Fine particulates penetrate deep into the lungs and can cause severe damage. Especially children suffer from the high concentration of fine particulates in the ambient air. Calculations showed that in 2015, out of a total of 669 million children under five around the world, about 240,000 died from poor air quality as a result of lower respiratory tract infections, particularly pneumonia.

New research published by scientists at the Max-Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids in Germany shows a rare state of matter in which electrons in a superconducting crystal organize collectively.