2. another essential part of the scientific process is regular
communication between scientists. a good example of this is jan van
helmont's medieval recipe for the spontaneous generation of mice:
place a dirty shirt or some rags in an open pot or barrel containing a
few grains of wheat or some wheat bran, and in 21 days, mice will
appear! there will be both males and females present, and they will
be capable of mating and reproducing more mice.
play the role of a scientist and "peer review" van helmont's recipe
for producing mice. offer possible alternative explanations for the
appearance of the mice.

A peer review is a process that is used to evaluate written work before having the approval to analyze its truthfulness. That is why regular communication between scientists is of the utmost importance because it allows a better analysis of a scientific investigation to obtain a wider evaluation and with greater scientific rigor.

In this example, the following could be considered:

In the recipe for the appearance of mice we can indicate that the experiment will be successful: the mice like the closed and sheltered spaces, therefore the pot with the rags will attract them, also the fact that they have wheat, one of the main Rats food will make these come closer. The reproductive cycle of the mice is short because of that in 21 days they will have had at least one litter, so there will be both female and male mice.

I hope this information can help you.

b is the best answer for this question.