Investigations get started as people see something puzzling or worth explaining. Deciding what about a phenomenon is relevant to understand isn’t obvious, and often relies on knowledge and experience.

Investigations get started as people see something puzzling or worth explaining. Deciding what about a phenomenon is relevant to understand isn’t obvious, and often relies on knowledge and experience.

Explaining involves deciding when you have a good enough explanation, given your evidence and purposes. No explanation covers all details or relevant phenomena- so scientists are constantly evaluating whether their explanation is satisfying and what next questions and related phenomena it points them to.