1) Because a negative result wouldn't prove anything, transit and time are both factors that could plausibly mess with its properties so if it doesn't supercond

1) Because a negative result wouldn't prove anything, transit and time are both factors that could plausibly mess with its properties so if it doesn't superconduct that doesn't indicate anything about the material. 2) Because even if it does replicate, no one wants another Starlite-style "science" controversy. If you can't replicate it, it doesn't exist, is the attitude a lot of people have, for understandable reasons. This actually doesn't just affect RTAPS or materials science in general. There are some scientists who just refuse to consider or use GPT-4 as SOTA, because in their view it's non-replicability means including it just isn't science. It's an extreme view, but the general sentiment is common. You could consider it a backlash to the reproduction crisis.