UPDATE 11:50 a.m. June 9: The below post was based upon a story that was learned to be a hoax — my apologies. — Paul Chesser

Climate Depot‘s Marc Morano points out a Beeville, Texas fourth-grader’s victory in the junior division of the 2010 National Science Fair with her project, “Disproving Global Warming.” Defeating more than 50,000 contestants, Julisa Castillo’s research was reportedly judged by a National Science Foundation-chosen panel of judges that allegedly included Al Gore. Her conclusion: “There is not enough evidence to prove global warming is occurring.”

Beeville’s local newspaper reported on the competition Castillo faced at her own school:

Fourth-grader Kaleb Maguire proved that all tap water in Beeville was the same quality.

He took samples of water at 10 different sites across town and came to the conclusion that because the water originated at the same source — the city’s fresh water plant — the samples contained the same amount of alkalinity, pH and free chlorine.

Fourth-grader Amber Martinez concluded that worms subjected to music were more alert than those not.

And fourth-grader Sam Waters’ project was no doubt much enjoyed by his pet pooch, Lucky.

Sam wanted to know which meat his dog would like more. Turns out Lucky preferred chicken over both hotdogs and sausage.

Fifth-grader Savannah Gonzales found out that ants prefer cheese over sugar, but classmate Misty Nienhouse concluded that ants preferred sugar over cheese. Tessa Giannini’s science project also seemed to prove that ants preferred sugar over cheese, bread or anything else.

However, fourth-grader Faith Hernandez conducted a similar experiment and concluded ants preferred cheese over ham.

Yet, Jose Vivesos, a fourth-grader, concluded that ants prefer sugar water over anything else.

My question is, is any of this less worthy than the pork the National Science Foundation already wastes taxpayer money on?