In a recent paper published in the European Physical Journal A, Bill, Igor, and collaborators examine the world’s data on pion photoproduction on deuteron targets in order to learn about photoproduction on neutrons. Studying neutrons directly is not practical, since there is no way to make a stable target on which to perform an experiment. Instead, nuclear physicists must rely on scattering experiments on light nuclei containing neutrons. Among these, deuterium, a nucleus consisting of one proton and one neutron, is the most straightforward to analyze. Nevertheless, neutrons in deuterium are moving, experience binding effects, and any reaction products can re-interact with the nearby proton. This paper describes a theoretical framework for overcoming these challenges and shows what we’ve learned about photon-induced excitations of the neutron.