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That's simply not true. Once you have a hypothesis, you do not come up with a promise. You come up with a test.

Promise and Promising do not have the same meaning.

promise = statement that something will happen

promising = showing signs of future success

You do both. You come up with a test, yes, and you come up with an idea of what it will mean if the test either confirms or rejects the hypothesis.

And no, promise can mean exactly what I said it can mean. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/promise

From the article:

> To justify substantial investments, I am told, an experiment needs a clear goal and at least a promise of breakthrough discoveries

That sentence is meaningless if "promise" means "A declaration or assurance that one will do something or that a particular thing will happen" -- the "at least" is totally redundant in that interpretation. If it means "the quality of potential excellence", then "at least" makes perfect sense.

If it was "promise" in the sense of "showing promise", then it's a mass noun and they wouldn't have said "a promise". That's like saying "a money" or "a knowledge".

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