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This is a list of fields of endeavor and concepts regarded as pseudoscientific by organizations within the international scientific community, and/or skeptical organizations.

They may have explicitly called a field or concept "pseudoscience" or used synonyms, some of which are identified in the references section below. Also included are important concepts associated with the main entries, and concepts that, while notable, have not elicited commentary from mainstream scientific bodies. Notable parodies of pseudoscientific concepts are also included.

Some subjects in this list may be legitimate fields of research and/or have legitimate scientific research ongoing within them. For instance, while some proposed explanations for hypnosis are pseudoscientific, the phenomenon is generally accepted as real and there are scientific explanations for it as well.

Concepts

The following have broad consensus concerning their pseudoscientific status. Indicative of this are assertions by mainstream, specialized scientific bodies (e.g., a society of plasma physicists) or one or more national- or regional-level Academies of Science.

• Apollo moon landing hoax accusations made by a small number of people claiming that parts of the Apollo program were hoaxed and subsequently covered up. While many of the accusations are best categorized under conspiracy theories, some do attempt to use faulty science to prove that the moon landing couldn't have happened, qualifying them as pseudoscience.
• Applied kinesiology is a pseudoscientific means of medical diagnosis, proponents believe can give feedback on a patients health. The most common method, called the arm pull-down test, involves the patient lying down and holding up their dominant arm while the practitioner pushes against it.
• Astrology refers to any of several systems of understanding, interpreting and organizing knowledge about reality and human existence, based on the relative positions and movement of various real and construed celestial bodies.
  • Planetary alignments are events where two or more planets and the Sun and Moon line up from the perspective of Earth. Much of astrology has been developed around such alignments.
  • Sun signs are astrological signs that are determined by the location of the Sun at a particular moment in time such as an individual's birth.
  • Western Astrology uses a zodiac that is not aligned with the visible zodiac, based on the constellations, like the ancient Vedic astrology does.
• Creation science is the belief that the origin of everything in the universe is the result of a first cause, brought about by a creator deity, and that this thesis is supported by geological, biological, and other scientific evidence.
  • Biblical scientific foreknowledge asserts that the Bible makes accurate statements about the world that science verifies thousands of years later.
  • Creation biology is the subset of creation science that tries to explain biology without evolution.
  • Creationist cosmologies are ones which, among other things, allow for a universe that is only thousands of years old.
  • Flood geology is the creationist form of geology that advocates most of the geologic features on Earth are explainable by a global flood.
  • Modern geocentrism, citing uniform gamma ray bursts distribution, and other arguments of this type, as evidence that we are at the center of the universe.
  • Intelligent design is a version of creation science stated in secular terms, viz. that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection."
    • Irreducible complexity is the claim that some systems are so complex that they cannot have evolved from simpler systems. It is used by proponents of intelligent design to argue that evolution by natural selection alone is incomplete or flawed, and that some additional mechanism (an "Intelligent Designer") is required to explain the origins of life.
    • Specified complexity is the claim that when something is simultaneously complex and specified, one can infer that it was produced by an intelligent cause (i.e., that it was designed) rather than being the result of natural processes.
• Crop circles are geometric designs of crushed or knocked-over crops created in a field. Aside from skilled farmers or pranksters working through the night, explanations for their formation include UFOs and anomalous, tornado-like air currents. The study of crop circles is termed "cerealogy" by proponents.
• Crystal healing is the belief that crystals have healing properties. Once common among pre-scientific and indigenous peoples, it has recently enjoyed a resurgence in popularity with the new age movement.
• The Face on Mars (in Cydonia Mensae) is a rock formation on Mars asserted to be evidence of intelligent, native life on the planet. High resolution images taken recently show it to appear less face-like. It features prominently in the pseudoscientific theories of Richard C. Hoagland.
• Erich Von Daniken's proposal of ancient astronauts.
• Dianetics is L. Ron Hubbard's pseudoscience that purports to treat a theoretical Reactive mind by means of an E-meter, a device which Hubbard was later legally forced to admit "does nothing".
• Dogon people and Sirius B a series of claims that the Dogon tribe knew about the white dwarf companion of Sirius despite it being invisible to the naked eye.
• Lunar effect is the belief that the full moon influences human behavior.
• Homeopathy is the belief in giving a patient with symptoms of an illness extremely small doses of substances that produce the same illness symptoms in healthy people when given in larger doses.
• Paranormal subjects
  • Channeling is the communication of information to or through a person allegedly from a spirit or other paranormal entity.
  • Dowsing refers to practices said to enable one to detect hidden water, metals, gemstones or other objects.
  • Electronic voice phenomenon is the alleged communication by spirits through tape recorders and other electronic devices.
  • Extra-sensory perception is the paranormal ability (independent of the five main senses or deduction from previous experience) to acquire information by means such as telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, psychic abilities, and remote viewing.
  • Levitation, in this sense, is the act of rising up from the ground without any physical aids, usually by the power of thought.
  • Materialization is the supposed creation or appearance of matter from unknown sources.
  • Psychic surgery is a type of medical fraud, popular in Brazil and the Philippines. Practitioners use sleight of hand to make it appear as though they are reaching into a patients body and extracting "tumours".
  • Séances are ritualized attempts to communicate with the dead.
  • Psychokinesis is the paranormal ability of the mind to influence matter or energy at a distance.
  • Spiritualism is a religious movement which holds the belief that communication with the dead can occur through the powers of individuals called mediums.
  • Therapeutic touch is a form of vitalism where one passes one's hands over and around the body of a sick person so as to treat his/her illness.
• Perpetual motion is a class of proposed machines that violate one of the Laws of Thermodynamics. Perpetual motion has been recognized as extrascientific since the late 18th century, but proposals and patents for such devices continue to be made to the present day.
  • Free energy is a particular class of perpetual motion which purports to create energy (violating the first law of thermodynamics) or extract useful work from equilibrium systems (violating the second law of thermodynamics). Of particular note are proposals involving the extraction of zero point energy, a real energy found in quantum mechanics that cannot be used to do work.
• Ufology is the study of unidentified flying objects (UFO) and frequently includes the belief that UFOs are evidence for extraterrestrial visitors.
  • Close encounters are events where persons witness UFOs, or purportedly meet and/or communicate with alien beings.
• Immanuel Velikovsky's proposals that ancient texts refer to the collision of astronomical bodies as in Worlds in Collision.

Topics considered pseudoscientific by skeptical groups

The following are subjects regarded as pseudoscientific by notable skeptical bodies such as the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (formerly CSICOP). Some of these items are not considered pseudoscientific by these groups in and of themselves: only certain aspects, explanations, and/or applications of them have been thus classified. (See an item's description text for more information on this.)

Earth and Earth sciences

• The Bermuda Triangle is a region of the Atlantic Ocean that lies between Bermuda, Puerto Rico, and (in its most popular version) Florida. Frequent disappearances and ship and aircraft disasters in this area have led to the circulation of stories of unusual natural phenomona, paranormal encounters, and interactions with extraterrestrial.

Paranormal and Ufo-Science

• Out-of-body experiences are experiences where a person seems to see the world from a location outside of the physical body. Qua experience, OBEs are real and theory-neutral, but some explanations invoke the paranormal.
• Pseudoarcheology is the investigation of the ancient past using alleged paranormal or otherwise means which have not been validated by mainstream science.
• Ancient astronauts are extraterrestrials said to have initiated the rise of human civilization.
• Animal mutilations are cases of animals, primarily domestic livestock, with seemingly unexplainable wounds. These wounds have been said to be caused by natural predation, extra terrestrials, cults, or covert government organizations.
• Tutankhamun's curse was allegedly placed on the discoverers of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun, causing widespread deaths and other disastrous events.
• Tunguska event is an anomalous meteor strike said to actually be the impact of a miniature black hole or a large body composed of antimatter, or Ball lightning.

Philosophy and psychology

• Handwriting analysis/graphology is the practice of gleaning information about a person's personality through examination of his or her handwriting.
• Multiple personality disorder, also called dissociative identity disorder, is a mental condition that is characterized by the presence of two or more distinct personalities. The post-traumatic model of this disorder has been the target of numerous scientific critics but is still popular among many psychotherapists. The disorder itself is still included as a classification in the DSM-IV and ICD-10.
• Phrenology was the first theory to be characterized as pseudoscience in 1843. Phrenologists believed that the mind was compartmentalized, an idea featured in modern neuro-imaging technique (see also modularity of mind or faculty psychology). Phrenologists also claimed to determine character and personality traits on the basis of the shape of the head (reading "bumps").
• Subliminal perception is visual or auditory information that is discerned below the threshold of conscious awareness and has an affect on human behavior. It went into disrepute in the late 1970s but there has been renewed research interest recently.

Health and Medicine

• Anthroposophic medicine is a complementary medicine founded in the 1920s by Rudolf Steiner in conjunction with Dr. Ita Wegman. Adherents believe in a holistic and salutogenic approach to health. Skeptic Robert Carroll asserts the underlying thinking can be explained by sympathetic magic out of touch with conventional medicine. No thorough scientific analysis of anthroposophical medicine generally has been undertaken; studies of individual medicines have shown a range of positive and negative results.
• Attachment therapy is a psychotherapeutic treatment for aggressive, disobedient, and/or unaffectionate children. A minor version (relative to most other attachment therapies) involves the child being physically restrained by adults who then attempt to maintain prolonged eye contact. Perhaps the most extreme is "rebirthing," in which the child is wrapped tightly in a blanket and then made to simulate emergence from a birth canal. This is done by encouraging the child to struggle and pushing and squeezing him/her to mimic contractions.
• The Bates method or natural vision improvement is a collection of exercises and techniques intended to improve vision "naturally" to the point at which it can allegedly eliminate the need for glasses. It is viewed with skepticism by ophthalmologists and optometrists. It has been shown to be ineffective and Bates' theories about vision have been repeatedly discredited.
• Faith healing is the act of curing disease by such means as prayer and laying on of hands.
• Hypnosis is an extremely relaxed state in which a person is unusually responsive to suggestions made by the hypnotist. While hypnosis in some sense is almost universally regarded as real, explanations of the phenomenon invoking anything more than just an especially cooperative subject have far less scientific support. In addition, certain applications of hypnosis in psychotherapy, such as smoking cessation and self-esteem improvement, also lack empirical support. Evidence in support of hypnosis comes from hypnotic suggestion studies, neuroscientific data (eg. EEG), and from patients who have received surgery under hypnosis.
• Magnetic therapy is the practice of using magnetic fields to positively influence one's health.
• Scientific racism is the claim that scientific evidence shows the inferiority or superiority of certain races.

Mysticism, religion and belief

Mystical and religious practices and beliefs are normally not classified as pseudoscience. At least one prominent skeptical source describes the following as pseudoscientific, however:

• Anthroposophy: a philosophy which holds that the spirit world can be scientifically investigated through systematic analysis of inner experience.
• Feng shui is the ancient Chinese practice of placement and arrangement of space to achieve harmony with the environment and improve health and fortune.
• Meditation is the practice of quieting and calming the mind, often as a religious practice, to produce transcendental experiences. While there is experimental data showing positive and interesting effects of meditation, most traditional explanations of the associated experiences and benefits are of a pre-scientific nature.
• Neoshamanism is a combination of shamanistic, new-age spiritual, and other philosophies which include belief in spirits, meditation and sometimes the use of entheogens.
• Reincarnation is the belief that souls inhabit a succession of physical bodies over the course of their existence. It is not usually believed that memories survive reincarnation, but some people have claimed to have remembered past lives, which can be scientifically studied.
• Shroud of Turin is a length of linen cloth believed by some members of the Christian community to have been Jesus' death shroud.

Other

• Laundry balls are spherical or toroidal objects marketed as soap substitutes for washing machines.
• Quantum mysticism is a variety of claims which borrow terms or ideas from Quantum mechanics to support New Age and pseudoscientific beliefs.
• Stock market prediction mostly involves a large range of technical analysis techniques that are of dubious scientific legitimacy.
• Synchronicity is a phenomenon described by psychologist Carl Jung as "temporally coincident occurrences of acausal events." The inability to test for it has marginalized its scientific importance.

Parody pseudoscience

The following are notable parodies of other pseudosciences and pseudoscientific concepts, or scientific jokes posing as serious theories.

• Bob Dobbs is the figurehead of the Church of the SubGenius, arguably an elaborate joke and postmodern mockery of organized religion.
• Invisible Pink Unicorn is the goddess of a satiric parody religion aimed at theistic beliefs, which takes the form of a unicorn that is paradoxically both invisible and pink.
• Flying Spaghetti Monster is the deity of a parody religion founded by Oregon State University physics graduate Bobby Henderson. He created it in response to the 2005 evolution controversy sparked by Kansas's State Board of Education.
• Intelligent falling is a parody of intelligent design which attacks gravitation in the same way intelligent design attacks origin theories.
• Russell's teapot is a parody theory that there is a china teapot revolving about the sun that is too small to be noticed by telescopes.

Idiosyncratic theories

The following theories have only a very small number of proponents, yet have become notable.

• Time Cube is a proposed theory of everything which holds that time is cubic. Its creator, Gene Ray, finds those who are ignorant of his theory to be "stupid and evil."

Disputed subjects sometimes classified as pseudoscience

• Biorhythms is a hypothesis which holds that there are identifiable periodic cycles of human physiology and behavior that govern physical, emotional, and intellectual well-being.

Unusual natural phenomena

Certain unusual natural phenomena have been considered pseudoscientific by skeptics because the evidence supporting their existence is purely anecdotal. These phenomena, which are not doubted by modern science, include:

• Meteorites are stones or iron that fall from space onto the surface of the Earth. This was contested by skeptical scientists in the 18th century, especially those of the French Academy. Ernst Chladni demonstrated their celestial origin in 1794, and a substantial fall of meteorites in France in 1803 dispersed the skepticism.
• Ball lightning is a slow-moving, luminous sphere which is up to 30cm in diameter, explanations for which have ranged from combusted hydrocarbon gas to "Will o' the wisp" creatures. The phenomenon is now better understood and contemporary scientific consensus clearly accepts the existence of a phenomenon which mimics some reports of ball lightning, but is on a much smaller scale.

See also

• Anomalous phenomenon
• Crank (referencing a disagreeable person)
• Falsification
• List of minority-opinion scientific theories
• List of protosciences
• Occam's razor
• Paradigm
• Paradigm shift
• Pathological science
• Philosophy of science
• Protoscience
• Pseudoscience
• Pseudoskepticism
• Pseudophilosophy
• Science
• Scientific consensus (describes the majority views of scientists)
• Superseded scientific theory

Further reading

• Abell, George O. and Barry Singer, Science and the Paranormal: Probing the Existence of the Supernatural, Charles Scribner's, 1981, ISBN 0-684-17820-6
• Collins, Paul S. (2002) Banvard's Folly: Thirteen Tales of People Who Didn't Change the World. Picador. ISBN 0-312-30033-6
• Gardner, Martin, Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science
• Gardner, Martin, Science, Good, Bad, and Bogus
• Randi, James, Flim-Flam: Psychics, ESP, Unicorns and other Delusions, Prometheus, 1982, ISBN 0-87975-198-3
• Sagan, Carl, The Demon-Haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark. Ballantine Books, March 1997 ISBN 0-345-40946-9, 480 pgs. 1996 hardback edition: Random House, ISBN 0-394-53512-X, xv+457 pages plus addenda insert (some printings).
• Schick, Theodore and Lewis Vaughn. (1998) How to Think About Weird Things: Critical Thinking for a New Age. Mayfield. ISBN 0-7674-0013-5
• Shermer, Michael. (2002) Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time. Owl Books. ISBN 0-8050-7089-3

Notes and references

1. ^ article on the website of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.
2. Kimball C Atwood, IV, MD. Naturopathy, Pseudoscience, and Medicine: Myths and Fallacies vs Truth, MedGenMed. 2004 Jan–March; 6(1): 33.
3. Carroll, Robert Todd. "Applied Kinesiology". The Skeptics Dictionary. Retrieved 2007-07-26.
4. ^ statement from the California Academy of Sciences.
5. ^ statement from the Iowa Academy of Science.
6. ^ statement from the Russian Academy of Sciences.
7. ^ statement from the International Council for Science.
8. "Our strategy has been to change the subject a bit so that we can get the issue of Intelligent Design, which really means the reality of God, before the academic world and into the schools." Johnson 2004. Christianity.ca. Let's Be Intelligent About Darwin.
9. Discovery Institute, Center for Science and Culture. Questions about Intelligent Design: What is the theory of intelligent design? "The theory of intelligent design holds that certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection." Questions About Intelligent Design
10. "They call it cerealogy", CNN.com
11. Campion, Edward (1993). "Why Unconventional Medicine". New England Journal of Medicine.
12. Carroll, Robert Todd. "crystal power". The Skeptic's Dictionary. Retrieved 2007-07-28.
13. Stephen S. Carey. A Beginner's Guide to Scientific Method. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing. ISBN 0-534-58450-0.
14. Christopher Riche Evans (1974). Cults of Unreason. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 0-374-13324-7. Chapter 6.
15. Russell Miller. Bare-faced messiah: The true story of L. Ron Hubbard. Key Porter.
16. Dr. Peter Banys in the SF Chronicle
17. defined as pseudoscience at Skeptic's Dictionary
18. "Dianetics, that unholy alliance of psychoanalysis and cybernetics, rates a special chapter." - Some Comments on Popular-Science Books, John Pfeiffer, Science (New Series), Vol. 117, No. 3042 (Apr., 1953), pp. 399-403, referencing Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science by Martin Gardner
19. National Science Board Subcommittee on Science & Engineering Indicators (2000). "Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Public Understanding Science Fiction and Pseudoscience". National Science Foundation. Retrieved 2007-07-13.
20. "NCAHF Position Paper on Homeopathy". National Council Against Health Fraud. 1994. Retrieved 2007-07-14.
21. ^ Beyerstein, BL (1997). "Distinguishing Science from Pseudoscience" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-07-14.
23. Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Public Understanding - Science Fiction and Pseudoscience
24. ^ Scientific American
25. http://parapsych.org/glossary_e_k.html#e Parapsychological Association website, Glossary of Key Words Frequently Used in Parapsychology, Retrieved January 24, 2006
26. Alcock, James E. "Electronic Voice Phenomena:Voices of the Dead?". Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Retrieved 2007-03-08. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
27. ^ Carroll, Robert Todd, The Skeptic's Dictionary 2003, Wiley Publishing Company, ISBN 0471272426
28. Shermer, Michael (2005). "Turn Me On, Dead Man". Scientific American. Retrieved 2007-02-28. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
29. Terrence Hines, Pseudoscience and the Paranormal: A Critical Examination of the Evidence, Prometheus Books, Buffalo, NY, 1988. ISBN 0-87975-419-2.Thagard (1978) op cit 223 ff
30. Parapsychological Association website, Glossary of Key Words Frequently Used in Parapsychology, Retrieved December 24, 2006
31. "extrasensory perception" Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.
32. NAI Team Pages / SETI Institute / EPO Reports 2005 (7/04-6/05)
33. Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Public Understanding - Science Fiction and Pseudoscience
34. Randi, James (1989). The Faith Healers. Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975-535-0.
35. David Vernon in Skeptical - a Handbook of Pseudoscience and the Paranormal, ed Donald Laycock, David Vernon, Colin Groves, Simon Brown, Imagecraft, Canberra, 1989, ISBN 0731657942, p47
36. ""Psychic surgery" -- 40 (3): 184 -- CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians". Retrieved 2007-07-28.
37. Carroll, Robert Todd. "Psychic Surgery". The Skeptic's Dictionary. Retrieved 2007-07-28.
38. "Psychic surgeon charged". The Filipino Reporter. June 17–23, 2005. Retrieved 2007-07-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
39. ^ entry in The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience.
40. http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind02/c7/c7s5.htm US National Science Foundation Survey,Surveys administered periodically even show increasing belief in pseudoscience...belief in four of the phenomena, haunted houses, ghosts, communication with the dead, and witches, had double-digit percentage point increases.
41. Loftus, Elizabeth & Katherine Ketcham (1996). The Myth of Repressed Memory: False Memories and Allegations of Sexual Abuse. St. Martin's Griffin; 1st St. Martin's Griffin Ed edition. ISBN 0-312-14123-8 Amazon.com
42. Spanos, Nicholas P. (2001). Multiple Identities & False Memories: A Sociocognitive Perspective. American Psychological Association (APA). ISBN 1-55798-893-5 Amazon.com
43. Magendie, F (1843) An Elementary Treatise on Human Physiology. 5th Ed. Tr. John Revere. New York: Harper, p 150. Magendie refers to phrenology as "a pseudo-science of the present day" (note the hyphen).
44. Fodor, JA. (1983) The Modularity of Mind. MIT Press. p.14, 23, 131
45. "Urban Legends Reference Pages: Business (Subliminal Advertising)". The Urban Legends Reference Pages. Retrieved 2006-08-11.
46. For example, processing of happy and sad faces affecting the desirability of subsequent stimulus (Westen, 2006 p.184-185).
47. ^ Westen et al. 2006 "Psychology: Austraian and New Zealand edition" John Wiley.
48. von Rohr et al., [http://www.smw.ch/docs/pdf/2000_34/2000-34-245.PDF "Experiences in the realisation of a research project on anthroposophical medicine in patients with advanced cancer"], Schweiz Med Wochenschr 2000;130:1173–84
49. Ernst, Edzard, "Anthroposophical Medicine: A systematic review of randomised clinical trials." Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift, ISSN 0043-5325, 2004, vol. 116, no4, pp. 128-130
50. Rawstron JA, Burley CD, Elder MJ (2005). "A systematic review of the applicability and efficacy of eye exercises". J Pediatr Ophthalmol Strabismus. 42 (2): 82–8.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
51. Robyn E. Bradley (September 23, 2003). "ADVOCATES SEE ONLY BENEFITS FROM EYE EXERCISES" (PDF). The Boston Globe (MA).
52. Marg, E. (1952). ""Flashes" of clear vision and negative accommodation with reference to the Bates Method of visual training". Am J Opt Arch Am Ac Opt. 29 (4): 167–84.
53. Stephen Jay Gould, The Mismeasure of Man. W.W. Norton & Co., 1981
54. Carl Sagan, "Does Truth Matter? Science, Pseudoscience, and Civilization", Skeptical Inquirer, 1996
55. Ray, Gene. Time Cube. 12 Mar. 2007
56. William F. Williams, Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience, ISBN 0-8160-5080-5, p. 215
57. NIH discussion
58. New Scientist
59. Abrahamson J, Dinniss J., "Ball lightning caused by oxidation of nanoparticle networks from normal lightning strikes on soil", Nature. 2000 Feb 3;403(6769):519-21.

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