Revision as of 05:20, 3 January 2009 view source67.49.123.119 (talk) seems likely that consensus to add should come first, no?← Previous edit | Revision as of 05:31, 3 January 2009 view source QuackGuru (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users79,978 edits This text is sourced and is very similar to consensus text at chiropractic. See Talk:List of pseudosciences and pseudoscientific concepts#chiropractic.Next edit → | ||
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|quote=Paul Dennison, a Californian educator who created the programme, admitted that many claims in his teacher’s guide were based on his 'hunches' and were not proper science.}}</ref> | |quote=Paul Dennison, a Californian educator who created the programme, admitted that many claims in his teacher’s guide were based on his 'hunches' and were not proper science.}}</ref> | ||
*''']''' did not have serious research to test chiropractic theories for most of its existence, and was hampered by ] and ] ideas that sustained the profession in its long battle with mainstream medicine.<ref>{{cite web |title= Chiropractic history: a primer |author= Keating JC Jr, Cleveland CS III, Menke M |url=http://data.memberclicks.com/site/ahc/ChiroHistoryPrimer.pdf |format=PDF |date=2005 |accessdate=2008-06-16 |publisher= Association for the History of Chiropractic}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author= Keating JC Jr |journal= ] |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=37–43 |title= Chiropractic: science and antiscience and pseudoscience side by side |date=1997}}</ref> | |||
*''']''' (EHS) is a reported sensitivity to ] and ]s or ] of various frequencies at exposure levels well below established safety standards. Symptoms are inconsistent, but can include headache, fatigue, difficulty sleeping, and similar non-specific indications.<ref name=rooslietal2004>{{cite journal | last = Roosli | first = Martin | coauthors = M Moser, Y Baldinini, M Meier, C Braun-Fahrlander | title = Symptoms of ill health ascribed to electromagnetic field exposure--a questionnaire survey | journal = Int J Hyg Environ Health | volume = 207 | issue = 2 | pages = 141–50 | month = February | year = 2004 | url = http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15031956 | doi = 10.1078/1438-4639-00269}}</ref> Provocation studies find that the discomfort of sufferers is unrelated to hidden sources of radiation,<ref name=rubinetal2005>{{cite journal | last = Rubin | first = G James | authorlink = | coauthors = Jayati Das Munshi, Simon Wessely | title = Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity: A Systematic Review of Provocation Studies | journal = Psychosomatic Medicine | volume = 67 | pages = 224–232 | year = 2005 | doi = 10.1097/01.psy.0000155664.13300.64 | accessdate = | pmid = 15784787 }}</ref><ref name='BadScience EMF woo'> {{cite web|url=http://www.badscience.net/2007/06/electrosensitives-the-new-cash-cow-of-the-woo-industry/ |title=Electrosensitives: the new cash cow of the woo industry |accessdate=2007-11-17 |last=Goldacre |first=Ben }}</ref> and "no scientific basis currently exists for a connection between EHS and exposure to ."<ref name='WHO EMF'> {{cite web|url=http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs296/en/index.html |title=Electromagnetic fields and public health |accessdate=2007-11-17 }}</ref> | *''']''' (EHS) is a reported sensitivity to ] and ]s or ] of various frequencies at exposure levels well below established safety standards. Symptoms are inconsistent, but can include headache, fatigue, difficulty sleeping, and similar non-specific indications.<ref name=rooslietal2004>{{cite journal | last = Roosli | first = Martin | coauthors = M Moser, Y Baldinini, M Meier, C Braun-Fahrlander | title = Symptoms of ill health ascribed to electromagnetic field exposure--a questionnaire survey | journal = Int J Hyg Environ Health | volume = 207 | issue = 2 | pages = 141–50 | month = February | year = 2004 | url = http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15031956 | doi = 10.1078/1438-4639-00269}}</ref> Provocation studies find that the discomfort of sufferers is unrelated to hidden sources of radiation,<ref name=rubinetal2005>{{cite journal | last = Rubin | first = G James | authorlink = | coauthors = Jayati Das Munshi, Simon Wessely | title = Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity: A Systematic Review of Provocation Studies | journal = Psychosomatic Medicine | volume = 67 | pages = 224–232 | year = 2005 | doi = 10.1097/01.psy.0000155664.13300.64 | accessdate = | pmid = 15784787 }}</ref><ref name='BadScience EMF woo'> {{cite web|url=http://www.badscience.net/2007/06/electrosensitives-the-new-cash-cow-of-the-woo-industry/ |title=Electrosensitives: the new cash cow of the woo industry |accessdate=2007-11-17 |last=Goldacre |first=Ben }}</ref> and "no scientific basis currently exists for a connection between EHS and exposure to ."<ref name='WHO EMF'> {{cite web|url=http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs296/en/index.html |title=Electromagnetic fields and public health |accessdate=2007-11-17 }}</ref> |
Revision as of 05:31, 3 January 2009
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This is a list of fields of endeavor and concepts regarded as pseudoscientific by organizations within the international scientific community, by notable skeptical organizations, or researchers. The existence of such expressed opinions suffices for inclusion in this list, and inclusion on this list does not necessarily indicate consensus for every entry.
Critics may have explicitly described a field or concept as "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 and self-evidently pseudoscientific, have not elicited commentary from mainstream scientific bodies or skeptical organizations. Notable parodies of pseudoscientific concepts are also included.
Some subjects in this list may be questioned aspects of otherwise legitimate fields of research, or have legitimate ongoing scientific research associated with them. For instance, while some proposed explanations for hypnosis have been criticized for being pseudoscientific, the phenomenon is generally accepted as real and scientific explanations exist.
Pseudoscientific concepts per scientific consensus
See also: Scientific consensusThe 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Dianetics is L. Ron Hubbard's pseudoscience that purports to treat a hypothetical 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.
- Erich Von Däniken proposed that Earth was visited by ancient astronauts.
- 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 speculations of Richard C. Hoagland.
- Homeopathy is the belief in giving a patient with symptoms of an illness extremely dilute solutions of substances that produce those same symptoms in healthy people given larger doses. These preparations are often diluted beyond the point where any treatment molecule is likely to remain. Studies of homeopathic practice have been largely negative or inconclusive. No scientific basis for homeopathic principles has been substantiated.
- Immanuel Velikovsky proposed that ancient texts refer to the collision of astronomical bodies as in Worlds in Collision.
- Lunar effect is the belief that the full moon influences human behavior.
- Melanin Theory is a belief founded in the distortion of known physical properties of melanin, a natural polymer, that posits the inherent superiority of Black people and the essential inhumanity and an inferiority of Whites.
- 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.
- Therapeutic touch is a form of vitalism where a practitioner, who may be also a nurse, passes his or her hands over and around a patient to "realign" or "rebalance" a putative energy field. A recent Cochrane Review concluded that "here is no evidence that promotes healing of acute wounds." No biophysical basis for such an energy field has been found.
- 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.
- Water-fuelled cars are an instance of perpetual motion machines. Such devices are claimed to use water as fuel or produce fuel from water onboard with no other energy input.
- Quantum mysticism builds on a superficial similarity between certain New Age concepts and such seemingly counter-intuitive quantum mechanical concepts as the uncertainty principle, entanglement, and wave–particle duality, while generally ignoring the limitations imposed by quantum decoherence. One of the most abused ideas is Bell's theorem, which proves the nonexistence of local hidden variables in quantum mechanics. Despite this, Bell himself resisted mystical interpretations of the theory.
- 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.
Topics which skeptical groups or researchers consider to be pseudoscientific
The following are subjects closely related to pseudoscience 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 Ufology
- Pseudoarchaeology 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 or provided significant technological assistance to various ancient civilizations.
- 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
- Graphology is a purported psychological test based on a belief that personality traits unconsciously and consistently influence handwriting morphology - that certain types of people exhibit certain quirks of the pen. Analysis of handwriting attributes provides no better than chance correspondence with personality, and neuroscientist Barry Beyerstein likened the assigned correlations to sympathetic magic. Graphology is only superficially related to forensic document examination, which also examines handwriting.
- Phrenology is a defunct theory for determining personality traits by feeling bumps on the skull proposed by 18th century physiologist Franz Joseph Gall. In an early recorded use of the term "pseudo-science", François Magendie referred to phrenology as "a pseudo-science of the present day". The assumption that personality can be read from bumps in the skull has since been thoroughly discredited. However, Gall's assumption that character, thoughts, and emotions are located in the brain is considered an important historical advance toward neuropsychology (see also localization of brain function, Brodmann's areas, neuro-imaging, modularity of mind or faculty psychology).
- Primal therapy is sometimes presented as a science. The Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology (2001) states that: "The theoretical basis for the therapy is the supposition that prenatal experiences and birth trauma form people's primary impressions of life and that they subsequently influence the direction our lives take... Truth be known, primal therapy cannot be defended on scientifically established principles. This is not surprising considering its questionable theoretical rationale.". Other sources have also questioned the scientific validity of primal therapy, some using the term "pseudoscience" (see Criticism of Primal Therapy).
- Subliminal perception is visual or auditory information that is discerned below the threshold of conscious awareness and has an effect on human behavior. It went into disrepute in the late 1970s but there has been renewed research interest recently.
Health and Medicine
- Anthroposophic medicine, or Anthroposophically extended medicine, is a school of complementary medicine founded in the 1920s by Rudolf Steiner in conjunction with Ita Wegman based on the spiritual philosophy of anthroposophy. It is an individualized holistic and salutogenic approach to health, deemphasizing randomized controlled trials. Medications are formulated to stimulate healing by matching "key dynamic forces" with symptoms, and are prepared for external, oral, or parenteral introduction in various dilutions ranging from whole to homeopathic. The use of vaccinations, antibiotics, and antipyretics is generally restricted or delayed. Skeptic Robert Carroll likens to sympathetic magic the principle that curative plants may be identified by distortions or abnormalities in their morphology or physiology. Carroll and others state that the system is not based in science. No thorough scientific analysis of the efficacy of anthroposophical medicine as a system independent of its philosophical underpinnings has been undertaken; no evidence-based conclusion of the overall efficacy of the system can be made at this time.
- Applied kinesiology is a means of medical diagnosis which proponents believe can identify health problems or nutritional deficiencies through practitioner assessment of external physical qualities such as muscle response, posture, or motion analysis. A variety of therapies are prescribed based on tested weakness or smoothness of muscle action and a conjectured viscerosomatic association between particular muscles and organs. The sole use of Applied Kinesiology to diagnose or treat any allergy or illness is not scientifically supported, and the International College of Applied Kinesiology requires concurrent use of standard diagnostic techniques. Applied kinesiologists are often chiropractors, but may also be naturopaths, physicians, dentists, nutritionists, physical therapists, massage therapists, and nurses. Applied Kinesiology should not be confused with kinesiology, the scientific study of human movement.
- Attachment therapy is a set of potentially fatal clinical interventions and parenting techniques aimed at controlling aggressive, disobedient, or unaffectionate children using "restraint and physical and psychological abuse to seek their desired results." Probably the most common form is holding therapy in which the child is restrained by adults for the purpose of supposed cathartic release of suppressed rage and regression. Perhaps the most extreme, but much less common, 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. Despite its name it is not based on attachment theory or research. In 2006 it was the subject of an almost entirely critical Taskforce Report commissioned by the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC).
- The Bates method for better eyesight is an educational method developed by ophthalmologist William Bates intended to improve vision "naturally" to the point at which it can allegedly eliminate the need for glasses by undoing a habitual strain to see. In 1929 Bates was cited by the FTC for false or misleading advertising in connection with his book describing the method, Perfect Sight Without Glasses, though the complaint was later dismissed. Although some people claim to have improved their eyesight by following his principles, Bates' ideas about vision and accommodation have been rejected by mainstream ophthalmology and optometry.
- Biorhythms – a hypothesis holding that human physiology and behavior are governed by physical, emotional, and intellectual cycles lasting 23, 28, and 33 days, respectively; not to be confused with Chronobiology, the scientific study of biological rhythms. The system posits that, for instance, errors in judgment are more probable on days when an individual's intellectual cycle, as determined by days since birth, is near a minimum. No biophysical mechanism of action has been discovered, and the predictive power of biorhythms charts is no better than chance. For the scientific study of biological cycles such as circadian rhythms, see chronobiology.
- Brain Gym – a commercial training program that claims that any learning challenges can be overcome by finding the right movements, to subsequently create new pathways in the brain. They claim that the repetition of the 26 Brain Gym movements "activates the brain for optimal storage and retrieval of information", and are designed to "integrate body and mind" in order to improve "concentration, memory, reading, writing, organizing, listening, physical coordination, and more." Its theoretical foundation has been thoroughly discredited by the scientific community, who describe it as pseudoscience. Peer reviewed scientific studies into Brain Gym have found no significant improvement in general academic skills. Its claimed results have been put down to the placebo effect and the benefits of breaks and exercise. Its founder, Paul Dennison, has admitted that many of Brain Gym's claims are not based good science, but on his "hunches".
- Chiropractic did not have serious research to test chiropractic theories for most of its existence, and was hampered by antiscientific and pseudoscientific ideas that sustained the profession in its long battle with mainstream medicine.
- Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (EHS) is a reported sensitivity to electric and magnetic fields or electromagnetic radiation of various frequencies at exposure levels well below established safety standards. Symptoms are inconsistent, but can include headache, fatigue, difficulty sleeping, and similar non-specific indications. Provocation studies find that the discomfort of sufferers is unrelated to hidden sources of radiation, and "no scientific basis currently exists for a connection between EHS and exposure to ."
- Faith healing is the act of curing disease by such means as prayer and laying on of hands. No material benefit in excess of that expected by placebo is observed.
- Hypnosis is a state of extreme relaxation and inner focus in which a person is unusually responsive to suggestions made by the hypnotist. The modern practice has its roots in the idea of animal magnetism, or mesmerism, originated by Franz Mesmer. Though Mesmer's explanations were thoroughly discredited, hypnosis itself is today almost universally regarded as real. It is clinically useful for e.g. pain management, but some claimed uses of hypnosis outside of hypnotherapy clearly fall within the area of pseudoscience. Such areas include the use of hypnotic regression beyond plausible limits, including past life regression. Also see false memory syndrome.
- Iridology is a means of medical diagnosis which proponents believe can identify and diagnose health problems through close examination of the markings and patterns of the iris. Practitioners divide the iris into 80-90 zones, each of which is connected to a particular body region or organ. This connection has not been scientifically validated, and disorder detection is neither selective nor specific. Because iris texture is a phenotypical feature which develops during gestation and remains unchanged after birth (which makes the iris useful for Biometrics), Iridology is all but impossible.
- Magnet therapy is the practice of using static magnetic fields to influence health. While there are legitimate medical uses for magnets and magnetic fields, the field strength used in magnet therapy is too low to effect any biological change, and the methods used have no scientific validity.
- Maharishi's Ayurveda. Traditional Ayurveda is a 5,000 year old alternative medical practice with roots in ancient India based on a mind-body set of beliefs. Imbalance or stress in an individual’s consciousness is believed to be the reason of diseases. Patients are classified by body types (three doshas, which are considered to control mind-body harmony, determine an individual’s "body type"); and treatment is aimed at restoring balance to the mind-body system. It has long been the main traditional system of health care in India, and it has become institutionalized in India's colleges and schools. Although it superficially adheres to modern institutions, the institutional practitioners are haunted by Ayurvedic vaidyas, who were trained outside the traditional medicine school. As with other traditional knowledge, it was not recorded anywhere and most of it was lost, and the current practice is mostly based on the teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on the 1980s, who mixed it with Transcendental Meditation. The most notable advocate of Ayurveda on America is Deepak Chopra, who claims that Maharishi's Ayurveda is based on quantum physics.
- Radionics is a means of medical diagnosis and therapy which proponents believe can diagnose and remedy health problems using various frequencies in a putative energy field coupled to the practitioner's electronic device. The first such "black box" devices were designed and promoted by Albert Abrams, and were definitively proven useless by an independent investigation commissioned by Scientific American in 1924. The internal circuitry of radionics devices is often obfuscated and irrelevant, leading proponents to conjecture dowsing and ESP as operating principles. Similar devices continue to be marketed under various names, though none is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration; there is no scientific evidence for the efficacy or underlying premise of radionics devices. The radionics of Albert Abrams and his intellectual descendants should not be confused with similarly named reputable and legitimate companies, products, or medical treatments such as radiotherapy or radiofrequency ablation.
- Scientific racism is the justification of racist attitudes through ostensibly scientific evidence which shows the inferiority or superiority of certain races.
- Traditional Chinese Medicine. Practices such as acupuncture, qigong and ideas such as chi are held as "quackery" and pseudoscientific by skeptic groups like CSICOP.
Religious and spiritual beliefs
Spiritual and religious practices and beliefs are normally not classified as pseudoscience. At least one prominent skeptical source relates the following to pseudoscience in some way, however:
- The Shroud of Turin is a length of linen cloth believed by some members of the Christian community to have been Jesus' death shroud. Radiocarbon dating of the original material has shown that it dates from the 13th or 14th century, though some claim that the material tested was not representative of the whole shroud. Analyses of the paint and the herringbone twill weave of the cloth similarly point to a medieval origin.
Other
- Hongcheng Magic Liquid is a pseudoscience incident in China where an inventor claimed that could turn water into a usable fuel by just adding a few drops of his "secret formula" liquid. The government and China and the Chinese Communist Party were alarmed by pseudoscience developments like this one and issued a joint proclamation condemning the recent decline of public education in science.
- Laundry balls are spherical or toroidal objects marketed as soap substitutes for washing machines.
- Stock market prediction can involve prediction of stock prices using technical analysis techniques based purely on charts of past price behavior or patterns in various metrics. These techniques are dubiously justified, and violate the efficient market hypothesis.
Parody pseudoscience
The following are notable parodies of other pseudosciences and pseudoscientific concepts, or scientific jokes posing as serious theories.
- Intelligent falling is a parody of intelligent design which attacks gravitation in the same way intelligent design attacks origin theories.
- Dihydrogen monoxide hoax dhmo.org is a web site purporting to be set up by concerned citizens to examine "the controversy surrounding dihydrogen monoxide" including evidence of its environmental, health, and other problems. Dihydrogen Monoxide is H2O (also known as water).
Idiosyncratic ideas
The following concepts have only a very small number of proponents, yet have become notable.
- Autodynamics is an alternative to special relativity proposed by Ricardo Carezani based on revised Lorentz transformations. In addition to failing to make accurate predictions at relativistic velocities, the proposed transformations do not correspond to classical velocity addition. Promoters also propose a number of revisions to the "particle zoo" of subatomic physics, including the nonexistence of neutrinos.
- Bogdanov Affair was an academic dispute regarding the legitimacy of a series of theoretical physics papers written by French twin brothers Igor and Grichka Bogdanov.
- Cognitive-Theoretic Model of the Universe is a proposed theory of everything made by Christopher Michael Langan, an autodidact.
- Electrogravitics is based upon the original work of Nikola Tesla and advanced by Thomas Townsend Brown that attempts to connect gravity and electromagnetism.
- Flat Earth Hypothesis proposes that the earth is a flat, disc shaped planet with enough upward momentum to produce gravity. See also Flat Earth Society.
- Hutchison effect is a proposed explanation for purported levitation caused by devices made by John Hutchison.
- Lawsonomy was a proposed philosophy and system of claims about physics made by baseball player Alfred William Lawson.
- Scalar field theories are a set of proposals that modify electromagnetic theory in various non-standard ways.
- Kauko Armas Nieminen is a self-published Finnish autodidact proposing various alternative physical ideas.
- Nucleonic energy is a technological concept developed by Canadian autodidact and inventor Mel Winfield.
- Ousiograph is a device created by schizophrenic Steven Green to detect the messages that are sent to one's brain.
- Penta Water is a claimed acoustically-induced structural reorganization of liquid water into long-lived small clusters of five molecules each. Neither these clusters nor their asserted benefits to humans have been shown to exist.
- Polywater is a hypothetical polymerized form of water proposed in the 1960s with a higher boiling point, lower freezing point, and much higher viscosity than ordinary water. It was later found not to exist, with the anomalous measurements being explained by biological contamination.
- Theory of radial momentum is a proposal by Ed Seykota, a commodities trader, which claims to clarify "problems" with the application of the Bernoulli principle.
- Time Cube is a proposed theory of everything which holds that time is cubic. Its creator, Gene Ray, finds those who are ignorant of or in disagreement with his theory to be "stupid and evil." According to his own web site, he is a diagnosed schizophrenic.
- Welteislehre is a notion by the Austrian Hans Hörbiger that ice was the basic substance of all cosmic processes.
Previously disputed unusual natural phenomena
Certain unusual natural phenomena have previously been considered pseudoscientific but are no longer doubted by modern science:
- Meteorites are objects composed of stone and/or metal 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
- Cargo cult science
- Crank (referencing a disagreeable person)
- Falsification
- Fringe science
- Occam's razor
- Paradigm
- Paradigm shift
- ’Pataphysics
- Pathological science
- Philosophy of science
- Protoscience
- Pseudophilosophy
- Pseudoscience
- Pseudoskepticism
- Science
- Scientific consensus (describes the majority views of scientists)
- Superseded scientific theories
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
- ^ article on the website of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.
- Knier, Gil (2001-03-30). "The Moon Landing Hoax". NASA. Retrieved 2007-12-02.
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suggested) (help) "Did we actually send humans to the Moon in the 1960's? Of course we did!" - "The Universe At Your Fingertips Activity: Activities With Astrology". Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Retrieved 2007-12-03. "These activities help students to understand the difference between science and pseudoscience by investigating some of astrology's claims."
- ^ statement from the California Academy of Sciences.
- ^ statement from the Iowa Academy of Science.
- ^ statement from the Russian Academy of Sciences.
- National Science Board (2002). Science and Engineering Indicators – 2002. Arlington, VA: National Science Foundation. pp. ch. 7. ISBN 978-0160665790.
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(help) "Belief in pseudoscience is relatively widespread... More than 25 percent of the public believes in astrology, that is, that the position of the stars and planets can affect people's lives." - ^ statement from the International Council for Science.
- Ruling, Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, Conclusion "In making this determination, we have addressed the seminal question of whether ID is science. We have concluded that it is not, and moreover that ID cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents."
- 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
- "They call it cerealogy", CNN.com
- Campion, Edward (1993). "Why Unconventional Medicine". New England Journal of Medicine. 328: 282. doi:10.1056/NEJM199301283280413. PMID 8418412.
- Carroll, Robert Todd. "crystal power". The Skeptic's Dictionary. Retrieved 2007-07-28.
- Stephen S. Carey. A Beginner's Guide to Scientific Method. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing. ISBN 0-534-58450-0.
- Christopher Riche Evans (1974). Cults of Unreason. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 0-374-13324-7. Chapter 6.
- Russell Miller. Bare-faced messiah: The true story of L. Ron Hubbard. Key Porter.
- Dr. Peter Banys in the SF Chronicle
- defined as pseudoscience at Skeptic's Dictionary
- "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
- Goldacre, Ben (2007-11-17). "Benefits and Risks of Homoeopathy". The Lancet. 370: 1672. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61706-1.
{{cite journal}}
:|access-date=
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(help) "Five large meta-analyses of homoeopathy trials have been done. All have had the same result: after excluding methodologically inadequate trials and accounting for publication bias, homoeopathy produced no statistically significant benefit over placebo." - "Homoeopathy's benefit questioned". BBC News. 2005-08-25. Retrieved 2008-01-30.
{{cite news}}
: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=
(help) "Professor Egger said: "We acknowledge to prove a negative is impossible. "But good large studies of homeopathy do not show a difference between the placebo and the homoeopathic remedy, whereas in the case of conventional medicines you still see an effect."" - "Homeopathy: systematic review of systematic reviews". Bandolier. Retrieved 2008-01-30.
{{cite news}}
: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=
(help) "None of these systematic reviews provided any convincing evidence that homeopathy was effective for any condition. The lesson was often that the best designed trials had the most negative result" - "Questions and Answers About Homeopathy". National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2003-04. Retrieved 2008-01-30.
{{cite web}}
: Check date values in:|date=
(help) "In sum, systematic reviews have not found homeopathy to be a definitively proven treatment for any medical condition." - CSICOP, cited in 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.
- "NCAHF Position Paper on Homeopathy". National Council Against Health Fraud. 1994. Retrieved 2007-07-14.
- ^ Beyerstein, BL (1997). "Distinguishing Science from Pseudoscience" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-07-14.
- Tyler, Chris (2006-09). "Sense About Homeopathy" (PDF). Sense About Science. Retrieved 2008-01-29.
{{cite web}}
: Check date values in:|date=
(help) "The scientific evidence shows that homeopathy acts only as a placebo and there is no scientific explanation of how it could work any other way." - "Questions and Answers About Homeopathy". National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2003-04. Retrieved 2008-01-30.
{{cite web}}
: Check date values in:|date=
(help) "a number of its key concepts do not follow the laws of science (particularly chemistry and physics)." - "What is Homeopathy". American Cancer Society. 2000-01-05. Retrieved 2008-01-30. "Most scientists say homeopathic remedies are basically water and can act only as placebos."
- "In a statement, the Royal College of Pathologists said they were "deeply alarmed" that the regulation of medicine had "moved away from science and clear information for the public"."Scientists attack homeopathy move, BBC News, October 25, 2006. Retrieved February 2, 2008.
- Skeptinq, Ortiz de Montellano, B. R. 1993. “Afrocentricity, Melanin, and Pseudoscience," Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 36, 33-58
- Ortiz de Montellano, Bernard R. (Dec 17, 2006). "Afrocentric Pseudoscience: The Miseducation of African Americans". Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 775. New York Academy of Sciences: 561–572. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1996.tb23174.x.
- Indicators 2000 - Chapter 8: Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Public Understanding - Belief in the Paranormal or Pseudoscience
- ^ Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Public Understanding - Science Fiction and Pseudoscience
- ^ Scientific American
- http://parapsych.org/glossary_e_k.html#e Parapsychological Association website, Glossary of Key Words Frequently Used in Parapsychology, Retrieved January 24, 2006
- 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) - Carroll, Robert Todd, The Skeptic's Dictionary 2003, Wiley Publishing Company, ISBN 0471272426
- Shermer, Michael (2005). "Turn Me On, Dead Man". Scientific American. Retrieved 2007-02-28.
{{cite news}}
: Unknown parameter|month=
ignored (help) - 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
- Parapsychological Association website, Glossary of Key Words Frequently Used in Parapsychology, Retrieved December 24, 2006
- "extrasensory perception" Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.
- National Science Board (2002). Science and Engineering Indicators – 2002. Arlington, VA: National Science Foundation. pp. ch. 7. ISBN 978-0160665790.
{{cite book}}
: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=
(help) "Belief in pseudoscience is relatively widespread... At least half of the public believes in the existence of extrasensory perception (ESP)." - Randi, James (1989). The Faith Healers. Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975-535-0.
- 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
- ""Psychic surgery" -- 40 (3): 184 -- CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians". Retrieved 2007-07-28.
- Carroll, Robert Todd. "Psychic Surgery". The Skeptic's Dictionary. Retrieved 2007-07-28.
- "Psychic surgeon charged". The Filipino Reporter. June 17–23, 2005. Retrieved 2007-07-28.
- ^ entry in The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience.
- Wallace, Sampson (1998-03-24). ""Therapeutic Touch" Fails a Rare Scientific Test". CSICOP News. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Retrieved 2007-12-05.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) "Despite this lack of evidence, TT is now supported by major nursing organizations such as the National League of Nurses and the American Nurses Association." - O'Mathuna, DP (2003/2006). "Therapeutic touch for healing acute wounds". Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2003 (4): CD002766. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD002766. Retrieved 2008-01-27.
{{cite journal}}
: Check date values in:|date=
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ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - Courcey, Kevin. "Further Notes on Therapeutic Touch". Quackwatch. Retrieved 2007-12-05. "What's missing from all of this, of course, is any statement by Krieger and her disciples about how the existence of their energy field can be demonstrated by scientifically accepted methods."
- "Energy Medicine: An Overview". National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2007-10-24. Retrieved 2007-12-05. "neither the external energy fields nor their therapeutic effects have been demonstrated convincingly by any biophysical means."
- Ball, Philip (September 14, 2007). "Burning water and other myths". Nature News. Retrieved 2008-08-19.
- Park, Robert L. (2000). Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud. New York, New York: Oxford University Press. p. 39. ISBN 0-19-513515-6.
{{cite book}}
: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=
(help) " long to be told that modern science validates the teachings of some ancient scripture or New Age guru. The purveyors of pseudoscience have been quick to exploit their ambivalence." - Stenger, Victor J. (1997-01). "Quantum Quackery". Skeptical Inquirer. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Retrieved 2008-02-07.
{{cite news}}
: Check date values in:|date=
(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=
(help) "Capra's book was an inspiration for the New Age, and "quantum" became a buzzword used to buttress the trendy, pseudoscientific spirituality that characterizes this movement." - Gell-Mann, Murray (1995). The Quark and the Jaguar: Adventures in the Simple and Complex. Macmillan. p. 168. ISBN 0805072535.
{{cite book}}
: Check|authorlink=
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(help) "Then the conclusion has been drawn that quantum mechanics permits faster-than-light communication, and even tha claimed "paranormal" phenomena like precognition are thereby made respectable! How can this have happened?" - Kuttner, Fred (2006-11). "Teaching physics mysteries versus pseudoscience". Physics Today. American Institute of Physics. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
{{cite news}}
: Check date values in:|date=
(help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) "We should not underestimate how persuasively physics can be invoked to buttress mystical notions. We physicists bear some responsibility for the way our discipline is exploited." - Bell, J. S. (1988). Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics. Cambridge University Press. p. 170. ISBN 0521523389.
{{cite book}}
: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=
(help) "So I think it is not right to tell the public that a central role for conscious mind is integrated into modern atomic physics. Or that 'information' is the real stuff of physical theory. It seems to me irresponsible to suggest that technical features of contemporary theory were anticipated by the saints of ancient religions ... by introspection." - National Science Board (2002). Science and Engineering Indicators – 2002. Arlington, VA: National Science Foundation. pp. ch. 7. ISBN 978-0160665790.
{{cite book}}
: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=
(help) "Belief in pseudoscience is relatively widespread... A sizable minority of the public believes in UFOs and that aliens have landed on Earth." - Trefil, James (2007-03). "Who Were the Ancient Engineers of Egypt?". Skeptical Briefs. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Retrieved 2007-12-01.
{{cite web}}
: Check date values in:|date=
(help) "the pyramids, as impressive as they are, give no evidence at all for the presence of advanced technology at work in ancient Egypt." - "Barry Beyerstein Q&A". Ask the Scientists. Scientific American Frontiers. Retrieved 2008-02-22. "they simply interpret the way we form these various features on the page in much the same way ancient oracles interpreted the entrails of oxen or smoke in the air. I.e., it's a kind of magical divination or fortune telling where 'like begets like.'"
- "The use of graphology as a tool for employee hiring and evaluation". British Columbia Civil Liberties Union. 1988. Retrieved 2008-02-22.
{{cite news}}
: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=
(help) "On the other hand, in properly controlled, blind studies, where the handwriting samples contain no content that could provide non-graphological information upon which to base a prediction (e.g., a piece copied from a magazine), graphologists do no better than chance at predicting the personality traits" - Thomas, John A. (2002). "Graphology Fact Sheet". North Texas Skeptics. Retrieved 2008-02-22. "In summary, then, it seems that graphology as currently practiced is a typical pseudoscience and has no place in character assessment or employment practice. There is no good scientific evidence to justify its use, and the graphologists do not seem about to come up with any."
- Magendie, F (1843) An Elementary Treatise on Human Physiology. 5th Ed. Tr. John Revere. New York: Harper, note: "pseudo-science" (p.150).
- Fodor, JA. (1983) The Modularity of Mind. MIT Press. p.14, 23, 131
- Primal therapy homepage
- Moore, Timothy (2001). Primal Therapy. Gale Group.
{{cite book}}
: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=
(help) - "Urban Legends Reference Pages: Business (Subliminal Advertising)". The Urban Legends Reference Pages. Retrieved 2006-08-11.
- For example, processing of happy and sad faces affecting the desirability of subsequent stimulus (Westen, 2006 p.184-185).
- ^ Westen et al. 2006 "Psychology: Austraian and New Zealand edition" John Wiley.
- von Rohr et al., "Experiences in the realisation of a research project on anthroposophical medicine in patients with advanced cancer", Schweiz Med Wochenschr 2000;130:1173–84
- Klotter, Jule (May 2006). "Anthroposophical Medicine". Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, 24(1):274.
- Helmut Kiene, Complementary Methodology in Clinical Research - Cognition-based Medicine, Springer Publishers: Heidelberg, New York. 2001. ISBN 3-540-41022-8
- "Miscellaneous Holistic Remedies". Holistic Online. Retrieved 2008-02-09.
- "The Position of Anthroposophic Medicine". Internationale Vereinigung Anthroposophischer Ärztegesellschaften (International Federation of Anthroposophic Medical Associations). Retrieved 2008-02-09. "Some medicines are similar to herbal medicinal products, some are prepared according to the guidelines of homeopathic pharmacopoeias."
- Alm, J. S., Swartz, J., Lilja, G., Scheynius, A., and Pershagen, G. (1999). Atopy in children of families with an anthroposophic lifestyle. Lancet, 353(9163):1485-8. PMID 10232315 Reprint copy
- Flöistrup, Helen (2006-01). "Allergic disease and sensitization in Steiner school children". The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. 117 (1): 59–66. doi:10.1016/j.jaci.2005.09.039. Retrieved 2008-03-03.
{{cite journal}}
: Check date values in:|date=
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ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - Klotter, Jule. "Anthroposophic lifestyle & allergies in children.(Shorts)." Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients 274 (May 2006): 24(2).
- ^ Carroll, Robert. "anthroposophic medicine". Skeptic's Dictionary. Retrieved 2008-02-09.
- Hansson, Sven Ove (1991). "Is Anthroposophy Science?". Conceptus. XXV (64): 37–49.
{{cite journal}}
:|access-date=
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(help) "The claims that anthroposophy is a science are not justified." - Ernst, Edzard, "Anthroposophical Medicine: A systematic review of randomised clinical trials." Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift, ISSN 0043-5325, 2004, vol. 116, no4, pp. 128–130
- "Report of the Special Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medical Practitioners, In Opposition to the Licensure of Naturopaths" (PDF). Massachusetts Medical Society. Retrieved 2008-01-27. "Many of the means by which naturopaths diagnose these toxins and allergies are outright quackery: electrodiagnostic devices (banned by the FDA as worthless), hair analysis, applied kinesiology, iridology, and more."
- ^ "Applied Kinesiology". American Cancer Society. 2007-05-23. Retrieved 2008-01-27. "Available scientific evidence does not support the claim that applied kinesiology can diagnose or treat cancer or other illness."
- "Applied Kinesiology". Natural Standard. 2005-07-01. Retrieved 2008-01-27. "applied kinesiology has not been shown to be effective for the diagnosis or treatment of any disease."
- "Applied Kinesiology Status Statement". International College of Applied Kinesiology. 1992-06-16. Retrieved 2008-01-27.
- Randi, James (2004-07-16 "This is a total quack procedure that has actually killed children."). "Swift: Online Newsletter of the JREF". Retrieved 2007-11-17.
{{cite web}}
: Check date values in:|date=
(help) - Maloney, Shannon-Bridget. "Be Wary of Attachment Therapy". Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- Preface to "Enhancing Early Attachments. Theory, Research, Intervention and Policy." Duke series in child development and public policy. Eds. Lisa J. Berlin, Yair Ziv, Lisa Amaya-Jackson and Mark T. Greenberg Guilford Press ISBN 1-59385-470-6 p. xvii
- Chaffin M, Hanson R, Saunders BE; et al. (2006). "Report of the APSAC task force on attachment therapy, reactive attachment disorder, and attachment problems". Child Maltreat. 11 (1): 76–89. doi:10.1177/1077559505283699. PMID 16382093.
{{cite journal}}
: Explicit use of et al. in:|author=
(help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Quackenbush, Thomas R. (2000). Better Eyesight The complete magazines of William H. Bates. North Atlantic Books. p. 643. ISBN 1-55643-351-4.
- Worrall, Russell S. (2007-09-12 "The claims Bates made in advertising his book were so dubious that in 1929 the Federal Trade Commission issued a complaint against him for advertising "falsely or misleadingly.""). "Eye-Related Quackery". Retrieved 2007-11-17.
{{cite web}}
: Check date values in:|date=
(help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - Pollack P. (1956). "Chapter 3: Fallacies of the Bates System". The Truth about Eye Exercises. Philadelphia: Chilton Co.
{{cite book}}
: External link in
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|chapterurl=
ignored (|chapter-url=
suggested) (help) - Leanna Skarnulis (February 5, 2007). "Natural Vision Correction: Does It Work?". WebMD. "No evidence was found that visual training had any effect on the progression of nearsightedness, or that it improved visual function for patients with farsightedness or astigmatism, or that it improved vision lost to diseases, including age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, or diabetic retinopathy."
- Gardner, Martin (1957). "Chapter 19: Throw Away Your Glasses". Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science. Reprint: Courier Dover. pp. 230–241. ISBN 0-486-20394-8. "Actually, Bates' theory of accommodation (so necessary to explain the value of his exercises) is so patently absurd that even most of his present-day followers have discarded it."
- Robyn E. Bradley (September 23, 2003). "ADVOCATES SEE ONLY BENEFITS FROM EYE EXERCISES" (PDF). The Boston Globe (MA).
- Marg, E. (1952). ""Flashes" of clear vision and negative accommodation with reference to the Bates Method of visual training" (PDF). Am J Opt Arch Am Ac Opt. 29 (4): 167–84.
- Randi, James (2006-11-11 "This is pure old quackery, it’s wishful thinking, and it’s profitable."). "Swift: the weekly newsletter of the JREF". Retrieved 2007-11-17.
{{cite web}}
: Check date values in:|date=
(help) - "Biological Rhythms: Implications for the Worker". OTA-BA-463 Box 2-A pg. 30. Office of Technology Assessment. 1991-09. Retrieved 2008-02-21.
{{cite web}}
: Check date values in:|date=
(help) "No evidence exists to support the concept of biorhythms; in fact, scientific data refute their existence." - Carroll, Robert Todd. "Biorhythms". Skeptic's Dictionary. Retrieved 2008-02-21. "The theory of biorhythms is a pseudoscientific theory that claims our daily lives are significantly affected by rhythmic cycles overlooked by scientists who study biological rhythms."
- Hines, Terence (1998). "Comprehensive Review of Biorhythm Theory" (pdf (summary)). Psychological Reports. 83: 19–64. doi:10.2466/PR0.83.5.19-64. Retrieved 2008-02-20.
{{cite journal}}
: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=
(help) "The conclusion is that biorhythm theory is not valid." - "Brain Gym - FAQ". The Official Brain Gym Web Site. Retrieved 2008-08-11.
BRAIN GYM works by facilitating optimal achievement of mental potential through specific movement experiences. All acts of speech, hearing, vision, and coordination are learned through a complex repertoire of movements. BRAIN GYM promotes efficient communication among the many nerve cells and functional centers located throughout the brain and sensory motor system.
- About Brain Gym
- "Neuroscience and Education: Issues and Opportunities" (PDF). the ESRC's Teaching and Learning Research Programme website. Retrieved 2007-08-03.
The pseudo-scientific terms that are used to explain how this works, let alone the concepts they express, are unrecognisable within the domain of neuroscience.
- Goswami, Usha (2006). "Neuroscience and education: from research to practice?" (fee required). Nature. 7: 406–413. doi:10.1038/nrn1907. Retrieved 2008-08-11.
Cognitive neuroscience is making rapid strides in areas highly relevant to education. However, there is a gulf between current science and direct classroom applications. Most scientists would argue that filling the gulf is premature. Nevertheless, at present, teachers are at the receiving end of numerous 'brain-based learning' packages. Some of these contain alarming amounts of misinformation, yet such packages are being used in many schools.
{{cite journal}}
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ignored (help) - "Sense About Science - Brain Gym". Sense About Science. Retrieved 2008-04-11.
These exercises are being taught with pseudoscientific explanations that undermine science teaching and mislead children about how their bodies work. ... There have been a few peer reviewed scientific studies into the methods of Brain Gym, but none of them found a significant improvement in general academic skills.
-
Hyatt, Keith J. (2007). "Brain Gym - Building Stronger Brains or Wishful Thinking?" (fee required). Remedial and Special Education. 28 (2). SAGE Publications: 117–124. doi:10.1177/07419325070280020201. ISSN 0741-9325. Retrieved 2008-09-12.
a review of the theoretical foundations of Brain Gym and the associated peer-reviewed research studies failed to support the contentions of the promoters of Brain Gym. Educators are encouraged to become informed consumers of research and to avoid implementing programming for which there is neither a credible theoretical nor a sound research basis.
{{cite journal}}
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ignored (help) -
"News in brief". The Times. 2008-04-05. Retrieved 2008-09-01.
Paul Dennison, a Californian educator who created the programme, admitted that many claims in his teacher's guide were based on his 'hunches' and were not proper science.
{{cite news}}
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(help) - Keating JC Jr, Cleveland CS III, Menke M (2005). "Chiropractic history: a primer" (PDF). Association for the History of Chiropractic. Retrieved 2008-06-16.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Keating JC Jr (1997). "Chiropractic: science and antiscience and pseudoscience side by side". Skept Inq. 21 (4): 37–43.
- Roosli, Martin (2004). "Symptoms of ill health ascribed to electromagnetic field exposure--a questionnaire survey". Int J Hyg Environ Health. 207 (2): 141–50. doi:10.1078/1438-4639-00269.
{{cite journal}}
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ignored (help) - Rubin, G James (2005). "Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity: A Systematic Review of Provocation Studies". Psychosomatic Medicine. 67: 224–232. doi:10.1097/01.psy.0000155664.13300.64. PMID 15784787.
{{cite journal}}
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ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - Goldacre, Ben. "Electrosensitives: the new cash cow of the woo industry". Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- "Electromagnetic fields and public health". Retrieved 2007-11-17.
- National Science Board (2002). Science and Engineering Indicators – 2002. Arlington, VA: National Science Foundation. pp. ch. 7. ISBN 978-0160665790.
{{cite book}}
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(help) "Belief in pseudoscience is relatively widespread... Polls also show that one quarter to more than half of the public believes in ... faith healing." - Frazier, Kendrick (2005-01). "In the Land of Galileo, Fifth World Skeptics Congress Solves Mysteries, Champions Scientific Outlook". Skeptical Inquirer. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Retrieved 2007-12-18.
{{cite web}}
: Check date values in:|date=
(help) "The majority of rigorous trials show no effect beyond placebo." (Edzard Ernst) - "Hypnosis". American Cancer Society. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
- Lynn, Steven Jay, "The remembrance of things past: problematic memory recovery techniques in psychotherapy", in Lilienfeld, Scott O. (ed.), Science and Pseudoscience in Psychotherapy, New York: Guilford Press, pp. 219–220, ISBN 1572308281
{{citation}}
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ignored (help) "hypnotically induced past life experiences are rule-governed, goal-directed fantasies that are context generated and sensitive to the demands of the hypnotic regression situation." - "Iridology". Natural Standard. 2005-07-07. Retrieved 2008-02-01. "Research suggests that iridology is not an effective method to diagnose or help treat any specific medical condition."
- Ernst E. Iridology: not useful and potentially harmful. Arch. Ophthalmol. 2000 Jan;118(1):120-1. PMID 10636425
- "H-175.998 Evaluation of Iridology". American Medical Association. Retrieved 2008-02-01. "Our AMA believes that iridology, the study of the iris of the human eye, has not yet been established as having any merit as a diagnostic technique."
- Park, Robert L. (2000). Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud. New York, New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 58–63. ISBN 0-19-513515-6 "Not only are magnetic fields of no value in healing, you might characterize these as "homeopathic" magnetic fields.".
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(help) - National Science Board (2002). Science and Engineering Indicators – 2002. Arlington, VA: National Science Foundation. pp. ch. 7. ISBN 978-0160665790.
{{cite book}}
: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=
(help) "Among all who had heard of , 14 percent said it was very scientific and another 54 percent said it was sort of scientific. Only 25 percent of those surveyed answered correctly, that is, that it is not at all scientific." - ^ "Report 12 of the Council on Scientific Affairs (A-97)". American Medical Association. 1997.
- ^ "Ayurvedic medicine". Quackwatch. Retrieved 2008-08-16.
- ^ Lesley A. Sharp (2003). "Review of Fluent bodies: Ayourvedic Remedies for Postcolonial Imbalance". Medical Anthropology Quarterly. 17 (4): 511–512. doi:10.1525/maq.2003.17.4.512. Retrieved 2008-08-16.
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ignored (help) (page 512) - ^ Robert Todd Carroll (2003). John Wiley and Sons (ed.). The Skeptic's Dictionary. pp. 45–4?. ISBN 0471272426. (Pseudoscience and Ayurvedic medicine entries on the online version)
- Pilkington, Mark (2004-04-15). "A vibe for radionics". The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-02-07.
{{cite news}}
: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=
(help) "Scientific American concluded: 'At best, is all an illusion. At worst, it is a colossal fraud.'" - "10 lesser-known alternative therapies". British Broadcasting Corporation. 2006-05-23. Retrieved 2008-02-07.
{{cite news}}
:|first=
missing|last=
(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=
(help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) " Radionics is a technique of healing using extrasensory perception (ESP) and an instrument." - "What is Radionics". The Radionic Association. Retrieved 2008-02-07. "This subtle field cannot be accessed using our conventional senses. Radionic practitioners use a specialised dowsing technique to both identify the sources of weakness in the field and to select specific treatments to overcome them. "
- "Electromagnetic Therapy". American Cancer Society. Retrieved 2008-02-06. "There is no relationship between the conventional medical uses of electromagnetic energy and the alternative devices or methods that use externally applied electrical forces. Available scientific evidence does not support claims that these alternative electrical devices are effective in diagnosing or treating cancer or any other disease."
- Helwig, David (2004-12), "Radionics", in Longe, Jacqueline L. (ed.), The Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine, Gale Cengage, ISBN 978-0787674243, retrieved 2008-02-07
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(help) - Gould, Stephen Jay (1981). The Mismeasure of Man. New York, NY: W W Norton and Co. pp. 28–29. ISBN 0-393-01489-4.
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(help) "Few tragedies can be more extensive than the stunting of life, few injustices deeper than the denial of an opportunity to strive or even to hope, by a limit imposed from without, but falsely identified as lying within." - Kurtz, Paul (2004-09). "Can the Sciences Help Us to Make Wise Ethical Judgments?". Skeptical Inquirer Magazine. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Retrieved 2007-12-01.
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(help) "There have been abundant illustrations of pseudoscientific theories-monocausal theories of human behavior that were hailed as "scientific"-that have been applied with disastrous results. Examples: ... Many racists today point to IQ to justify a menial role for blacks in society and their opposition to affirmative action." - Carl Sagan, "Does Truth Matter? Science, Pseudoscience, and Civilization", Skeptical Inquirer, 1996
- Damon, P. E. (1989-02). "Radiocarbon dating of the Shroud of Turin". Nature. 337 (6208): 611–615. doi:10.1038/337611a0. Retrieved 2007-11-18.
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suggested) (help) - Rogers, Raymond N.: "Studies on the radiocarbon sample from the shroud of turin." Thermochimica Acta, Volume 425, Issue 1–2 (January 20, 2005), pages 189–194
- Ball, Philip. "To Know a Veil". Nature online, January 28, 2005.
- Nickell, Joe "the scientific approach allows the preponderance of evidence to lead to a conclusion: the shroud is the work of a medieval artisan". "PBS "Secrets of the Dead" Buries the Truth About Turin Shroud". Retrieved 2007-11-18.
- Does truth matter?, by Carl Sagan " activities of superstition and ignorance have been growing, and antiscience and pseudoscience cases have become frequent. Therefore, effective measures must be applied as soon as possible to strengthen public education in science." (pages 8–9)
- Lo, A.W. (2000). "Foundations of Technical Analysis: Computational Algorithms, Statistical Inference, and Empirical Implementation". The Journal of Finance. 55 (4): 1705–1765. doi:10.1111/0022-1082.00265.
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suggested) (help) - Burton Malkiel, A Random Walk Down Wall Street
- Evangelical Scientists Refute Gravity With New 'Intelligent Falling' Theory, The Onion
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Gnad, Megan (2007-09-14). "MP tries to ban water". New Zealand Herald.
{{cite web}}
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(help) - "No Neutrinos". Society for the Advancement of Autodynamics. Retrieved 2008-02-07.
- Philipkoski, Kristen (1999-07-13). "Shedding Light in the Dark". Wired News/Wired. Retrieved 2008-02-07.
{{cite news}}
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(help) "Mainstream physicists have considered autodynamics a crackpot theory for decades" - Woit, Peter. Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory and the Search for Unity in Physical Law for Unity in Physical Law. p. 213. ISBN 0465092764.
- Byron Preiss (1985). The Planets. Bantam Books. p. 27. ISBN 0553051091.
- Martin Gardner (1957). Fads And Fallacies In The Name Of Science. Dover Publications. pp. 69–79. ISBN 978-0486203942.
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(help) - Winfield, Mel E. (2004). The Science of Actuality. Vancouver: University Press. ISBN 0-9739347-0-0.
- Ousiograph, Dressler, Cases and Materials on Criminal Law, Fourth Edition, pages 648-655, 2007
- Goldacre, Ben (2005-01-27). "Testing the water". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, Ltd. Retrieved 2008-04-29.
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(help) - Structured Water Pseudoscience and Quackery
- Rousseau, Denis L. (1992-01). "Case Studies in Pathological Science". American Scientist. 80 (1): 54–63. Retrieved 2008-04-29.
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(help) - Ray, Gene. Time Cube. March 12, 2007
- Science gone wrong
- William F. Williams, Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience, ISBN 0-8160-5080-5, p. 215
- NIH discussion
- New Scientist
- 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.