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After a strident year of supposed discovery in superconducting physics , 2023 is looking like it ’s going to end with a whimper .
This summer , LK-99 was theroom - temperature superconductor du jour . Its precipitation was as swift as its rise ; myriad experiments revealed that it was little more than arun - of - the - mill refrigerator magnet .
You could say that people were primed for LK-99 by another discovery in the first place this year . Unlike LK-99 , this material was follow by a peer - review journal clause in Nature . That ’s not a guarantee of verity , but for many mass , it ’s pretty closely .
The young material appear to conduct electricity without resistance at a very well-fixed 69.8 ° F . The catch was that it had to be extort between two diamond exerting a pressure of 145,000 psi . While that sound like a spate , it was 100 time less than other room - temperature superconductors .
Unearthly stuff claim to have big - name investor , but they were n’t all on board
The job dead seemed a mess more tractable . peradventure this material was n’t quite ready for commercialisation , but perhaps future refinement might bring the imperativeness prerequisite down to more doable levels . The arrow of progression was pointing in the right-hand focal point .
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shortly after the paper was publish in March , though , doubts began to mount up .
The paper ’s lead writer , Ranga Dias , already had one newspaper retracted at the time . A TechCrunch+ investigation subsequently that month revealed thatDias had incorrectly claimedthe company he establish was back by big - name investor , including Sam Altman , Daniel Ek and Bill Gates ’s Breakthrough Energy Ventures .
Then in August , another of Dias ’s paper was retracted , and in September , eight of the 11 authorson the March theme asked for Nature to retract the most recent one .
Now that paper has been retracted , too , over concerns “ regarding the dependability ” of data in it . “ An probe by the diary and post - publication critique have concluded that these concern are credible , material and remain unsolved , ” theretraction noticereads .
At first , the textile described in the Nature paper publish in March was carefully announce as a breakthrough . Scientists were hopeful , but also circumspect . Dias ’s name was already enmeshed in contestation . Once experts begin to dig out into the details , they found graph and charts that did n’t jibe with the data or the methods listed in the report .
Retractions are part and parcel to the scientific process , but they ’re also something of a black chump on the researcher ’s curriculum vitae . scientific discipline depend on compeer picking apart other scientists ’ claims .
commonly that happens restfully at the peer - review microscope stage , before it becomes a more prescribed part of the scientific record . But from time to time , problem slip through the process undetected . Sometimes they ’re superintendence that can be apace correct and discover . Other time , the worry are more maddening .
In their letter to Nature requesting a recantation , Dias ’s carbon monoxide gas - authors claim that he “ has not acted in good trust in regard to the preparation and meekness of the manuscript . ” The grouping also listed their worry .
Now with the abjuration a realism , the betting odds of researchers name a room - temperature superconductor are looking even longer . Never say never , but probably good not to get our hopes up next year .
