What caused scientists to study the natural world more closely?

Exploration is the reason why. It started to happen in the mid-1500s.

i think it would be reparing roads  

consider an orange peel: if you want to try and lay it flat, you have to stretch it, we know exactly how things are being stretched or squashed at any given point. we have many different map projections because each has different patterns of some projections can even preserve certain features of the earth without