NewsMaker: Using Big Databases to find Superconductors of the Future (PRESS RELEASE)

NewsMaker: Using Big Databases to find Superconductors of the Future (PRESS RELEASE). “Superconductors are materials that conduct electricity with virtually no resistance. Superconducting materials have improved the field of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and have led to the development of particle colliders that can be used for research related to splitting atoms. Currently available superconducting materials can only perform at extremely low temperatures. If researchers can find superconducting materials that work at ambient temperature, electricity could be conducted over large distances without energy loss. Current approaches to searching for these materials are somewhat random, and results strongly depend on researcher’s intuition, experience and luck. Materials scientist Yoshihiko Takano of Japan’s National Institute for Materials Science and colleagues have shown that sifting through an inorganic materials database using specific search parameters can provide a more systematic way to finding superconducting materials.”