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disagree, the excitement led nowhere. We already have high temp superconductors so even if it was real these applications can/are already handled. Its not harmless either, people invested time, money, and effort.

its great to be excited for real science discoveries but hoaxes are not good, and can potentially cripple, crush the industry thats actually developing these things.

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> its great to be excited for real science discoveries but hoaxes are not good,

There's absolutely no evidence of a hoax. The original authors were sloppy and overeager, not malicious.

"The original authors were sloppy and overeager, not malicious"

Reckon so, but if they believed they were on the brink of a great discovery and thought they could be beaten to it at any moment, then it's understandable.

A researcher wasting his/her time in a promising result is business as usual. An important part of the work is to read papers and decide if they are promising enough to try to informaly replicate them and extend them.

There are a lot of details to consider. Does it makes sense? Who published it? Did that team has a gopd track record? Where was it published? Did somepne else used the paper as a base for a new paper? How long/much would it take to try?

Only after that, researches decide to try it or just send it to the paper bin.

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