Many of us think of scientists experimenting in a lab during the hypothesis-testing phase, but for scientists studying how the Earth works, their lab is the planet.

In casual parlance, a theory is basically an idea or thought.It probably has no carefully collected data to back it up, let alone any rigorous hypothesis testing or experiments.

In casual parlance, a theory is basically an idea or thought. It probably has no carefully collected data to back it up, let alone any rigorous hypothesis testing or experiments.