Viral New Superconductivity Claims Leave Many Scientists Skeptical

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August 01, 2023

Superconductors that work under real-world conditions—without requiring freezing temperatures or sky-high pressures—could lead to revolutionary applications. These materials might enable power grids that carry electricity perfectly without ever losing energy, levitating trains, next-generation fusion reactors and portable MRI scanners, among other technology. A new pair of papers dangles the possibility that a material called LK-99 could be superconducting in room conditions. But they have not yet been peer reviewed, and many scientists remain skeptical. And this field of research has a long history of apparent breakthroughs that, upon further scrutiny, fail to pan out.

Sophie Bushwick, Associate Editor, Technology

Materials Science Viral New Superconductivity Claims Leave Many Scientists Skeptical Researchers say they have discovered a new room-temperature ambient-pressure superconductor, but many scientists are unconvinced By Dan Garisto

Materials Science Controversial Physicist Faces Mounting Accusations of Scientific Misconduct Allegations of data fabrication have sparked the retraction of multiple papers from Ranga Dias, a researcher who claimed discovery of a room-temperature superconductor By Dan Garisto,Nature magazine

Artificial Intelligence AI-Generated Data Can Poison Future AI Models As AI-generated content fills the Internet, it's corrupting the training data for models to come. What happens when AI eats itself? By Rahul Rao

Materials Science Shape-Shifting, Self-Healing Machines Are Among Us Electronics that can bend, stretch and repair themselves could potentially work in applications ranging from tougher robots to smart clothes By Simon Makin

Economics Unregulated AI Will Worsen Inequality, Warns Nobel-Winning Economist Joseph Stiglitz A Nobel laureate in economics explains how artificial intelligence will affect inequality—and how solutions such as a shorter work week might mitigate its negative effects By Sophie Bushwick

Robotics How to Roll a Joint Perfectly, according to Science Scientists used a smoking machine—complete with a 3-D-printed mouthpiece—to figure out how to get the most cannabinoid per puff.  By Sophie Bushwick,Tulika Bose,Elah Feder | 08:34

Artificial Intelligence Oppenheimer Offers Us a Fresh Warning of AI's Danger The U.S. ignored Oppenheimer's warnings about nuclear weapons and rushed to build and deploy a dangerous technology. We must not make the same mistake with AI By Senator Edward J. Markey

Artificial Intelligence Here's Why Actors Are So Worried about AI Here's what's behind the A.I technology that has worried so many actors—including something called "the orb." By Tulika Bose,Sophie Bushwick | 09:14

Defense This Lost Woman of the Manhattan Project Saw the Deadly Effects of Nuclear Radiation Up Close Floy Agnes Lee came to Los Alamos, N.M., in 1945 knowing nothing of the top secret work on the atomic bomb happening all around her—but she studied the blood of the researchers who did By Katie Hafner,Monica Lopez,The Lost Women of Science Initiative

Artificial Intelligence Here's How AI Can Predict Hit Songs With Frightening Accuracy New AI technology predicts hit songs—by listening to someone's body.  By Sophie Bushwick,Lucy Tu | 10:27

QUOTE OF THE DAY "This cute canine behavior is familiar to dog owners, but no one really knows why human's best friend does it--and scientists have published just one study focusing on possible reasons for head tilting in dogs. That research suggests the animals might cock their furry noggins when processing familiar words." Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American

FROM THE ARCHIVE Controversy Surrounds Blockbuster Superconductivity Claim Will a possible breakthrough for room-temperature superconducting materials hold up to scrutiny? By Sophie Bushwick | March 2023

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