I think there's a general popular misunderstanding of the process of science as it is generally practiced. A single paper isn't as meaningful as you might thin

I think there's a general popular misunderstanding of the process of science as it is generally practiced. A single paper isn't as meaningful as you might think. It's more like an interesting blog post. You might use it as a starting point for your own investigation. A single paper does not represent "the truth" as we currently understand it. For that you need to have a broad scientific consensus. You might be able to get a better understanding of that from review papers citing recent advances in the field. Or from attending conferences/reading a broad range of papers yourself.