Hydrides come within a whisker of room temperature superconductivity

Lanthanum superhydride materials have been created that superconduct at the same temperature as a cold winter’s day. The George Washington University team, led by Russell Hemley and Maddury Somayazulu, claim to have made LaH₁₀ superconduct at 260K, or -13˚C, a record for the least cooling needed. And Mikhail Eremets’ team at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany also claims to have recorded high temperature superconductivity in LaH₁₀ at 250K.