Talk-Polywell.org

New research from a team led by Choong-Shik Yoo at Washington State University—and including Carnegie's Viktor Struzhkin, Takaki Muramatsu, and Stanislav Sinogeikin—found unexpected superconductivity that could help scientists better understand the structural changes that create this rare phenomenon. Their work is published the week of July 1 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The team found superconductivity in the solid form of a compound called carbon disulfide, CS2, which is sometimes used in liquid form as a chemical solvent or insecticide. They found that disulfide enters a superconducting state at about -449 degrees Fahrenheit (6.2 Kelvin) at pressures ranging from about 493,000 to about 1,698,000 times normal atmospheric pressure (50 to 172 gigapascals).

"What makes this discovery special is that it seems counter to the understanding of how superconductivity normally works," Yoo said.