Numberphile: Secrets to measuring a piece of paper

Currently I am waiting for the Research Council of Lithuanian post-doctoral project final results. Though interim results are already known, but RCL still needs to decide where they will cut. This situation starts up my existensial thinking on what is good science and what is not. I believe that at least partialy it is well covered by the following Numberphile video.

In this video Cliff Stoll presents one of the homeworks he gave his students to test their ability to notice subtleties and if they are self-conscious (able to check their own errors) enough. This qualities are somewhat important to produce a good piece of scientific work.