 Novel Prediction. Another truism is that novel predictions count more. When a theory predicts something we wouldn’t otherwise expect, it’s confirmed especially strongly if the prediction is borne out. For example, Poisson derided the theory that light is a wave because it predicted a bright spot should appear at the center of certain shadows. No one had previously observed such bright spots, making it a novel prediction. When the presence of these bright spots was then verified, it was a boon for the wave theory.