In a similar study, water is wet

Firstly, the world is full of things that seem obvious, but subsequently turn out to be false. Correlation does not imply causality, and studies to check apparent connections and that then find that they're real, should still be published. Ridiculing them is what has led to a state where negative results don't get published, and hence the same work is endlessly repeated.

Secondly, if you really, really know you chemistry, or you talk to some really advanced chemists, you'll find that they don't really understand why water is wet. That understand the concept of "wetting," but that's not the same thing. Millions of dollars are spent by various industries every year investigating the phenomenon of "wetting." So that's not obvious.