The quest for boundless energy takes an electrifying turn with this magic mineral.
Gear-obsessed editors choose every product we review. We may earn commission if you buy from a link. Why Trust Us? Scientists have identified the first unconventional superconductor that you can find in nature. Conventional superconductors follow a specific, well known paradigm called BCS. Miassite does occur naturally, but this test was on a pure, lab-made sample. In new research, scientists explain how one mineral found in nature is more than just a typical superconductor. Miassite is a gray, metallic mineral made of rhodium and sulfur and, as Science Alert explains, was identified as a regular superconductor in 2010 . But now, miassite has passed a variety of odd-seeming tests that show it's also an "unconventional" superconductor—joining a small group that, so far, has only included laboratory-conceived materials. That in the journal Communications Materials, and to understand what it all means, we first need to understand the conventional superconductors. Inside a regular material that conducts electricity, moving electrons pass through where they have room to do so. But those paths are not huge or perfect, so the electrons experience resistance. Conductors are often organized by how much resistance they produce—the less resistance is better. Some products, like heating pads, intentionally use resistance because the electrons deposit more of their energy into the structure when they get "stuck." Superconductivity, on the other hand, is a state where the electrical resistance inside a solid material drops to zero. It was first discovered in 1911 by Dutch scientist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes and his students, and scientists have theorized about different types, or the potential for different types, ever since. A typical superconducting material only achieves…