Does wrapping banana stems actually prolong their life?

I've seen a few times the suggestion to wrap the stems of bananas to prevent them from ripening. Yet at least one person who was espousing this admitted it was based on a misreading of a study:

I made an incorrect leap of imagination about ethylene production and abscission, the natural splitting of leaf or fruit from stem. I re-read the Sauter paper and realized that I got a little too inferency. I thought that since ethylene caused abscission, it would make sense to cover the point prone to abscission. I didn't test when I saw confirmations from Lifehacker and eHow. (I know! Those were my sources after all the research I'd done?! I'm embarrassed for me, too.)

Is there any actual science behind this technique? Or is it just an old wives' tale?