The new iron age

The discovery of a new class of high-temperature superconductors based on iron tests the limits of current theoretical and computational tools for the understanding of strongly correlated systems. If you happened recently to run into a sleep-deprived condensed-matter physicist at the local coffee shop and asked her what's been keeping her awake at night, she'd probably tell you with excitement that she and her colleagues have been working around the clock on a new class of high-temperature superconductors. These new superconductors are iron-based, in contrast with the so-called cuprates — the 'traditional' high-temperature superconductors based on copper, which have been studied intensively during the past two decades since the discovery of their superconducting properties.