So, you wind up where everybody winds up after a little too much to drink, the National Institute for Materials Science in Japan. Maybe you see the superconductor experiments they’re conducting, where they’re creating a superconductor by soaking a material in hot water and ethanol. You remember, even drunk, that superconductors have lower resistance as they get colder, so maybe, just maybe, you “accidentally” decide to dump some of the material into some red wine you happen to have.
Is this yet another story we’re telling at my intervention later this month? No, we’re recounting how Yoshihio Takano and his team hit on a major discovery. Yes, they really did put valuable future superconductors into beer, wine, and whiskey. Fortunately for their jobs, it turns out that unlike those stupid purified substances, commercial booze can create awesome superconductors. The best? Red wine, which increased conductivity 62 percent.
Why? Who knows? They were drunk, remember?
[ via the alkies at io9 ]