LK-99 isn’t a superconductor — how science sleuths solved the mystery
LK-99 isn’t a superconductor — how science sleuths solved the mystery
Replications pieced together the puzzle of why the material displayed superconducting-like behaviours.
Yay! Glad they finally put this to rest. I was hopeful but extremely pessimistic about it, and now we know.
It's so cool to me how many specialists we have around the world, like Jain (the copper-sulfide expert). That's such a very specific thing to be an expert about.
In my work in devops with a start-up, I'm expected to know a bit about everything. I'm a bit jealous of Jain's extremely narrow focus, lol.
And to make matters worse I’m not spending free moments learning more and more computer science — but am instead reading internet stuff about material science. I can enjoy my wide ranging brain but agree that sometimes I wish I was more focused.
I'm doing a PhD, so hang out a lot with researchers - though not in natural sciences. Still, in my experience, the best researchers are often those who engage with other hobbies on the side. They're often very specialized within the field, but can have all kinds of hidden talents and interests. It keeps your brain fresh.
So don't feel bad about pursuing your interests! Sometimes it's also unexpected combinations of knowledge that is valuable, not hyperspecialization in one specific field. :)
To be fair, you don't get to be an expert at something by just reading about it. You become an expert by immersing yourself in it and knowing all the nuanced details of what you specialize in.
For example, I'm a AAA gamedev programmer. My specialty is the Unreal Engine. I know tons of little quirks about the engine that many of my coworkers don't - but that's because I've been using the engine for over a decade at this point.
I don't devote every waking moment to learning about Unreal - I used to spend a lot of free time researching it before I got hired, but now I leave gaming stuff at work to avoid burnout.
You don't need to like hyperfixate on something to become good at it. You just need to work on it for long enough - and if it's literally your job, you'll spend 40+ hours/week engrossed in it, for years.
It reminds me of the book "Hail Mary" where the entire world's smartest people and specialists come together to solve humanity's problems.
Oh hell yeah, love this book!
So, it was clear once the synthesis became public that this was BS, but we haven't reached complete scientific consensus yet.
Can we please finish the process? I'm tired of influencers and marketing suits trying to steer scientific discourse, it does nobody any good.
it would be a ceramic regardless -> into the trash
many good liquid nitrogen superconductors are ceramics. it's a pain in the ass for sure but it's not a dealbreaker
YBCOs are all technically ceramics, we still use them.
Why would you trash ceramics? Many of them have exceptional properties