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A Paper Posted Last Month Claims To Have Achieved Superconductivity at Room Temperature, But Other Physicists Say the Data May Be Incorrect (vice.com)

dmoberhaus writes: Last month, two Indian physicists posted a paper to arxiv claiming to have demonstrated superconductivity at room temperature. If this paper is legitimate, it would represent a breakthrough in a problem that has existed for superconductivity for 100 years. Understandably, the paper shook the physics world, but when researchers started digging into the data they noticed something wasn't quite right -- the noise patterns in two independent measurements exactly correlated, which is basically impossible in a random system. The Indian researchers have doubled down on their data, and things only got weirder from there. This is a look inside what could be the biggest drama to happen in physics in nearly a decade.

163 comments

  1. No by war4peace · · Score: 1

    The researchers either jumped the gun or faked the results.

    --
    ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
    1. Re:No by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      It's India, my guess is on faked results. It turns out curry powder is not a superconductor after all.

    2. Re:No by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The easy answer is accidental duplication of one input location. If two sensor locations were mis-wired or the collection software had a typo so that one was recorded twice while another was ignored, that would get identical noise in two columns and the appearance of immeasurably fast communication between two locations.

      The hard answer is accidental room-temperature superconductivity. It's also the fun answer.

    3. Re:No by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To be fair, cheating in academics is indeed part of Indian culture as my Indian friends explain to me.

    4. Re:No by johanw · · Score: 2, Informative

      Occam's razor tells us that cheating indians is the most probable explaination.

    5. Re: No by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They just forgot to mention the room is in outer space..

    6. Re:No by bobbied · · Score: 1

      The researchers either jumped the gun or faked the results.

      I think they jumped the shark...AND the gun... AND faked their results.

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
    7. Re:No by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh, shut the fuck up. Your entire country is a toilet.

    8. Re:No by nospam007 · · Score: 1

      Perhaps their room‘ is at the southpole.

    9. Re:No by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good job demonstrating his point. Racism you can't see is racism that didn't happen. It's all in your mind you see racism everywhere even when it's not there. What people do matters more than what they think. And if they are racist eventually they will do something racist and then you can see it. And if someone says something you don't like that doesn't make them racist. Trying to shut them down by calling them names, like racist, is not solving any problems.

    10. Re:No by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Even that would be quite an achievement. South Pole temperatures are "hot" by superconducting standards. Heck, liquid nitrogen superconductivity is "high temperature", and you don't see nitrogen liquefying at the poles (yet!).

    11. Re:No by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Who cares what old cunts do to try to distract from the existence of racism they can't see? Die already you dusty queef, the world doesn't need washed up former engineers any more than it's lacking regular bricklayers.

      Make your burial plot deposit today!

    12. Re: No by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Well... maybe.

      But the problem with Occam's razor is it will say everyone cheated. If the test for validity is what is easier to believe, hard work may be lost by the wayside.

    13. Re:No by rfengr · · Score: 1

      I experienced the same thing when I was in EE grad school.

    14. Re: No by HornWumpus · · Score: 2

      At this point, they can produce raw data (and a plausible explanation for an honest mistake), admit they duplicated a dataset, or keep quiet.

      Only the first will really help them, science is rough on cheaters that get caught while still living.

      Cartman: 'I'm sorrry' isn't going anywhere...Maybe inside India, if they are brahmin.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    15. Re: No by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      Occam's razor says everyone cheated, until "everyone" is more than a couple of people.

      Anybody who believes a single claim, or a single paper, is a sucker.

    16. Re: No by c6gunner · · Score: 0

      I'm sorry, all I heard was "blah blah blah, I'm a dirty whore".

    17. Re:No by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 1

      heating in academics is indeed part of Indian culture as my Indian friends explain to me.

      People gladly believe anything somebody from another country tells them about that place, as if they have complete knowledge. Do you believe any American(or person from your country) who tells you "the truth" about America(or your country)? Depending on the person you'll get wildly different "truths".

    18. Re:No by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Occam's razor tells us that cheating indians is the most probable explaination.

      I mean, if all research is done by Indians then of course all the cheating will be by Indians too.
      If Americans stopped believing in flat earth and Jesus and stopped denying global warming then maybe they would get enough scientist for some of them to get caught cheating too.

    19. Re:No by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think lack of toilets is the problem in India.

    20. Re: No by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, you are a dirty whore gunner wank.

    21. Re:No by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Occam's razor tells us that cheating indians is the most probable explaination.

      With this one you have incurred in so many fallacies that you can't even be wrong. I doubt you know what Occam's Razor means.

  2. Indians by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    hate to be told they're wrong

  3. That's old news by Ecuador · · Score: 5, Funny

    I seem to remember several years ago researchers in Fairbanks, Alaska had already achieved room temperature superconductivity. The trick was to turn of central heating as I recall...

    --
    Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
    1. Re:That's old news by bobbied · · Score: 1

      I seem to remember several years ago researchers in Fairbanks, Alaska had already achieved room temperature superconductivity. The trick was to turn of central heating as I recall...

      LOL.. I think even -80F would be a revolution for Physics, but I like the joke.

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
  4. Vice? by Train0987 · · Score: 2

    Is Vice really a valid source for news like this?

    1. Re:Vice? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      Is Vice really a valid source for news like this?

      What do you mean by "news like this"? This is a non-story.

    2. Re:Vice? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Is Vice really a valid source for news like this?

      Yes.

      I'm guessing that you reason to even ask this is that you feel (politically/ideologically) uncomfortable about some of their reports . However, reporting on reality doesn't take our feelings or biases into account. FWIW, I've not yet aware of anything that Vice has reported inaccurately.

    3. Re:Vice? by ceoyoyo · · Score: 2

      So you're saying yes, this IS Vice's kind of thing?

    4. Re:Vice? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is Vice really a valid source for news like this?

      Yes.

      I'm guessing that you reason to even ask this is that you feel (politically/ideologically) uncomfortable about some of their reports . However, reporting on reality doesn't take our feelings or biases into account. FWIW, I've not yet aware of anything that Vice has reported inaccurately.

      The same could be said of InfoWars. Alex Jones could certainly report on reality and I, not having read a single thing he has written, am not yet aware of anything that Alex Jones has personally reported inaccurately. That does not mean someone should cite InfoWars seriously on virtually any topic.

      This is undergrad levels of source selection. Anyone with a college degree is expected to not just pick any source, but strong sources that readers will likely to believe.

    5. Re:Vice? by Mashiki · · Score: 1

      FWIW, I've not yet aware of anything that Vice has reported inaccurately.

      You haven't been paying attention then. Take their freakout over Cyberpunk 2077. Their claim that "free speech is only a far-right issue." Their flip-flopping on outrage mobs(it's okay to go after roseanne, but not gunn). Their cutting of their Jordan Peterson interview, and re-arrangement of sections to paint an ideological narrative, and editing to take replies out-of-context. The nice little bit of bullshit with Namoi Wu, and doxing her, then reprting her to a government that has a stance against same-sex relationships(China). And last because it's funny, anything that's conservative is automatically alt-right.

      They're no different then gawker or buzzfeed these days.

      --
      Om, nomnomnom...
    6. Re: Vice? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Like arXiv?

  5. Evidence by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Evidence secured!

  6. Invent a way to verify this by DickBreath · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If only there was some kind of something-something method by which one scientist could reproduce another scientist's results. Theories could be formed. More experiments tried and reproduced. Etc. Such a thing could be a force that would propel technological advancement forward at an incredible rate.

    If someone can invent some kind of scientific method, they should patent it!

    --

    I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
    1. Re:Invent a way to verify this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It could revolutionize how we investigate how climate changes!

      (ducks)

    2. Re:Invent a way to verify this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You know, it bugs me when people say "well science is not a democracy. Something is either proven or it isn't."

      The scientific method is essentially democratic. One person claims to have done something via an experiment, and that doesn't prove anything. You need a whole bunch more people to do the same experiment....to convince them. And their experiments need to be peer-reviewed. To convince even more people. Eventually, when enough people are convinced, your hypothesis is essentially voted into being a theory.

      Though there will still be hold-outs within the scientific community and it is always possible some upstart will publish results that totally contradict yours. And the democratic process of truth-establishment will go around again.

      And that's how it should be. When truth-establishing processes are dictatorial in nature, you get crazy religious wars. And Hitler.

    3. Re: Invent a way to verify this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It wouldn't work on climate change. That's not explainable. It's like the tides. The tides come in, the tides go out. Nobody knows why.

    4. Re: Invent a way to verify this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Everybody knows why. pinhead

    5. Re:Invent a way to verify this by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      At best, it's a merit based plutocracy.

      Not everybody gets a 'vote'. 'Votes' because 'reason', generally result in 'emeritus' status and 'important work' being assigned to keep the fossil busy. Let the old guy teach the freshman.

      Only votes because data are supposed to count. Still true in the real sciences.

      BTW recently doing a little research r.e. a claim made on /. Oxford (fucking) university gives out Masters of Science degrees in 'Women's Studies'. WTF?

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    6. Re: Invent a way to verify this by c6gunner · · Score: 3, Funny

      Fucking magnets. How do they work?

    7. Re: Invent a way to verify this by c6gunner · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The scientific method is essentially democratic. One person claims to have done something via an experiment, and that doesn't prove anything. You need a whole bunch more people to do the same experiment....to convince them. And their experiments need to be peer-reviewed. To convince even more people. Eventually, when enough people are convinced, your hypothesis is essentially voted into being a theory.

      That's not at all how that works. A hypothesis is just an idea. A theory has predictive power. We don't vote to turn a hypothesis into a theory; a hypothesis is just the starting point for an experiment. Based on the results of the experiment you may be able to formulate a theory ... and if that theory is valid, you will be able to predict future results. Popularity and opinion are irrelevant; either your theory predicts future outcomes, or it does not.

    8. Re: Invent a way to verify this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A theory has predictive power.

      Be careful with that. There are many nuanced modern scientific theories which have been proven to not predict what they intend to, yet are reverently defended by scientists.

      There are tens of thousands of models based on theories that have not yet been tested because the model is the test. Why do so many scientists call them theories? They disagree with your definition, likely to get published and a job, but that's another matter.

    9. Re: Invent a way to verify this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Magnet charge is probably dark matter. Why are you so excited, though? Do magnets in your buttplug worry you? They aren't the problem, the black cock that's coming in when they're out is.

    10. Re: Invent a way to verify this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Woosh!

    11. Re: Invent a way to verify this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Google O'Reilly tides

    12. Re: Invent a way to verify this by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      There are many nuanced modern scientific theories which have been proven to not predict what they intend to, yet are reverently defended by scientists.

      This is the kind of thing we tend to hear from creationists arguing that the earth is 6,000 years old because hurr durr carbon dating.

      If you have an actual example, we can have a discussion. As it stands your response just reads like hand-waving.

    13. Re: Invent a way to verify this by c6gunner · · Score: 2

      Even ICP has a better understanding of how to use magnets than you do, apparently.

    14. Re: Invent a way to verify this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At Oxford you get a BA (Bachelor of Arts) degree for Physics, well actually referred to as Natural Philosophy.

    15. Re: Invent a way to verify this by Megol · · Score: 1

      String theory, theories to be correct.

    16. Re:Invent a way to verify this by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      Oxford (fucking) university gives out Masters of Science degrees in 'Women's Studies'. WTF?

      A quick google suggests it is actually an MSt (Master of Studies) degree in Women's Studies.

      At Oxford, you always used to be able to get an MA as a freebie (basically just by staying alive for a few years after getting your BA and paying a nominal fee) so they needed to have a different award for a Master's degree where you did some actual work, hence the MSt.

      Sorry to spoil the fun.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    17. Re:Invent a way to verify this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This would require that the Indian researchers hand out samples of their new material, or better still, the formula and the process to produce it. Until then, no independent verification.

    18. Re:Invent a way to verify this by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

      And their experiments need to be peer-reviewed.

      The peers of idiots are idiots.

      --
      Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
    19. Re: Invent a way to verify this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      String theory makes predictions, so technically it's a theory in that sense, it's just that we won't be able to test most of those predictions at any point in the foreseeable future. That's in contrast to something like e.g. intelligent design, where it's untestable in principle.

  7. No legit explanation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The researcher who found the unexpected correlation was being overly generous by suggesting it could be evidence of a not-yet-understood process. The green and blue dots from separate test runs match up essentially pixel for pixel. I'm not going to speculate whether it was an innocent error or something worse, but it's clearly not a natural phenomenon.

    1. Re:No legit explanation by HornWumpus · · Score: 3, Funny

      The Indian researchers no doubt have doctorates. Hence they are qualified to 'doctor' data. Just SOP.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    2. Re: No legit explanation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lol

    3. Re: No legit explanation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ^
      that shit is indeed gold, son

      captcha: bucking

  8. They really did achieve it! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    They did achieve superconductivity at room temperature....it is just that the room was on the surface of Neptune

  9. Not unusual for arXiv by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just count the many "proofs" of the Riemann hypothesis.

  10. First thought is fraud. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Take a look at the green and blue dots in the above graph. They represent the noise measured during two separate experiments run by Thapa and Pandey to test the magnetic susceptibility of their superconducting material.

    So they ran the same experiment twice, and got almost identical noise? I don't have to pull any punches here because I'm not publishing a critique.. but that just strikes me as high evidence of fraud.

    Entirely speculation here, but I'd guess they ran this experiment once, got the result they wanted, and were incredibly excited. Nobel Prize Time! Then they ran it again, and again, and again.. couldn't replicate the results, but still wanted to publish. So they faked the second set of data, and hoped nobody would notice.

    Still it _could_ be something weird... Honestly I hope it is. But realistically this is just fraud, or at best some terrible experimental error.

    1. Re:First thought is fraud. by bobbied · · Score: 1

      Let's just call it bad lab quality control techniques and leave it at that.... Maybe they made a mistake? Yea, I don' think so either.

      Look, if you know enough about what you are doing to actually write the paper and get it published, you *should* know enough to actually be SURE your extraordinary claims are true and that you have the necessary data to back that claim up. Maybe I'm just too honest, but I'm not in a hurry to fake test results and draw international attention to my fraud....

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
    2. Re:First thought is fraud. by Zorpheus · · Score: 1

      Well, if what they did really works no one will talk about some errors later on. In that case it is most important to be first, to be faster than the competition who might work on the same thing.

    3. Re:First thought is fraud. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree, but a really dumbassed student could do this mistake pretty easily.

      All you have to do is mislabel a previous 'cleanup' of the data, run a different 'cleanup' with different settings, and forget they're the same original file.

      Sometimes part of the analysis is to remove outliers and spurious noise; you'd be amazed how much 'analysis' is in your medical images. :) "Artifacts" is an amazingly bad word...

      That's why they like to do Pet/MR and PET/CT, more data to work with.

      Posting anon due to caution.

    4. Re:First thought is fraud. by Zorpheus · · Score: 1

      It happens too easily that someone else publishes the same thing first. Maybe someone who someone discussed an early idea with, or someone who saw an earlier presentation which goes to the same direction. Also often the whole field of research is just ripe to make that step, because the bits and pieces are already there in form of small steps, or because similar tests are discussed. And there is also the possibility of outright spying.

  11. "Room temperature" by SlaveToTheGrind · · Score: 1

    Putting aside whether it's real, TFP claims superconductivity occurs at 236K = ~35 below zero in whichever temperature scale suits your fancy.

    That's a bit nippy for my taste.

    1. Re:"Room temperature" by gman003 · · Score: 1

      I suppose that would be better described as "non-cryogenic". You can get that cold with just a basic heat pump system, no need for liquid nitrogen (as with "high-temperature superconductors") or liquid helium (as with "conventional superconductors").

    2. Re:"Room temperature" by iggymanz · · Score: 2

      Never mind the silly phrase in the article about "above temperature of liquid water", having superconductor that functioned at temperature a freon or ammonia based cooling system could reach would be earth-shattering, as in ushering in a whole new era of technology. It would be as big as the invention of the electric motor.

    3. Re:"Room temperature" by Pembers · · Score: 1

      Yeah, 236K isn't the temperature of any room I'd like to be in for more than a few seconds, but seeing as the current record is around 135K, I'd overlook a bit of hyperbole if the claims hold up.

    4. Re:"Room temperature" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Putting aside whether it's real, TFP [arxiv.org] claims superconductivity occurs at 236K = ~35 below zero in whichever temperature scale suits your fancy.

      That's a bit nippy for my taste.

      LOL, where I live we call that "January".

      It's a bit 'brisk' -- and by 'brisk' I mean "holy fuck it's cold where is my Beard Ski?".

      And, yes, I've actually ventured out with temps in the -35C range, with wind chills making that feel even colder. Some of us actually encounter those temperatures regular enough to have gear for it.

      Trust me, it sucks as bad as you think it does.

      We get about a 70C swing from summer to winter, which makes it even more awesome. From -35C in the winter to +35C in summer, and everything in between. Throw in a wind-chill in the winter and a humidex in the summer, and you can add another 10 degrees on the extreme ends in terms of perceived temperature.

    5. Re:"Room temperature" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      -35 F would be a massive achievement. You could cool that with an really good freezer rather than with liquid nitrogen. Plus it would likely lead to even higher temperatures... maybe even true room temperature.

      The real question is whether it's real or not. Personally I'd bet against it, and be VERY happy to lose this bet.

    6. Re:"Room temperature" by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

      You're confusing -35C with -35F. Although at -40, it doesn't matter!

      --
      I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    7. Re:"Room temperature" by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

      I've lived in Alaska and been outside in -60F weather. Trust me, anything lower than -20F feels the same, although at -60F it's easier to tell where the thin spots in your parka are. (My asshole dad told me, "We're wasting heat here, go outside and bank up the house with snow to insulate it!" So I did. Facemask is mandatory at -60F.)

      --
      I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    8. Re:"Room temperature" by Pembers · · Score: 1

      anything lower than -20F feels the same

      I'm happy to take your word for that :-) I live in England, where daily life pretty much stops as soon as the temperature drops below freezing.

    9. Re:"Room temperature" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "anything lower than -20F feels the same"

      I'm happy to take your word for that :-) I live in England, where daily life pretty much stops as soon as the temperature drops below freezing.

      Well, as a Canadian, let me walk you through the progression ...

      Anything above 10C is shorts and a t-shirt weather as far as I'm concerned.

      Anything above 0C and I still wear shorts but with a light layer. I've worn a kilt outside for hours in as low as -2C quite comfortably. (OK, technically I've worn a kilt in -15C, but it was Robbie Burn's night and there was alcohol involved, and we weren't outside for an extended period of time)

      Down to -5C I'll add a jacket and light gloves, and maybe a light hat if it's windy. By this point I'm probably in long pants, but not always. If it's not too windy and not snowing I might still wear shorts.

      At -10C I'm definitely in long pants, with a light sweater under a lighter jacket, probably with a hat and gloves.

      At -20C you're in full jacket, scarf, long pants, and hat with sweaters and the like.

      At -35C you need long-underwear, pants, a wind-stop layer on your legs, good boots, a base layer, a sweater, various layers of jackets (definitely wind-stop), mittens, scarf, face masks, goggles, and the full blown hat with ear flaps.

      Much colder than that, and I pretty much try not to go outside at all, and you'll get frostbite on uncovered skin in under a minute and it can be dangerous.

      If life around here stopped below freezing, we'd not be able to go out 4-5 months of the year ... and I don't live in the north, the US border is like an hour south of me. The winter the people have up north is a big nope for me, too much.

    10. Re:"Room temperature" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I keep my old coat, to remind me why I put up with CA BS.

    11. Re:"Room temperature" by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      Where I'm from, we call that BBQ weather!

    12. Re: "Room temperature" by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      I've lived in Alaska and been outside in -60F weather. Trust me, anything lower than -20F feels the same

      No, no it does not. The coldest temperature I ever experienced was -76F, on my way up to the most northern outpost in the world. I took my gloves off for 2 minutes to record a video, and then spent the next half hour in horrible pain, terrified that I was about to lose my fingers to frostbite.

      The next day we had temperatures around -20F. It felt like a warm summer day in comparison. I even took off my parka.

    13. Re:"Room temperature" by Megol · · Score: 1

      ~35? Ones or twos complement? Word size?

    14. Re:"Room temperature" by Megol · · Score: 1

      That's the reason the Fahrenheit scale doesn't fail 100% - it's correct at one point.

    15. Re: "Room temperature" by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

      Air velocity makes a lot of difference. Don't touch anything (like your video device), stand in still air without moving, and heat loss will be tolerable for a while.

      --
      Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
    16. Re:"Room temperature" by RockDoctor · · Score: 1
      Depressing (but down to Slashdot's usual standards) that the first link to the actual paper is well over half way down the list of comments.

      The meat of the objections is also on arxiv at https://arxiv.org/pdf/1808.029... . It would be nice to see the original data, rather than making inferences from graphs, but I guess that'll come out in due course. I will admit to having made similar mistakes myself by mangling data in Excel - which is why I double-check myself on that sort of thing. So I'm not going to sling around interpretations of how this happened. But the pattern does look pretty suspicious.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  12. Interesting ... but skeptical ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    While we all want someone to find this, as it would truly revolutionize lots of things ... I fear the only 'superconductor' these guys will be seeing will be on the train ride home.

    Take a look at the green and blue dots in the above graph. They represent the noise measured during two separate experiments run by Thapa and Pandey to test the magnetic susceptibility of their superconducting material. Noise is by definition random, so there shouldnâ(TM)t be any correlation between the noise measured in one experiment and the noise measured in another experiment. Yet in the graph above, the blue dots are exactly correlated to the green dots, but shifted down a little.

    So something which is random correlated exactly on a graph? That sounds pretty much impossible to me.

    Yet when Raychaudhuri went to send his reply to Ramakrishnan, he noticed the professor wasn't using his normal email address, so he copied in Ramakrishnan's usual email address. Shortly thereafter, Raychaudhuri received a call from Ramakrishnan who informed him that he had never sent the initial email asking him not to publicly criticize Thapa and Pandey. When Raychaudhuri went back to check the email address, he discovered the message had been sent from "wileslicher@protonmail.com."

    Which positively screams some form of bullshit going on there if someone is going to the trouble to do this.

    Identical noise measurements, shady accounts pretending to be someone else asking people to not criticize the paper ... that sets off alarm bells about this for sure.

    Let's say I'm skeptical of this for the time being. It would be cool, but if TFA is accurate, there's some very questionable stuff happening around this duo.

  13. Anyone notice less scammer calls lately? by technosaurus · · Score: 3, Funny

    Turns out they moved on to "science".

    1. Re:Anyone notice less scammer calls lately? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So who will fix the wirus on my computer?!?!

    2. Re:Anyone notice less scammer calls lately? by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

      Nope. I got a robocall from "+1 1000000" today. Nice of them to be so OBVIOUS about their caller ID spoofing, so I immediately sent it to voicemail. They didn't leave any message.

      --
      I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    3. Re:Anyone notice less scammer calls lately? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You mean like that Jewish scammer Einstein, who sent that article from that unknown Indian guy Bose, and innocently added his name in front? The same thing, you know, he did with the works of Poincare and Lorentz 20 years before that?

    4. Re:Anyone notice less scammer calls lately? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Woke AF.

    5. Re:Anyone notice less scammer calls lately? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To be fair, I've noticed that a lot of times calling to the US from a foreign number, the US network doesn't know what to do and will choke. I can call from France to Lithuania and have no problem, but I call to the US and sometimes my number gets labeled as just "France", sometimes it's marked like a blocked number, sometimes I'm sent to a service which allows me to type in whatever 10 digit number I like to show up in caller ID (that one's fun!)... it's pretty rare that an American caller ID system will handle it correctly.

  14. Do scientists cheat? by Jerry · · Score: 1
    --

    Running with Linux for over 20 years!

  15. To be fair? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I didn't realize it was just "an Indian thing" at the PhD Physics level exclusively. https://miami.cbslocal.com/2018/08/14/gop-candidate-withdraws-from-race-after-fake-diploma-disclosure/

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_University

    1. Re: To be fair? by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      It's not just an Indian thing; it's part of Chinese culture also.

    2. Re: To be fair? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It's not just an Indian thing; it's part of Chinese culture also.

      Definitely part of American culture as the US leads by far in the number of scientific misconduct incidents.

    3. Re: To be fair? by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      If you believe that the provided link supports your assertion, you're clearly a simpleton.

    4. Re:To be fair? by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 1

      It's actually quite feasible, you just have to run the experiment in a really, really cold room. I could get room-temperature superconductivity if I could cool my room to 70K.

    5. Re:To be fair? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'll give you that, if you where physically able to cool your current living room down to 70k.

    6. Re: To be fair? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 2

      That page could mean any number of things, such as US article authors facing tighter scrutiny, or the US having a larger absolute number of article authors. It is hardly a replacement for a proper study of these incidents.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    7. Re: To be fair? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      With global warming, the new room temperature will be set to 70K.

  16. That's not even the only problem by Sarusa · · Score: 0

    There are many other problems with the paper. They're claiming it's done using silver and gold, for instance, neither of which have shown any evidence of superconducting at all. It's possible that if you mix them up in the right combination they somehow start superconducting, but it's a really extraordinary claim to add to the room temperature (okay, -35F) superconducting claim.

    Luckily this one should be pretty easy to replicate assuming they're forthcoming about the procedures. If it's not fake they'll be happy to tell everyone the process. If it's fake, they won't be.

    1. Re:That's not even the only problem by iggymanz · · Score: 3, Informative

      Not that there is any merit to article's claims but

      Silver layer has "proximity effect" on some superconductors, raising the transition temperature.

      There is a superconducting alloy with gold, SrAuSi3

    2. Re:That's not even the only problem by Sarusa · · Score: 1

      Yeah, silver can enhance a superconductor, and SrAuSi3 fits into the general AMX3 broken spatial inversion symmetry class of superconductors - but with just silver and gold you don't have that BSIS. It's like saying you're producing a steak from just salt and pepper.

      Good points though, I had forgotten about the one with gold component.

    3. Re:That's not even the only problem by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Every metal is superconducting at temperatures close to 0K.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    4. Re:That's not even the only problem by Sarusa · · Score: 2

      Not at all. For example, copper, silver, and gold are not superconducting on their own even at (near) 0K. Their lattices are so tightly packed that even though they're decent conductors they can't generate enough Cooper pairs from free electrons.

    5. Re:That's not even the only problem by mikael · · Score: 1

      There's an alloy known as "Electrum". It's been around since the time of the Pharaohs and was used to decorate the capstones of pyramids as well as to make coins. It's a mix of gold, silver and copper.

      But on the periodic table, none of those elements are superconducting. That's due to those elements only have one free electron in the outer shell and two electrons are required to form a Cooper pair.

      http://www.superconductors.org...

      --
      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
    6. Re:That's not even the only problem by Megol · · Score: 1

      No.

    7. Re:That's not even the only problem by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Yes :P

      And plenty non metals as well ...

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    8. Re:That's not even the only problem by stevelinton · · Score: 1

      There are many other problems with the paper. They're claiming it's done using silver and gold, for instance, neither of which have shown any evidence of superconducting at all. It's possible that if you mix them up in the right combination they somehow start superconducting, but it's a really extraordinary claim to add to the room temperature (okay, -35F) superconducting claim.

      Silver and gold are such good conductors because it's hard for moving electrons to excite lattice vibrations. That exact reason makes them a poor candidate for a type 1 superconductor, where lattice vibrations link the electrons in pairs which are then bosons and can flow much more freely.

      The paper claims that their material consists of nanometer sized particles of silver embedded in gold. This is so small that the usual atomic lattices essentially don't exist -- most atoms are at, or very close to, a silver-gold boundary, so the behaviour of bulk silver and bulk gold are not really relevant.

    9. Re:That's not even the only problem by drew_kime · · Score: 1

      Yeah, silver can enhance a superconductor, and SrAuSi3 fits into the general AMX3 broken spatial inversion symmetry class of superconductors - but with just silver and gold you don't have that BSIS.

      I can't tell if this is real or trolling. So, good job I guess.

      --
      Nope, no sig
  17. Re:Trumptard Fox Faggot Train? by sexconker · · Score: 0

    If he DVRs it, why would he care about commercial breaks?

  18. Re:Trumptard Fox Faggot Train? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He specifically records the commercials so he can understand Republicanism better. Turns out it's also all about jingles to entice spoiled children to waste their money and/or vote. Hence the matching clown mascots.

  19. How did it work? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Lots of things correlate. What was the underlying mechanism?

  20. Biggest drama? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anyone calling this the biggest drama in physics in a decade is being rather ridiculous. It may be an /example/ of a controversy (likely about faking data), and thus an /example/---one of many---of bad-actors in science.
    However, there have been much bigger events (Opera's faster-than-light signals; LIGO's observations of gravitational waves; continual explorations, theoretical and experimental, of inflation; and so on) going on.

  21. I've had this for decade and decades already by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What's all the controversy about? I've had room-temperature superconducting technology for decades already, why are the rest of you so far behind?

    Signed, Dr. Victor Fries, PhD

  22. Fleischmann-Pons experiment by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

    "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." -- George Santayana Anybody remember Fleischmann and Pons? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    1. Re:Fleischmann-Pons experiment by Opyros · · Score: 1

      Heck, I still remember Fedyakin and polywater. But not much of anyone is old enough to remember Blondlot and his N-rays.

    2. Re:Fleischmann-Pons experiment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are still proponents and followers of that idea alive :) Promise the sky and you will find believers...

    3. Re:Fleischmann-Pons experiment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not only do I remember Blondlot and the N-rays, I was there helping him prove them.

      Whippersnappers these days.

  23. Re:So, Trump is hiring Scientists, or something? by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

    Yes, Trump is now staffing up the Dunning-Kruger Effect Institute of Science and Technology. There first task will be to recreate the Fleischmann-Pons experiment!

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  24. first hand source way more gripping by Severus+Snape · · Score: 1
  25. Re:So, Trump is hiring Scientists, or something? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Leftists sure hate women...

  26. The issues surrounding this paper are: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1. a portion (and unlike the claim, just a segment of the data/graph) of two separate runs have identical noise, not impossible but improbably (depending on a couple of things, including length of segment as well as resolution of the measurement). 2.Authors refuse to supply any of their material to others, not surprizing in industry, but deeply frowned on in academia. 3. Authors refuse to clarify their methods which are (in the view of other experts) insufficient to allow reproduction of the experiment. So, it isn't open and shut case of fraud, but extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and this - so far- fails that test.

  27. Possible explanation? by ortholattice · · Score: 1

    While it wouldn't surprise me if the data was falsified (extraordinary claims requires extraordinary evidence), here's one possible explanation for those who wish to cling to a glimmer of hope.

    The problem is that the blue and green show the same values, corresponding to 0.1T and 1T, only shifted by a constant small amount in the noise region. But suppose the two susceptibility values were measured as follows: change the temperature to a new value, let things sit a while to be stabilized, then do the 0.1T and 1T measurements quickly.

    While the temperature is stabilizing, the material may be undergoing some small random but slow changes in stress and strain, shifting the "background noise" a little at each new temperature. If the 0.1T and 1T measurements are made in rapid succession, they might have the same "background noise" values since there wasn't enough time for it to change. The constant shift between blue and green might be a systematic shift related to the intensity of the magnetic fields involved.

    1. Re:Possible explanation? by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      That's not how it works. Instrument noise like that doesn't change slowly. It's random thermal, electrical and sometimes quantum noise that changes on extremely small timescales.

      What you describe would be like taking two pictures with the lens cap on and finding you got the same noise pattern. Oh, but I took them quickly!

  28. W8. It an Indian, so it is true by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anyone that says otherwise is a rich old entitled white person. We must not let white culture be the be arbitrator of reality. If an Indian scientist or an African American scientist or a Chinese scientist says they have found a way to transmute lead into gold using etheric energy, who am I to say he is wrong. I must not allow white scientific imperialism stomp on the scientific acievments of other races that are more valid and worthy than those put out by the Europeans.

  29. Re:Trumptard Fox Faggot Train? by Highdude702 · · Score: 0

    You realize you're just like all of the other trolls. Not even original. You're a conformist cunt. Cant even survive on imgur, had to come to slashdot. I bet you love to look at yourself in the mirror and cry, it isn't fun when the shelter falls down is it.

  30. Indians are always suspect by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I have worked with enough Indians to know that they are incapable of saying "hey I might be wrong." If you talk to just about any Indian, you'll hear that India is the best place on Earth and that Indian shit doesn't stink. It's impossible for Indians to be wrong because everything Indian is the best in the whole world.

    1. Re:Indians are always suspect by Megol · · Score: 1

      "I have worked with enough * to know that they are incapable of saying "hey I might be wrong." If you talk to just about any *, you'll hear that * is the best place on Earth and that * shit doesn't stink. It's impossible for * to be wrong because everything * is the best in the whole world."

      Replace * with just about every place in the world, USA, Germany, France, Russia, Australia, (...). Well not Sweden, a bunch of anti-nationalistic complainers.

  31. They have an interesting patent, too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    "Method for drawing seven perpendicular red lines using only green and transparent ink"

  32. That's actually pretty good. by Grog6 · · Score: 1

    I may quote you on that. :)

    --
    Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
  33. I love your post... by Grog6 · · Score: 1

    ...but it really shows that you got modded insightful, instead of funny.

    I realize the sarcasm, but I truly wonder if the ones that modded you up did.

    Anyone should realize the odds of recording the same noise data is essentially nil; on the order of magnitude of the odds of all the air bunching up in one corner of the room suddenly.

    On the same subject, I had an intern work with our group for 6 months; his first task was to measure a set of photopeaks from a scintillator detector.

    He presented an amazing analysis of 12-bit sampled white noise I've ever seen. (He did not turn on the 'high voltage' to the PMT, as he thought that was "dangerous".)

    But the analysis proved it was truly random, within it's limits, lol.

    --
    Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
  34. It's not like you contributed any of that, right? by Grog6 · · Score: 1

    Even the debunking was explained to you by someone else, right? :rofl:

    --
    Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
  35. That it happened last month leaves me doubtful. by mark-t · · Score: 1

    If the claim had been based on factual data, it would have been headline news within days. I'd love for this to be true, but I'm not going to hold my breath. My money's on never hearing another word about this again.

  36. It is sad, but cannot be helped. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There is no magical "something-something" method, unfortunately. It is a literary image, not a real thing. In reality, the person from the TFA has published an abstract description that contains no recipe for verification. So, anyone who wants to try and replicate the result will have to come up with their own "thing", and nobody will know if it is a replication, what errors were made, and so on.

    The so-called "something-something" method is a hodgepodge of hand waiving, improvisation and luck, much like it was when the people who performed it were alchemists, and not "scientists".

  37. Nobody had any doubts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nobody that mattered, that is. It is not possible for third-world non-people to achieve this kind of result. Only European science can. It is proven.

    1. Re:Nobody had any doubts by Megol · · Score: 1

      Save your trolling for something that matters...

    2. Re: Nobody had any doubts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Trolling? I'm stating the undeniable truth. Where is the african Galileo? The indian Descartes? The asian Newton? Nowhere. Europe is the only place where true civilization and true science have reached their greatest development. It is a fact. Deal with it. We Europeans are by right the masters of this world and its only legitimate rulers.

    3. Re: Nobody had any doubts by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srinivasa_Ramanujan. There's your Indian Descartes, except that unlike Rene, he didn't make a fool of himself in the philosophy department.

      --
      Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
    4. Re: Nobody had any doubts by ChrisMaple · · Score: 1

      The fact that you think there should be rulers automatically disqualifies you from rational discussion of the organization of society.

      --
      Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
  38. Cold (con)fusion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe they found the elusive cold fusion that people have searching for instead...

  39. Re:Trumptard Fox Faggot Train? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You realize you're just like all of the other trolls. Not even original. You're a conformist cunt. Cant even survive on imgur, had to come to slashdot. I bet you love to look at yourself in the mirror and cry, it isn't fun when the shelter falls down is it.

    No, he's actually a very good troll. Do you know how we know?

  40. It's really quite simple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Lower the temperature of the room enough and superconduction will 'just happen'.

    Reminds me of a movie a vampire movie long time ago; someone with bite marks on their neck, drained of blood. Detective asks the Coroner how did he die? Natural Causes. Natural Causes? Yeah, naturally, if you don't have any blood in your system, you die.

  41. People believe ridiculous claims daily by sjbe · · Score: 1

    Anyone with a college degree is expected to not just pick any source, but strong sources that readers will likely to believe.

    Ummm, sources that "readers will likely believe" routinely does not correlate positively with "strong sources". People will tend to believe whatever made of nonsense most strongly correlates with their pre-existing biases and beliefs.

  42. Science is NOT about consensus by sjbe · · Score: 1

    Eventually, when enough people are convinced, your hypothesis is essentially voted into being a theory.

    Science is NOT about convincing people. Science is a process of establishing models that are have predictive power regardless of whether people believe them or not. Eventually people tend to come to a consensus behind models with proven and confirmed predictive power but this is a second order effect and not the actual point of the process. Science is what is true whether or not you believe in it. This is why when people use the argument about scientific consensus in regards to climate change they are making the wrong argument. It doesn't matter what the scientific consensus is - it only matters whether the models have predictive power. Consensus is just opinion and opinions can be wrong - even informed opinions. The argument they should make is that the climate models correctly predict XYZ and we have lots of various models all getting the same results.

    When truth-establishing processes are dictatorial in nature, you get crazy religious wars.

    True but group-think can be rather dictatorial in effect. Nobody forces people to believe in certain crazy ideas (like religion) but if you get enough of them collectively to believe it then it becomes an unquestioned dogma.

    1. Re:Science is NOT about consensus by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Nobody forces people to believe in certain crazy ideas (like religion)

      Except for all those times when that's exactly what happens. Which seems to be most times, and in most places, historically speaking.

  43. Barely a drama by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "This is a look inside what could be the biggest drama to happen in physics in nearly a decade"
    Who writes these news, Indians?

    What about the claim of neutrinos moving faster than light, which was less than 10 years ago? By far bigger drama than claiming room temperature superconductivity.

  44. Why Can't It Be? by sarku · · Score: 1

    Who would have thunk it? Hydrogen, a highly combustible element, and Oxygen, which will itself freely burn, combine to together form WATER... Not POSSIBLE say physicists!

  45. That's not a Woman. by Grog6 · · Score: 1

    That's a demon, wearing a human suit.

    You can tell by the lies, it easy.

    --
    Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
  46. It's OK. It's you who's wrong. Not the science. by denzacar · · Score: 1

    You know, it bugs me when people say "well science is not a democracy. Something is either proven or it isn't."

    The scientific method is essentially democratic

    You didn't get what "the people" say there.
    Mainly because you have wrong ideas about science and/or democracy.

    Science is not a democracy because you don't get to DECIDE or COMPROMISE or AGREE on the nature of reality - reality just is.
    You can't argue or vote your or any other way with science any more than you can make a cold fire by coming up with an alternative temperature scale.

    And there's nothing "essentially democratic" about the scientific method itself. It is in fact an autocracy of reality.
    There's ONE way to do it right, you don't get to choose another way, it doesn't matter how many votes of how many people you got on your side - reality just puts its foot down and goes "It's MY way or it's not science. Deal with it."

    One person claims to have done something via an experiment, and that doesn't prove anything. You need a whole bunch more people to do the same experiment....to convince them.

    No.

    You are confusing some kind of a mix of publishing and academia and education and general knowledge with science.
    One person's experimental proof of a theory, if done according to strict rules of scientific method, is enough.
    For the precise reason that it would provide the same exact results REGARDLESS of how many people do the same experiment or how many people are convinced.

    Also, replication or peer review are NOT done in order to convince "a bunch of people".
    Replication and peer review are done in order to try to TEST the theory and/or the experiment - by doing the exact same thing as the original experimenter.
    To see if it will break this time. And if the science behind the theory and the experiment is solid - it won't break.
    REGARDLESS of how convinced a "bunch of people" are.

    If scientific method was about democracy and conviction, everyone could simply agree that the Moon is made out of cheese.
    And then the conviction that the Moon is made out of cheese would make it so.
    You just gouda believe it hard enough, that's all.

    --
    Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
  47. Faked data by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The data is faked, this is not a story. :facepalm:

  48. Cold fusion and hot superconductivity by Tony+Isaac · · Score: 1

    Lots of claims, no reproducible results.

  49. DUH! by martinfb · · Score: 1

    DUH!!!
    Make room temperature nearly absolute zero Kelvin, and you have the answer!

    --


    Self-importance and self-indulgence is the root of ALL evil.