Question

At a family reunion, you tell a distantly related cousin that you are studying evolution this semester. Your cousin responds by saying "well, that's all ‘just a theory.'" How do you respond? Is your cousin using the concept of "theory" correctly? What do scientists actually mean when they refer to or formulate a "theory"?

Answer 1

A scientific theory is a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world, based on a body of facts that have been repeatedly confirmed through observation and experiment. Such fact-supported theories are not "guesses" but reliable accounts of the real world.