A New Family of High-Temperature Superconductors

sciencehabit writes to let us know that physicists are hailing the discovery of a new type of superconductor as a "major advance." The new materials could solve the biggest mystery in condensed matter physics — i.e., how and why cuprate superconductors work — as well as paving the way for practical magnetic levitation and lossless transmission of energy. "God only knows where it will go," says one Nobel Laureate. After the discovery of superconductivity in an iron-and-arsenic compound at 26 kelvin, several Chinese research groups quickly found related materials that are superconducting up to 55K. (Cuprates go as high as 138K; liquid nitrogen boils at 77K.)

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Re:Hot!

[DieByWire]

The article specifically mentions 138 kelvins as the highest temperature where cuprates still hold on to superconductivity. That's roughly -115 degrees celsius.

I believe you mean -135 degrees celsius.

That last twenty degrees is what keeps Minnesota from superconducting in winter.