This article is a great illustration of how models and paradigms work in the natural sciences. Scientists propose models that embody paradigms that best explain and also predict observable data. When predictions are confirmed with experimental data the models and paradigms are also validated (see Einstein’s Gravitational waves for a recent example). When data does not come in as expected then the model itself is called in to question. Either the model needs to be amended or needs to be tossed in favor of a model that better explains data.
The standard model of particle physics is the focus of this article.
“These are not small, insignificant errors. The standard model makes precise predictions. If these new results are correct, it means that there must be a fundamental flaw in how we think about physics.”
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