A new superconducting material discovered in Japan not only superconducts at minus 155`C, a bit better than most of the other ceramics researchers are working with, but is also expected to carry higher currents and to more stable and less prone to contamination: it is a compound of Bismuth – the key element, with Strontium, Calcium, Copper and Oxygen; meantime IBM says that the low current-carrying capacity of wires made out of the earlier ceramics is caused by the fact that only small currents are able to cross the crystal boundaries; the knowledge is expected to lead to alleviations of the snag.
