Researchers at the University of Warwick, working with the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in France, report in *Physical Review Letters* that a copper-based superconductor studied for 40 years is not the uniform crystal scientists long assumed.

Using scanning 3D X-ray diffraction — a technique similar in principle to a medical CT scan, but mapping atomic structure rather than tissue — the team saw inside the material for the first time and found a patchwork of regions with two slightly different atomic arrangements.

ScienceDaily reports the findings were published October 24, 2026.

For four decades, theories of cuprate superconductivity have been built on the assumption that these materials have the same crystal structure throughout their interiors.

According to ScienceDaily, Professor Mark Senn, who led the study, said the team has shown that assumption does not hold, meaning nearly all existing theory rests on an incomplete picture.

The most startling detail: the boundaries separating the regions were hundreds of times wider than expected, extensive enough to behave almost like distinct structures themselves rather than narrow dividing lines.

The measurements were made possible by a recent 150 million euro upgrade to the ESRF, which provides extremely intense X-ray beams for studying materials in extraordinary detail.

ScienceDaily notes the technique can now map the three-dimensional interiors of many materials at a precision previously unavailable.

The team believes the wide boundary zones may actively interfere with superconductivity rather than simply coexist with it — potentially explaining why some cuprate materials perform better than others, and why some bulk measurements will need reinterpretation.

Cuprates conduct electricity with zero resistance at unusually high — though still very cold — temperatures, making them promising for power grids, medical scanners and quantum computers.

ScienceDaily says the researchers suspect similar hidden patterns may be widespread among other cuprates and pressure-superconducting materials, and future theories will need to incorporate this structural complexity. Better understanding could eventually guide improved superconducting materials.

Separately, NDTV reports a different reminder of hidden complexity in nature: a giant fungus, *Dianjunus rex*, discovered in China's Yunnan province.