This week, scientists have been STUNNED by the possible discovery of room-temperature superconductivity. IF it is true, humanity might have passed a HUGE milestone. The impact will be WAY bigger than the combined impact by ChatGPT, artificial AI and anything else you’ve heard of. In #science, this discovery is much bigger than any graphene, Li-ion batteries, observation of black holes, and even Higgs boson. ▫️ In a long run, the consequences can be bigger than the outcome of industrial revolution and discovery of nuclear reactions and energy. It will deeply transform the humanity. ▫️ I’m putting a list of things that come to my mind. However, there are many more points in reality. Some changes will be so "core" that we can't even foresee them today. 1⃣ Electric vehicles and levitating high-speed trains will benefit immensely. We will see a drastic increase in energy efficiency. Putting it together with high-efficiency superconducting motors, I wonder - "Gas stations will become obsolete?". 2⃣ Energy Storage and Transmission. First, we will see the emergence of LOSSLESS electrical grids with extremely long distance of electricity transmission. Second, a RT superconducting coil is a “perfect battery”. It can store and release a lot of energy with 100% cycling stability and ulta-slow “self-discharge”. It will change everything, from power grids to space shuttles. 3⃣ Computers!!! We will see the emergence of ultrafast, low-energy-consuming computing devices. Stable quantum computing at RT may become a perfectly feasible thing. Overall, this will revolutionize the ways we build computers and devices. 4⃣ Extraordinary sensors in everyday life. Currently, regular superconducting sensors (e.g. near-IR single-photon detectors, or magnetic field sensors) need very low temperatures and are used in very specific/expensive domains. RT superconductors will bring them to our houses, changing the technologies around us forever. 5⃣ Super-cheap MRI machines for medical diagnostics. MRI relies on superconductors, but they can operate at very low temperatures, making the instruments super-expensive. With RT superconductors, they will become compact and cheap. New era for accessible medical diagnostics! 6⃣ High-efficiency and powerful motors. When conventional electric motors incorporate superconducting materials, it will make them a LOT more efficient. Reduced energy consumption + smaller size will revolutionize the industrial machinery and appliances. I am sure that airplanes with electric propulsion will finally become possible. 7⃣ Nuclear fusion may become viable (and controllable) because superconductors are one of the key ingredient. As you see, such a discovery will change the world as we know it. ▫️ Now, the key question is - can someone reproduce these results? As far as I see, many groups have jumped into this topic. Let’s wait for the outcome! #AcademicTwitter #Engineering

No reward - no duties.  75% of respondents have reduced the hours spent on academic duties since 2020 (Nature polls). Mostly due to burnout and unwillingness to work for free. This included attending conferences, peer reviewing manuscripts and grant proposals, committees, mentoring and even teaching. Why? Because scientists are tired of not being able to do #science. - Students are tired of being unappreciated and overloaded - Faculties are tired of “community duties” that become overwhelming (conferences, committees, reviewing, outreach, etc) And everyone is tired of small salaries, zero empathy and little credit. The problem is greatly summarized by Isabel Müller (in the article): “There’s so little acknowledgement that people have difficult, complicated lives outside of work.” A year ago, Nature described how PhD students don’t want to be postdocs and faculties are leaving academia. Now, we see that those who stayed are trying to resist the system from the inside. But the problem is - the system is too rigid, too traditional and too elitist. So, as a community, we can change it only by raising our voices and expressing distaste with the status quo. I applaud Nature for writing about these issues so regularly. The academic world has too many interdependent parts which should be addressed concurrently. This is why we should stay united and strong as a community. Regarding the academic environment we all hope to have, I loved how Isabel Müller put it in the article: - I hope it becomes the new normal to say: “My life matters. My work is an important part, but I decide what my life looks like, not my employer”. #AcademicTwitter #education