Or the researchers were just generally guessing about the situation when talking about it one day and spitballing and a reporter wrote that up as 'researchers t

Or the researchers were just generally guessing about the situation when talking about it one day and spitballing and a reporter wrote that up as 'researchers told... likely culprits'. That's seriously weak language, and when you account for reporters inflating things to make their work seem important, the reality was probably an off-hand comment with no backing or even significant thought behind it. Doesn't mean it's wrong, of course... just that if it DOES have actual factual support, that certainly doesn't give it to you.