Role of Conjecture in Investigation

The following passage has implications for investigation in legal settings:

"The mark of a good theory is that it makes unexpected predictions that can be put to the test. If the predictions are incorrect you throw out the theory. Supersymmetry, for example – one of the current proposals for how to go beyond the physics of the Standard Model – is beginning to look shaky because we aren't seeing what the theory predicts we should see. It is interesting that, if Weinstein is correct, you would be hard-pushed to stumble on this stuff in the huge slew of data being generated by the LHC. You'd never find this from going from data to theory. Theory is needed to tell you where to look." (Marcus du Sautoy, Eric Weinstein may have found the answer to physics' biggest problems, The Guardian (May 23, 2013).)

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