Now, I was skeptical about Stuxnet and the very, very, what I felt were premature claims that this was targeted at Iran.

The wars - against the Taliban, Al Qaeda, Iraq - have in common premature claims of victory and the fact that, years later, they persist with mounting costs in lives, treasure and national reputation.

The Russian-Ukrainian negotiations over the Black Sea Fleet and the use of the Sevastopol port have been tortuous, and there have been several premature claims about diplomatic breakthroughs.

CO2 was rising between 1945-1975 but global temperatures declined in the same period, hence the premature claims at the time that a new ice age was on the way.

"Or one idiot master seaman trying to stake a premature claim on the Southern Continent," "What?"

It remains to be seen if the D0 group has merely confirmed its rival's earlier measurement or has found a different mass for the quark and thus relegated its rival's discovery to a false and premature claim.

But the experts were surprised at what they said was a premature claim for potential use of the test as a screening tool before extensive additional research proved the point.

Many investors and other scientists are skeptical, saying that Dr. Glasky has a reputation for making premature claims of success.

He said such premature claims gave false hope to dying patients, and he noted that in fact most new drugs failed to fulfill their initial promise.

The danger in making unsupported and premature claims is that the public may become jaded and a credibility gap may be created for the Government's war on cancer and even science in general.