Ziqiang Wang

In the woven basket pattern, where the strands interlace into triangles, some electrons get stuck in place, like coins wedged in the gaps of the weave. Other electrons roam freely across the whole basket, like light filling a room. Physicists have long sought the moment when these two types of electrons start to influence each other, and now it has been found in the material CsCr6Sb6.

A packed stadium: fans mill about chaotically, creating jostling and resistance. That's how electrons behave in an ordinary conductor. In superconductivity, they pair up and move in sync, like spectators holding hands and calmly leaving the stands, without losing energy.