I hear this often repeated assumption all the time and I would love to know where it originated from?

Like what pop-sci article first misquoted a paper where someone stated that this was a possibility in a narrow set of circumstances?

I'm not saying it's wrong per se, It just seems like one of those factoids that sounds great, that fits in a nice little spot in our brains ready to be regurgitated when we hear something tangentially related. It's a little too convenient of an idea.