We have a wonderful example of how science really works thanks to the Cassini space craft. Cassini has photographed a region on Saturn's north pole that is a perfect hexagon...a moving hexagon formed in gas clouds.
(Be sure to look at the moving image...and thanks to David Boxenhorn.)
What this tells us is how science works. Technology is usually the first step. In this case it is Cassini bringing us a full image of a phenomenon never before seen in the universe. Just like Galileo's telescopic discovery of moons around Jupiter began the scientific era.Next there will be an effusion of theories. Most of the theories will be based on existing math about dynamic stability in multi-dimensional fluid spaces. A few theories will fit most of the Cassini data.
Next will come more technology, another Cassini, to test some of the theories and some of the details of the theories.
Ultimately we will revel in a new scientific model of semi-rigid dynamic gas structures and find a few more examples in the universe and on earth.
Lastly, the phenomenon will be measured so accurately that we will find a constant that applies in all similar hexagonal cases. It may be called the Phillips constant 131.488.... (I'm joking about the name and details of the constant).
That is how science, real science, works. Technology is really the mother of science.