Closing in on superconductivity

Nine years after the discovery of high temperature superconductors, attempts to explain how electricity races through these complex crystals without resistance still meet a great deal of controversy. An entirely new explanation has been developed. One group of researchers has reported evidence that the behavior of electrons racing through a superconductor is best described by a mathematical function called d-wave, behavior that favors the newer models in which the electrons ride, not on phonons, but magnetic fluctuations. This describes both the controversy surrounding explanations of how a superconductor works as well as the new work in the field