And the hot topic this year is…

As close as I could get

By Hamish Johnston

Despite legging it across the convention centre, I left it a bit late to get anywhere near Hideo Hosono’s talk on “Materials and Physics in Pnictide Superconductors”. It looks like the pnictides — which burst on the scene during the last March Meeting — are a contender for this year’s hot topic.

You might recall that these materials comprise a completely new family of high-temperature superconductors. They could help physicists understand just exactly why some materials are superconducting at relatively high temperatures — something that has been a genuine mystery for over 20 years.

Of course, they might just add to the confusion by giving physicists more materials that they don’t understand.

But if the crowd at Hosono’s talk is any indication, there won’t be a lack of trying.