The bumble bee story is of course a myth, the way it usually is told and has been told here by chief chaos. But it is very instructive for it can show how science actually works.

Scientists never try to prove by way of a theory that something is possible (or not) of which they, like anybody else including bees themselves, know already it is possible. They try to model mathematically how it could be possible. If the model turns out not to be able to 'predict' an already known fact they blame the model, not the reality.

However, if the model can predict/describe what we know is true, it still could be wrong but it is a better basis to start off from. A highlight for each scientist is if she makes a theory that predicts something noone has observed yet and that prediction turns out to be true.

Wolfgang