Jesse S. Smith

Superconductivity is the ability of a material to conduct electricity without losses. Ordinary wires heat up, and some energy is lost as heat, but a superconductor carries current with zero resistance.

Nitrogen, the very gas we breathe, behaves like a finicky metal under a million atmospheres of pressure. In a diamond anvil cell, it is squeezed to 78–98 gigapascals and heated with a laser to 1800–2500 kelvin. Under these conditions, N₂ molecules rearrange into crystals that can store energy more densely than explosives.