Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. This book focuses on sci-fi, science, and unbelievable events. It is about a middle school teacher who is sent into outer space to discover how a new organism, Astrophage, is slowly decreasing the input of the sun. The main character, Ryland Grace, has the entire human race at stake.
“Really?” She set the tablet down. “Killing it did the trick?”
“I think so. It’s not black anymore. Light is getting through. Whatever weird effect was blocking it isn’t anymore”
“How did you do it? What killed it?”
“I penetrated the outer membrane with a nanosyringe.”
“You poked it with a stick?”
“No!” I said. “Well. Yes. But it was a scientific poke with a very scientific stick.”
“It took you three days to think of poking it with a stick.”
“You… be quiet.”
This conversation happened between the main character, Ryland Grace, and one of the main researchers of Astrophage, Stratt. It was in an industrial lab where they were talking about how Ryland managed to kill the Astrophage, as part of an experiment to see if the inner core contained water. The experiment was performed in an attempt to support Ryland’s hypothesis that not all life required water to survive. Long story short, he was wrong. When he penetrated the Astrophage, water came out. After this conversation he was shortly dismissed from the laboratory because there was “no need for his presence”.