As more recent studies are showing, I wouldn't rule anything such as problem solving or some individual recognition in snakes to be completely impossible just yet. We're just barely tapping the surface of the reptile mind, and they're showing that they are deep and more cognitive thinkers than we think. They're not the instinctual, biological robots they were thought to be some many years ago.
But that's besides the point.
The publicity this is receiving is awful.