It's painful, but it's "the hot topic", and nobody likes to be told that in the absence of new information, an absence of noise would be nice so we can focus on the things for which there is new information. The problem is that people, especially in the realm of pop-sci, get "favorite topics". They don't really understand much, but it's their "expert topic" and they love it. When the reality of science, which is slow progress via a sawtooth graph, hits they don't bail, they tend to just... want more.

As a result you get a lot of "What does it look like from the perspective of a photon?" or "What does the inside of a black hole look like?" The real lack of knowledge is boring, and there are enough such excitable people to keep some magazines (on and offline) profitable. I think it's also important to remember that most people, even technical people, who aren't into physics simply don't understand the topics in question well enough that the headline in question, 'Is Matter Conscious' doesn't turn them off immediately. The difference there, between largely uncritical (if intellectual) wide-eyed curiosity, and science is pretty stark.

The truth is though, that it's a matter of interest, and most people (whatever they claim) aren't really interested in physics, they just like "the cool stuff".