>For instance, ca. 15 years ago there was a lot of excitement about both cold fusion (particle physics; not the computer software!) and superconductivity at (almost-) room temperature. But I don't know what the current status is.
>
>Hilmar.

Hilmar;

Universities often have large budgets for research. My Physics Professor at U.C. Berkeley conducted an experiment using super conductivity. He built an electromagnet and used super conductivity to provide a constant source of energy. The professor placed the larva of a fly under the under the electromagnet. The experiment was conducted for six months during which time the larva remained in “suspended animation”. A few days after the experiment ended the fly larva hatched and the fly left the scene.

The Professor told us, “The tax payers of California would not be happy with how much this experiment cost”! In order to get the required cooling a series of special tubes was constructed, one inside of the other to act as a wall. There was a gap between each succeeding wall to allow gasses to be held.

As I recall the innermost tube was used to transport liquid helium, the next tube used liquid hydrogen, then nitrogen and oxygen for the final tube. The amount of temperature dissipation from wall to wall to ambient temperature was reduced with this method of insulation. It took a huge amount of liquid helium pumped from outside the building to the required point, even with all the precautions just described. I cannot recall the exact numbers but it was on the order of a 100 to 1 loss.

Now where is that fly?

Tom