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Originally Posted by to_hobbes  I've also wondered about this issue: how does evolution theory qualify as a theory if it can't make predictions and be tested with experimental data.
As far as I know, some natural processes are just impossible to test, so we have to describe the theory using a well-established scientific established framework. |
There are many ways to answer this. We can ask the question "if whales evolved from land mammals, where are the transitional forms and how does their ear change from one that can hear in air to one that works better in water." The answer is ambulocaetus natans and the intermediate forms between that and modern whales. There are many examples of fossils with ear bones that describe this transition.
There are TONS of genetic hypotheses that can be described in terms of evolutionary theory. For example, the fact that chimpanzees have one more chromosome than us followed by the idea that we are descended from them.
In fact, you can look at the chromosomes of chimps and humans and find the exact fusion point of two chimp chromosomes into a single human chromosome. You can do this to within a few dozen base pairs out of billions.
You can look at the divergence of genetic homology between certain conserved molecules in organisms such as membrane ion channels and see how the sequences of similar molecules in multiple organisms are related.
All of these examples are "evidence"...
When asking "why does a chimp have one more chromosome than a human," the testable hypothesis is "the genes are all still there, they probably just re-arranged somehow"... It's very unlikely that an organism would loose an entire part of the genome.. They would most likely not be able to survive if this happened. They'd lose key genes.
So there are many ways that evolution can make testable hypotheses. There are many ways that evidence continues to pile up for the Theory.