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Nanoclusters Break Superconductivity Record
KentuckyFC writes "A couple of years ago, two Russian physicists predicted that metal nanoclusters with exactly the right number of delocalized electrons (a few hundred or so) could become strong superconductors. Now an American group has found the first evidence that this prediction is correct in individual aluminium nanoclusters containing 45 or 47 atoms. And they found it at 200 K (abstract). That's a huge jump over the previous record of 138K for a high-temperature superconductor. There are a few caveats, however. The result is only partial evidence of superconductivity and the work has yet to be peer-reviewed. But its mere publication will set scientists scrambling to confirm. And 200K! That's practically room temperature in the Siberian winter."
So, we're going to let hundreds of thousands of GED-wielding line technicians handle thousands of miles of superconductive cabling that probably gets priced by the nanogram, surrounded by a coolant so cold that your first screwup leaves you an amputee on a good day, in order to deliver power to your endpoints without resistance. Then we're going to leave it there and hope nobody's around when a tree branch falls on it, or some moron tosses his sneakers up there, or little tommy just can't aim his BB gun. Sounds great.
Or... maybe you could just cool the things that need to be superconductive.