What is the power of prediction?

It seems to me that the 'power of prediction' is the ability to try to prove a theory false. While it does not prove a theory true, the fact that new observations match what the theory would need to ahve if it was true strengthens the viablity of the theory. If the information about the new evidence contradicts the expected predictions, then the theory will have to at least be modified.

That, of course, is where the religious concept of a 'prediction' and the scientific concept of a 'prediction' differs.The 'scientific' prediction is that a piece of unknown evidence matches certain characteristics. For example, when Einstein came out with his theory of relativity, he predicted that the gravity of the sun would bend light at a certain percentage. Light always was bent at this, but we did not have the ability to measure it at that time.When a solar eclipse came a few years later, we were able to measure the
bending of the light, and sure enough, the light rays were bent almost exactly to the degree Einstein said it would.It is more like forensics than religious prophecy. A better analogy would be that if a certain person had commited a murder, it is predicted that the DNA of the skin sample found underneath the victims nails would match that of a specific person that would be considered the suspect. If the DNA did not match the suspect, the hypthesis that
the he was the murder who the victim scratched would be falsified. If it matched, the hypothesis would become much much stronger.