排排坐，吃果果(双语有声)

想象一下这样一个世界：它有漂浮空中的车，有笔记本电脑大小的磁共振（MRI）扫描器，还有大规模配给的高效能源。如果科学家们能够充分利用《自然》杂志上刊登的一项研究结果，那么实现这些景象就不是白日做梦了。

Superconductors carry electricity with no loss to resistance. They are to regular conductors what a laser beam is to a light bulb. The problem is they have to be cooled to at least –100 degrees Celsius to work. Then the electrons spontaneously start moving in one direction and forming pairs. And now, scientists have caught a glimpse of a mysterious phase they call the “pseudo-gap” where the electrons line up just before they form pairs and start superconducting.

超导体能没有任何电阻地带电。相比起来，超导体之于常规导体，就像一束激光之于一个灯泡。可问题在于超导体至少要冷却到一百摄氏度才能工作。在此温度下，电子会自发地开始向一个方向运动并形成电子对。就在这里，科学家们发现了一个神秘阶段，他们称之为“虚能隙”，在此阶段，电子们会在形成配对并开始超导之前排列成队。

Louis Taillefer from the University of Sherbrooke said they used a magnetic field to align the electron flow: “The effect was very big. It was surprisingly big.”

谢布鲁克大学的路易斯塔里夫表示他们用磁场来调整电子流。“能效非常惊人，完全出乎意料”。

If scientists can take advantage of this effect, room temperature superconductors could be a step closer. “If we do find or if we do arrive at a material that can sustain superconductivity at room temperature we will have a huge technological revolution, similar on a scale to the transistor.”

如果科学家们能够利用这一能效，人类离实现室温超导体的目标就更进一步。“如果我们真能找到或发明出一种在室温下也保持超导性的材料，这将是一场巨大的科技革命，不亚于晶体管发明所引起的第三次科技革命。”

—Sonya Buyting