hypothesis, hypothesize, posit, assume - 假设，假想

In their hypothesis, there are several "master" genes whose function is critical for a cell to reproduce correctly.

With this new understanding of mass strandings, scientists hypothesize that whaling may cause similar confusion -- and harm.

On the assumption that we can produce four pages an hour, the work will be finished tomorrow.

A potential explanation is the swamping gene flow hypothesis, which posits that asymmetrical gene flow from the  large, well-adapted central populations prevents marginal populations from locally adapting.