More science silliness

Although President Obama says he's strugglng with seven or more serious national problems, ten scientists have been opining on the following [with my snarky comments added]:

"Study suggests WOLVERINE in Sierra most likely from Idaho [Heaven forbid he should sneak over the mountainous border into Montana or Wyoming. Wait, is it a he-rine or a she-rine?]

"TRUCKEE (AP) -- A wolverine spotted two straight winters in the northern Sierra Nevada [How can we be sure it's the same one?] most likely [Most likely? How likely? Read on.] came from Idaho, according to the study.

"The findings of 10 federal, state and university scientists, published in the latest edition of Northwest Science, show the predator is most closely related to the Rocky Mountain population. Researchers said the results show a 73 percent confidence level [I guess it wasn't the usual scientific consensus vote, otherwise, that would mean 7.3 of the scientists agreed. What does three-tenths of a scientist look like?] in the conclusion the animal most likely [Yawn] came from Idaho.

"By comparison, the wolverine had less than five percent probability of belonging to most other North American wolverine populations evaluated. [Maybe those Montana or Wyoming -rines speak with a characteristic drawl, or the Idaho -rines have that Boise look.] The wolverine's discovery on national forest land north of Truckee a year ago surprised scientists, who feared the elusive animal was driven out of the Sierra long ago by human activity." [Or maybe they lost all their money at the casinos, and that ratty motel we once stayed at in Beattie was closed.]

The importance of this study can be overestimated.