So strange how scientists and professors get treated by media. Do they think those pictures help an otherwise very interesting article? I guess if you don't have cool diagrams of magnetic gas flow in the interstellar medium, you do what you can?
I was struck by the number of oddly posed photos as well. The choice seems consistent across all their Q&A interviews. https://www.quantamagazine.org/tag/qa/
A clue about the styling can be found on their 'About' page: "Our work often resembles journalistic alchemy — we mash together the complexities of science with the malleable art of storytelling in an attempt to forge a precious new alloy. It can be a mind-bending enterprise, but we relish the challenge."
So strange how scientists and professors get treated by media. Do they think those pictures help an otherwise very interesting article? I guess if you don't have cool diagrams of magnetic gas flow in the interstellar medium, you do what you can?