> I feel like such strong statements should directly reference strong evidence.
They did link the strong evidence upthread:
https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.03110
> To conclude, we have observed a semiconductor-like, non-superconducting electric property in our LK-99-like synthetic samples, along with diamagnetic and soft-ferromagnetic properties arising from supposedly different phases of the mixed product. Our results suggest that one needs to be cautious when interpreting half-levitation observations as evidence for net levitating forces (and, further, as evidence for the Meissner effect). The presence of ferromagnetism in a Pb-Cu-P-O system is somewhat unexpected, as we are not aware of previous reports of materials with related properties. The presence of a flat-bandlike electronic structure in Pb10−xCux(PO4)6O, as revealed in a recent calculation [14, 18], might be able to give rise to such spontaneous ferromagnetism, which warrants further investigation.
So, they replicated the "half levitation" effect and found it had nothing to do with superconductivity. Little chunks of it have ferromagnetic and diamagnetic properties along with it being a semiconductor. Weird, but no evidence at all of superconductivity.
Doesn't explain the videos of fully levitating samples, but those are easily faked and none of them have been very plausible and could just be attention seeking or attempts to manipulate stock markets.
Still should get replicated and those questions that the arxiv preprint raise should really get investigated and answered, but it pretty strongly looks like we're investigating a novel semiconductor now, not a superconductor.