-—— taken from drilling cores from the ocean floor in the South Atlantic...——
there was apparently new data that was in fact scarce. The analysis yielded info from which a hypothesis could be drawn. They were not viewing tea leaves but actual subsurface materials containing actual organic matter that could be analyzed.
As to weather they were gifted or just run of the mill, they went into the field and found something to study and did so. It is real science in action
If it is truly new data based upon new technology and real developments great. And if they are really analyzing it with a clear and unbiased mind that is great.
My point is that many scientists want to prove their personal theory and try to make as much money as possible and they bend or mislead the truth. And yes some scientists even falsify their data in order to ptove their theoy and are unwilling to let anybody else look at the data because it wil be “misinterpreted”. Shocking.