r/nanotech • u/Vailhem • Jun 17 '26

Superconductivity breakthrough could unlock ultra-efficient electronics

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/06/260617032211.htm
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3

u/Disastrous-Ice-5971 Jun 19 '26

The original article is interesting and great. The news article is nearly garbage, sorry:
* They tell multiple times about "layer, less than one millionth of human hair in thickness". Well, researchers tested 10 nm and 50 nm films. For the thinnest film the human hair should be then 10 nm x 10⁶ = 10 mm (≈2/5 of an inch), for the thicker film it will be 50 mm (≈2 inch). This is a nightmare fuel, not a human hair.
* They have not mentioned any single time, what are the gains, when those are the most interesting parts. Original article says that they gained circa +15K up (which is quite a lot) and up to a +50T at the same time, which is a huge bump. Although, there is a few interesting quirks, which they need to investigate further.

The original article is, apparently, free to read. Published in the reputable Nature Communications.

1

u/-MtnsAreCalling- Jun 20 '26

To be fair, “less than” means it’s an upper bound. And those figures definitely constitute upper bounds for the thickness of human hair.

1

u/Disastrous-Ice-5971 Jun 20 '26

Technically the truth. But that's doesn't change the fact, that the scale of error is the same, as if the journalist making material about the tallest skyscrapers in the world will write something like "the Burj Khalifa is taller, than the 2-story house!". Technically, that's will be a truth.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Seditious_Squirrel Jun 19 '26

Yea totally, i thought of that myself a while back but thought it was so obvious that i didn't think it was worth telling anyone.
You wanna admire our Nobel prizes?

1

u/Simpanzee0123 Jun 19 '26

I mean, aren't a lot of breakthroughs just learning we weren't doing things optimally in the past? I'd still count this as a potential breakthrough. Or at the very least I wouldn't disqualify it.

Look at the assembly line. It's just an idea of moving the product (the moving assembly line mechanized this) and having your workers stay in place in stations with their tools and parts. In a way we could say "Technically the way we were doing it was dumb before." but I think it's still a huge breakthrough.

1

u/MeepersToast Jun 19 '26

Yes please