Additionally, it appears some of the original team members were concerned about possible industrial spying or leaks and that 'other parties' were moving to replicate which was part of the impetus for rushing to publish.

Where was this? I haven’t seen this, but it definitely explains the drama surrounding this whole situation.

It couldn’t have come at a worse time for drama either, as the right wing is currently on possibly their most massive anti-science tirade world wide that they’ve ever pushed.

> it definitely explains the drama surrounding this whole situation.

It was in a Twitter thread linked on an HN thread a couple days ago wherein someone had done some digging online into resumes, publication histories, etc and recapped a bunch of the apparent history of LK99 and the related scientists and institutions. Sorry, I didn't bookmark it. But it contained quite a bit more drama including possible team conflict over potential Nobel credit and a deathbed promise to the team's mentor, one of the initial LK99 discoverers.

No matter how this turns out, there's probably a helluva good book or movie in the backstory as it appears to be a team of unlikely underdogs stubbornly pursuing a long-shot while scraping together minimal funding over many years, being passed over for tenure, taking on unrelated side work and having their initial paper rejected by Nature, etc. It makes me extra hopeful that LK99 is at least an interesting novel material, even if not a superconductor.

You're probably referring to https://twitter.com/8teAPi/status/1684385895565365248

but the same person admitted they're writing fiction (I would call it speculative fiction drawn from known facts) https://twitter.com/8teAPi/status/1686217806298423299

Well at least the regulations have worked to solve the meth crisis.