last year. Two instances stretch the textbook understanding

of the phenomenon. The third shreds it completely. Ashfin Vishwanath is a physicist at Harvard

University who wasn't involved in the discoveries. He says if you take the picture that experiments

seem to be pointing to, it's an extremely unusual form of

superconductivity that a lot of people would have said is not possible. Ever since 1911, when Dutch

scientist Haikie Kammeling Ones first saw electrical resistance vanish, superconductivity has

captivated physicists. There's the pure mystery of how it

happens. The phenomenon requires electrons which carry electrical current to pair up. Electrons

repel each other, so how can they be united? Then there's the technological promise. Already

superconductivity has enabled the development of

MRI machines and powerful particle colliders. If physicists could fully understand how and when the

phenomenon arises, perhaps they could engineer a wire that superconducts electricity under

...