Several possible answers (and an essay)
One of our consultants has begun tutoring, which has brought him into contact with the world of standardized tests after many years away.
What are tests for?
explanation
It doesn’t look like that
The universe is photoshopped
Our astronomer points out that that pictures of outer space don’t actually show what you’d see if you went there.
Unhappy with success
The Standard Model works too well
An enormous apparatus for scientific research is finding only what was expected. This bothers scientists.
The scientific cult of personality
Do electrons care about Feynman?
Our chief consultant explores an unexpected feature of scientific magazines.
The distance to the stars
A matter of small and big numbers
Having mentioned the difficulty of finding the distances to stars last week, our astronomer tries to put some unfamiliar numbers within your grasp.
A plausible assumption
It’s reasonable and makes sense, but it’s wrong
Our astronomer describes how an assumption widely made in his science in past years turned out to be completely erroneous.
Why an f-stop?
It’s all the astronomers’ fault
Our photographic consultant is reminded how complicated things are for beginners, no matter how straightforward it all seems to the professionals.
Applied numerology
Why astronomers are natural translators
Our astronomer offers an apology and an explanation.
A star by moonlight
How can the Moon affect a star?
As things go in the universe, the Moon is a small thing, insignificant compared to a distant star. Yet our astronomer found that it can have a definite influence on measures of the latter.
How big is a picture?
Returning to the Brownie format
The photographs that came out of this Kodak Brownie camera from the 1930s may be the best size ever found.