4 ms·

Drunk scientists pour wine on superconductors and make an incredible discovery

128 points by JangoSteve 16y ago

burgerbrain 16y ago
Ok, I've got to ask: is there anything red wine won't do? Maybe scientists should start investigating it for use as an alternative to fossil-fuels as well? ;)
- fleitz 16y ago
  It will work wonders as an alternative as long as you remove the 90% water content.
- electromagnetic 16y ago
  I propose an addition to all scientific testing. In addition to the control you also have an 'alternate' which is red wine. It would seemingly solve a lot of scientific research and may lead to untold leaps forward in technology. Or we could end up with millions of drunken scientists clogging the data pathways by texting their ex's and drunk-facebook stalking.
- anodari 16y ago
  Done http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1030611/Prince-Charles-converts-beloved-Aston-Martin-green-machine--run-English-wine.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1030611/Prince-Charl...
fleitz 16y ago
It appears that science has reached its Ballmer Peak. http://xkcd.com/323/ http://xkcd.com/323/
michaelty 16y ago
I demand a similar experiment with marijuana.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
alexophile 16y ago
The superconductor proceeded to text its ex-girlfriend all night. Couldn't help it. But I did try and find a more sober analysis of what was going on as it seemed that the only accurate words in the title were "scientists" and "superconductor." All I found was a press release from NIMS saying they would announce at ASC2010. "The National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS; President: Sukekatsu Ushioda) has discovered that alcoholic beverages, including red wine, beer, and others, are effective in inducing superconductivity in Fe(Te,S), which is an iron-based superconductivity related substance. This result was obtained in research by a team headed by Dr. Yoshihiko Takano, Group Leader of the Nano Frontier Materials Group of the NIMS Superconducting Materials Center (Managing Director: Hiroaki Kumakura)." http://www.nims.go.jp/eng/news/press/2010/07/p201007270.html http://www.nims.go.jp/eng/news/press/2010/07/p201007270.html
- jkkramer 16y ago
  The original paper is linked at the bottom of the article: http://arxiv.org/abs/1008.0666 http://arxiv.org/abs/1008.0666
- yan 16y ago
  The first comment on the reddit thread is also pretty entertaining: "Similar decreases in resistance occur when wine is poured on sorority girls."
  - zachrose 16y ago
    They would say that at Reddit, wouldn't they.
luigi 16y ago
Did they all jump then into the hot tub? And did John Cusack get transported back to the '80s?
FiddlerClamp 16y ago
I was either hoping for Gay Robot* or Electric Dreams, but this is quite cool. * Gay Robot was created when his inventor accidentally spilled a wine cooler on the motherboard.
seltzered 16y ago
this reminded me of an article back in 2004, where an engineer discovered sake can be used to make wood pliable enough to form it into speaker cones: - http://www.boingboing.net/2004/04/06/sake-marinade-soften.html http://www.boingboing.net/2004/04/06/sake-marinade-soften.ht...
delackner 16y ago
Sigh. 12 comments so far and only 2 or 3 are not jokes?
- dandelany 16y ago
  Jokes are better than your lack of contribution.
- chanux 16y ago
  I personally am happy to have a bit of humor. I hated the time humor was not an option here.
  - delackner 16y ago
    Though completely content-less humor comments are not explicitly against the guidelines, as you point out, for a long time now many many users have frowned on them. Maybe its just time for me to start ignoring the discussions.
    - docgnome 16y ago
      The reason they are frowned upon is because the discussion section should contain, ya know, discussion. Not 30 pages of tired memes.
chanux 16y ago
Fellow HNer mmaunder has got a point here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1419536 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1419536
neworbit 16y ago
I am suddenly struck with a flashback to the Cold Fusion experiments. I want to see this reproduced in a (pun totally intended) more sober setting
jff 16y ago
I bet the superconductor just thinks it conducts better a little buzzed.
tintin 16y ago
I'm sorry, but it doesn't state they were drunk. They had a party and decided to test other liquids. Wine came out best. http://arxiv.org/abs/1008.0666 http://arxiv.org/abs/1008.0666

128 points by JangoSteve 16y ago

Ok, I've got to ask: is there anything red wine won't do? Maybe scientists should start investigating it for use as an alternative to fossil-fuels as well? ;)

fleitz 16y ago
It will work wonders as an alternative as long as you remove the 90% water content.
electromagnetic 16y ago
I propose an addition to all scientific testing. In addition to the control you also have an 'alternate' which is red wine. It would seemingly solve a lot of scientific research and may lead to untold leaps forward in technology. Or we could end up with millions of drunken scientists clogging the data pathways by texting their ex's and drunk-facebook stalking.
anodari 16y ago
Done http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1030611/Prince-Charles-converts-beloved-Aston-Martin-green-machine--run-English-wine.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1030611/Prince-Charl...

fleitz 16y ago

It appears that science has reached its Ballmer Peak. http://xkcd.com/323/ http://xkcd.com/323/

michaelty 16y ago

I demand a similar experiment with marijuana.

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]

alexophile 16y ago

The superconductor proceeded to text its ex-girlfriend all night. Couldn't help it. But I did try and find a more sober analysis of what was going on as it seemed that the only accurate words in the title were "scientists" and "superconductor." All I found was a press release from NIMS saying they would announce at ASC2010. "The National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS; President: Sukekatsu Ushioda) has discovered that alcoholic beverages, including red wine, beer, and others, are effective in inducing superconductivity in Fe(Te,S), which is an iron-based superconductivity related substance. This result was obtained in research by a team headed by Dr. Yoshihiko Takano, Group Leader of the Nano Frontier Materials Group of the NIMS Superconducting Materials Center (Managing Director: Hiroaki Kumakura)." http://www.nims.go.jp/eng/news/press/2010/07/p201007270.html http://www.nims.go.jp/eng/news/press/2010/07/p201007270.html

jkkramer 16y ago
The original paper is linked at the bottom of the article: http://arxiv.org/abs/1008.0666 http://arxiv.org/abs/1008.0666
yan 16y ago
The first comment on the reddit thread is also pretty entertaining: "Similar decreases in resistance occur when wine is poured on sorority girls."
- zachrose 16y ago
  They would say that at Reddit, wouldn't they.

luigi 16y ago

Did they all jump then into the hot tub? And did John Cusack get transported back to the '80s?

FiddlerClamp 16y ago

I was either hoping for Gay Robot* or Electric Dreams, but this is quite cool. * Gay Robot was created when his inventor accidentally spilled a wine cooler on the motherboard.

seltzered 16y ago

this reminded me of an article back in 2004, where an engineer discovered sake can be used to make wood pliable enough to form it into speaker cones: - http://www.boingboing.net/2004/04/06/sake-marinade-soften.html http://www.boingboing.net/2004/04/06/sake-marinade-soften.ht...

delackner 16y ago

Sigh. 12 comments so far and only 2 or 3 are not jokes?

dandelany 16y ago
Jokes are better than your lack of contribution.
chanux 16y ago
I personally am happy to have a bit of humor. I hated the time humor was not an option here.
- delackner 16y ago
  Though completely content-less humor comments are not explicitly against the guidelines, as you point out, for a long time now many many users have frowned on them. Maybe its just time for me to start ignoring the discussions.
  - docgnome 16y ago
    The reason they are frowned upon is because the discussion section should contain, ya know, discussion. Not 30 pages of tired memes.

chanux 16y ago

Fellow HNer mmaunder has got a point here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1419536 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1419536

neworbit 16y ago

I am suddenly struck with a flashback to the Cold Fusion experiments. I want to see this reproduced in a (pun totally intended) more sober setting

jff 16y ago

I bet the superconductor just thinks it conducts better a little buzzed.

tintin 16y ago

I'm sorry, but it doesn't state they were drunk. They had a party and decided to test other liquids. Wine came out best. http://arxiv.org/abs/1008.0666 http://arxiv.org/abs/1008.0666