As broadcast equipment becomes more sophisticated, especially in
the digital domains, the speed at which information is
transferred, processed, etc., through the equipment itself,
becomes a very important factor. With computer processors that
drive broadcast equipment today operating in the Gigahertz
range, what good does it do if the remainder of the
infrastructure works considerably slower? Superconductors will
go a long way in resolving this issue. Earlier this year,
researchers led by Dr. Jun Akimitsu of Aoyama Gakuin University
in Tokyo achieved a significant milestone when they announced
that magnesium boride, a readily available metal compound known
since the 1950s, has unexpectedly turned into the latest
breakthrough in superconductors technology. Magnesium boride is
commonly used in some chemical reactions, but no one had ever
tested its worth as a superconductor at low temperatures, where
it demonstrates properties of moving electrons with virtually no
resistance. After hearing about Dr. Akimitsu's