"ULTRARAM is a charge-based memory that stores data by moving electrons into or out of a so-called 'floating gate'. The charge state of the floating gate is read non-destructively by measuring the conductance of an underlying 'channel'. The final component of the memory is the barrier that acts like a 'lock' to retain electrons in the floating gate during data retention. The barrier is unlocked to allow charge to flow when the memory is being written or erased."

All of LK-99’s bizarre behavior that hinted at superconductivity—such as its partial levitation over a magnet—can apparently be explained away by odd but distinctly nonsuperconductive properties, such as ferromagnetism, the same structural quirk that allows magnetic fields to permeate iron and reconfigure the metal’s electrons.