AI Tool Could Accelerate Discovery of Advanced Superconductors

Credit: iStock.Original story from Emory University, Using artificial intelligence shortens the time needed to identify complex phases in quantum materials.Using artificial intelligence shortens the time to identify complex quantum phases in materials from months to minutes, finds a new study published in Newton. The breakthrough could significantly speed up research into quantum materials, particularly low-dimensional superconductors.The study was led by theorists at Emory University and experimentalists at Yale University. Senior authors include Fang Liu and Yao Wang, assistant professors in Emory’s Department of Chemistry, and Yu He, assistant professor in Yale’s Department of Applied Physics.The team applied machine-learning techniques to detect clear spectral signals that indicate phase transitions in quantum materials — systems where electrons are strongly entangled. These materials are notoriously difficult to model with traditional physics because of their unpredictable fluctuations.“Our method gives a fast and accurate snapshot of a very complex phase transition, at virtually no cost,” says Xu Chen, the study’s first author and an Emory PhD student in chemistry. “We hope this can dramatically speed up discoveries in the field of superconductivity.”One of the challenges in applying machine learning to quantum materials is...
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After 50 Years, Trout Population Is Restored to Historic Numbers in One of the Largest Lakes in US

A lake trout in spawning colors – credit, FWS, public domainThrough a combination of invasive species control and stocking with captive-raised fish, it’s now believed that a self-sustaining and harvestable population of lake trout has returned to Lake Champlain.Following this historic success, a decision has been made to suspend the stocking of the New York lake, believing wild-born, wild-grown trout will be able to survive and spawn to adulthood without human assistance.The decision was announced by the Lake Champlain Fish and Wildlife Management Cooperative—a working group from the three state and federal agencies—at its annual meeting on April 10th, 2025, and represents the culmination of 50 years of conservation work.“It’s kind of dismaying how rarely we get to declare ‘job done,’ because often there are things we can’t overcome like habitat damage or invasive species,” Ellen Marsden, a University of Vermont fisheries scientist and the region’s leading lake trout expert, said Tuesday. “This is one of those quite rare events. It was rapid and obviously successful.”The cooperative will stock trout once more this spring, then continue to assess the health of the population and prepare a plan that includes benchmarks for reinstituting stocking if wild lake trout numbers appear to be declining.Adirondack Explorer wrote of the decision...
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