A 40-year physics mystery just cracked: Bristol scientists found what makes some materials conduct with zero loss

Superconductors carry electricity with no energy lost at all — the dream behind lossless power lines and better medical scanners. But for copper-oxide materials that superconduct at unusually high temperatures, nobody knew what glues their electrons into the lossless state. A Bristol-led team built a special film whose superconducting temperature fades smoothly from maximum to zero along its length, then measured it inside some of the world's strongest magnets. The resistance data gave them the smoking gun: the electrons pair up by interacting with fluctuating magnetism in the material. Published in Nature Physics, it solves half of a riddle that has stood since the 1980s — co-author Nigel Hussey reckons whoever finds the second half has a Nobel Prize waiting.

SDG 9 · Industry, innovation and infrastructure — Mechanism: tech innovation