Okay, the science nerds in the audience didn't exactly let us know that we've entered the age of commercial superconductors, but apparently Sumitomo Electric has built a Toyota Crown Comfort that's powered by a superconducting engine. Cooled by liquid nitrogen to -200° C, apparently all this madness nets you an extra 10% gain in distance over regular battery-powered motors. In other words: totally, completely worth the near comical impracticality.

[Via Uber Review]

While the temperature at which superconduction has occurred has been steadily rising throughout history, a potential breakthrough could open up a whole new world of possibilities in the computing realm. Reportedly, a pair of mad scientists from Canada and Germany have developed a silicon-hydrogen compound that can superconduct at room temperature. The secret, they say, is that the silane-based matter is "super-compressed," and they were able to achieve such compression by "adding hydrogen to a compound with silicon that reduced the amount of compression needed to achieve superconductivity." Granted, the work done so far was classified as "theoretical," but hopefully it won't be long (read: during our lifetime would be nice) before such technology finds its way into gaming rigs (among other things) the world over.

Update: According to a report from ReducedMass, the original EETimes article misinterpreted data about this project. Superconductivity at room temperatures is not possible yet, though the research done here could be harnessed to achieve those results in the future.

[Via Slashdot]