New research from the University of Manchester (UK) suggests that storing data with a class of molecules known as single-molecule magnets is more feasible than previously thought. The result, published in Nature, shows that magnetic hysteresis, a memory effect that is a prerequisite of any data storage, is possible in individual molecules at -213°C, meaning that data servers could be cooled using liquid nitrogen (-196°C) instead of the far more expensive liquid helium (-269°C).

CERN has announced its European Advanced Superconductivity Innovation and Training project (EASITrain), a four-year initiative that brings together leading research institutes and industrial partners to train the next generation of researchers. It will cover the development of 15 Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) on projects related to superconducting wires, superconducting thin films, associated manufacturing techniques and innovative cryogenic refrigeration. Each ESR will be funded for 36 months and enrolled in a doctorate program.

Researchers from the Los Alamos National Laboratory report that the phenomenon of electronic symmetry breaking is common in superconducting materials in high magnetic fields. Using transport measurements near the field-tuned quantum critical point of CeRhIn₅ at 50 Tesla, the researchers observed a fluctuating nematic-like state in which the material’s electrons aligned in a way to reduce the symmetry of the original crystal, something that now appears to be universal among unconventional superconductors. Unconventional superconductivity develops near a phase boundary separating magnetically ordered and magnetically disordered phases of a material.

Investigators at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new sensor-array-based instrument that offers ultralow noise detection of small amounts of energy for a number of applications. The new device permits the collection of data from many more detectors than was previously possible, an advance expected to allow applications in fields as diverse as nuclear materials accounting, astrophysics and X-ray spectrometry.

NASA's balloon program is currently preparing new missions bearing sensitive instruments, including one designed to investigate the birth of our universe and another with ballooning origins that will fly on the International Space Station.