Science! + plasma caster

Hey everyone, hoping someone can clarify.

The Science! Perk card affects energy weapons, but I know this has excluded Heavy Weapons, which the PC is classed as.

Since the latest update, I ended up equipping it for a bit for one of my other guns but then noticed the PC was doing a decent amount more damage than it was before I equipped the perk. I went from 8k crits on the Snake to 10.5k.

I tried Googling it, but the stupid AI thing can't give me a clear answer, first it says no, heavys are excluded, then if I ask if that changed in the last update, it says yes it did, but I can't see anything in patch notes etc. and now it's basing its answers on assuming it changed.

In Season 25, does the science! perk card affect the Plasma Caster?