A metal bar made of five different metals (hafnium, niobium, scandium, titanium, and zirconium) sits in a furnace. After heating to 600 degrees, regions appear inside it that look like a pattern of two mixed metals, like marble veins. These regions are what make the entire alloy conduct electric current without losses at a very low temperature — about minus 263 degrees Celsius. This phenomenon is called superconductivity, and it disappears at the slightest warming, so materials are kept in liquid helium.

Scientists measured the temperature at which the alloy becomes superconducting and found: the hotter the furnace during annealing, the higher this temperature. The record was 9.93 kelvin (about minus 263.2 degrees Celsius) for a sample heated to 800 degrees. That is almost two degrees higher than for ordinary alloys of this type. The reason is that heating inflates those "marble" regions: they take up more space, and superconductivity is enhanced.

Why does this happen? Analysis showed that superconductivity involves not only electrons but also vibrations of the crystal lattice atoms. Electrons pair up, and these pairs move through the metal without collisions, like a group of dancers holding hands and weaving around obstacles in sync. In the alloy with the "marble" pattern, more such pairs form, and they hold together more tightly.