No they can't. If it hasn't been tested, how can it be a theory? BTW, theories are never proven. Data accumulates as to whether one can have confidence in a theory or if it should be abandoned.
What are you saying?? You don't think it's been proven that a spaceship can orbit the earth? You don't think that was once a theory???
Buddy....you're proving that you just stayed at Holiday Inn last night.
I'm no scientist but isn't a scientific theory called a "hypothesis"? And by definition, a theory or hypothesis is something that may be proven using scientific methodology?
I thought a scientist formed a hypothesis, then tested it, then possibly came to a conclusion, then presented his findings to other scientists in order to see whether or not the findings were replicable.
If the methodology is correct and the findings are replicable, isn't the theory then promoted from theory to fact, and the scientist then awarded by his peers a Nobel prize and lap dance from a buxom lass named `Treasure Chest'?