A new element is discovered that has two isotopes. The first isotope has a mass of 115.30 amu and a natural abundance of 60.11 %. The other isotope has a mass of 117.55 amu and a natural abundance of 39.89 %. What is
the atomic mass of this hypothetical new element?

the answer is b because, investigating whether another species of moth also drinks tears might be interesting, but it would not directly explain why this species of moth does.

to explain why this species of moth drinks tears, the scientist could ask: "what nutrients that moths need are in elephant tears? "

the scientist could experiment with moth repellent or oter ways to keep the moths away, but that would not answer his original question.