In the everlasting search for economically viable superconductors, a variety of scientists and researchers have published findings on naturally occurring mineral miassite as an "unconventional superconductor." These findings ("Nodal superconductivity in miassite") were published for Open Access viewing on Nature.com and include contributors from a variety of US universities, as well as institutions in France and New Zealand.
Unlike semiconductors, which are still integral to the overwhelming majority of modern electronics, superconductors conduct electricity with 100% efficiency, not losing any power (typically released as heat) in the process. They can also create permanent magnetic fields. This makes viable superconductors a golden goose, should anyone ever actually achieve the seemingly impossible goal of finding or creating a material that behaves this way at or near typical room temperature.
