Explanation: Just to elaborate a little on the answer, it can be added that referring to 11:30am as "the small hours"—the early hours of the morning—is exaggerated and unreasonable, so it can be argued that the author is using hyperbole. Hyperbole, a word that comes from the Greek verb <em>hyperballein</em>, which can be translated as "to exceed," is a figure of speech that entails an exaggeration of ideas for emphasis and effectivity.
It is true that the synthesis of a large collection of information that encompasses well-tested hypotheses about certain aspects of the natural world is known as a scientific theory.
