Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have found that crystals of a recently discovered superconducting material, a layered bismuth chalcogenide with a four-fold symmetric structure, shows only two-fold symmetry in its superconductivity. The origin of superconductivity in these structures is not yet well understood; this finding suggests a connection with an enigmatic class of materials known as nematic superconductors and the extraordinary mechanisms by which superconductivity can emerge at easier-to-reach temperatures.