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This is a list of topics that have, at one point or another in their history, been characterized as pseudoscience by academics or researchers. These characterizations were made in the context of educating the public about questionable or potentially fraudulent or dangerous claims and practices—efforts to define the nature of science, or humorous parodies of poor scientific reasoning. Criticism of pseudoscience, generally by the scientific community or skeptical organizations, involves critiques of the logical, methodological, or rhetorical bases of the topic in question. Though some of the listed topics continue to be investigated scientifically, others were only subject to scientific research in the past and today are considered refuted but resurrected in a pseudoscientific fashion. Other ideas presented here are entirely non-scientific but have in one way or another infringed on scientific domains or practices. Many adherents to or practitioners of the topics listed here dispute their characterization as pseudoscience.

Each section includes details of the particular sense of the pseudoscientific characterization of that topic.

Astronomy and space sciences

• 2012 millenarianism – a present-day cultural meme proposing that cataclysmic and apocalyptic events will occur in the year 2012. The proposal is derived from the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar which by most proposed alignments with the Gregorian calendar reaches a calendar rollover that year. Doomsday mechanisms are predicted to occur by means of a "galactic alignment", "solar storm", "pole shift", or catastrophic collision with an asteroid, comet, or planet (e.g. Nibiru). There is no scientific evidence that these events will occur.
• Nibiru collision – a prediction first made by contactee Nancy Lieder that a mythological planet Nibiru would collide with Earth. After adjusting her prediction many times, she now claims the year of the occurrence to be 2012.
• Moon landing conspiracy theories – claims 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 could not have happened, thus qualifying them as pseudoscientific claims.
• 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.
• 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. Such beings have been claimed to have initiated the rise of human civilization or provided significant technological assistance to various ancient civilizations.
• 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 work of Richard C. Hoagland.
• Flat Earth Society – proposes that the earth is a flat, disc-shaped planet that accelerates upward, producing the illusion of gravity. Proposers of the Flat Earth theory do not accept compelling evidence, like photos of planet Earth from Space.
• Immanuel Velikovsky – proposed that ancient texts refer to the collision of astronomical bodies as in Worlds in Collision.
• Lunar effect – the belief that the full Moon influences human behavior.
• Zecharia Sitchin – proposed that ancient Sumerian cuneiform suggests that ancient astronauts visited Earth and created human beings through biogenetics. Sitchins claims that these writings tell of a Planet X beyond the dwarf planet Pluto. Scholars have criticized his interpretations and qualifications (noting that he has no degree in Semitic Languages). Michael Heiser, who has a Ph.D in Hebrew Bible and Semitic Languages has challenged Sitchin to present one text that confirms his claims.

Earth and Earth sciences

• 366 geometry or Megalithic geometry – posits the existence of an Earth-based geometry dating back to at least 3500 BC, and the possibility that such a system is still in use in modern Freemasonry. According to Alexander Thom and, later, Alan Butler and Christopher Knight, megalithic civilizations in Britain and Brittany had advanced knowledge of geometry, mathematics, and the size of the Earth. Butler correlates Thom's megalithic yard to the polar circumference of Earth using a circle divided into 366 degrees.
• The Bermuda Triangle – a region of the Atlantic Ocean that lies between Bermuda, Puerto Rico, and (in its most popular version) Florida. Disappearances and ship and aircraft disasters perceived as frequent in this area have led to the circulation of stories of unusual natural phenomena, paranormal encounters, and interactions with extraterrestrials.
• Biodynamic agriculture – method of organic farming that treats farms as unified and individual organisms. Biodynamics uses a calender which has been characterized as astrological and unconventional preparations and composts. For example, field mice are countered by deploying ashes prepared from field mice skin when Venus is in the Scorpius constellation.
• Climate change denialism — in the discussions surrounding the politics of global warming, assertions by some commentators that global warming is either not occurring or is not associated with the anthropogenic rise in atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide have been made. Such arguments are criticized for being pseudoscientific as they deny certain facts contained in the scientific consensus on climate change.
• Lysenkoism, or Lysenko-Michurinism – denotes the biological inheritance principle which Trofim Lysenko subscribed to and which derive from theories of the heritability of acquired characteristics, a body of biological inheritance theory which departs from Mendelism and that Lysenko named "Michurinism". Lysenko's theories came to prominence in the Soviet Union during the late 1940s and early 1950s, when genetics was declared a "bourgeois science", in the wake of the famines caused by Joseph Stalin's collectivization campaign. The Soviet Union quietly abandoned Lysenko's agricultural practices in favor of modern agricultural practices after the crop yields he promised failed to materialize and by the mid 1950s, his influence had declined considerably. Today Lysenko's agricultural experimentation and research is largely viewed as fraudulent.

Paranormal and ufology

Paranormal subjects have been subject to critiques from a wide range of sources including the following claims of paranormal significance:

• Animal mutilations – cases of animals, primarily domestic livestock, with seemingly inexplicable wounds. These wounds have been said to be caused by natural predation, extra terrestrials, cults, or covert government organizations.
• Channeling – communication of information to or through a person allegedly from a spirit or other paranormal entity.
• Crop circles – 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 has become known as "cerealogy".
• Cryptozoology – search for creatures that are considered not to exist by most biologists. Well known examples of creatures of interest to cryptozoologists include Bigfoot, Yeren, Yeti, and the Loch Ness Monster. According to leading skeptical authors Michael Shermer and Pat Linse, "Cryptozoology ranges from pseudoscientific to useful and interesting, depending on how it is practiced."
• Dowsing refers to practices said to enable one to detect hidden water, metals, gemstones or other objects.
• Electronic voice phenomenon – purported communication by spirits through tape recorders and other electronic devices.
• Extra-sensory perception – 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.
• Ghost hunting – use of scientific methods and instrumentation in an unconventional manner to hunt ghosts.
• Levitation – act of rising up from the ground without any physical aids, usually by the power of thought.
• Pseudoarchaeology – investigation of the ancient past using alleged paranormal or other means which have not been validated by mainstream science.
• Psychic surgery – 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". Psychic surgery is usually explicit deception; i.e., the "practitioners" are aware that they are practicing fraud or "quackery", unlike most pseudosciences, in which the practitioners actually believe their theory.
• Psychokinesis – paranormal ability of the mind to influence matter or energy at a distance.
• Séances – ritualized attempts to communicate with the dead.
• Tutankhamun's curse – was allegedly placed on the discoverers of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb, causing widespread deaths and other disastrous events.
• The Tunguska event – was a large explosion, possibly caused by a meteoroid or comet, in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia in June 1908. Night skies as far away as London were markedly brighter for several evenings. Unsupported theories regarding the event include the impact of a miniature black hole or large body of antimatter, ball lightning, a test by Nikola Tesla of the apparatus at Wardenclyffe Tower, and a UFO crash. Another theory is that the explosion was caused by a piece of Biela's Comet from 1883.
• Ufology – the study of unidentified flying objects (UFO) and frequently includes the belief that UFOs are evidence for extraterrestrial visitors.

Psychology

• Attachment therapy – common name for 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." (The term "attachment therapy" may sometimes be used loosely to refer to mainstream approaches based on attachment theory, usually outside the USA where pseudoscientific form of attachment therapy is less known). 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). Not all forms of attachment therapy are coercive and since the Candace Newmaker case there has been a move towards less coercive practices by leaders in the field.
• Conversion therapy – sometimes called reparative therapy, seeks to change a non-heterosexual person's sexual orientation so they will no longer be homosexual or bisexual. The American Psychiatric Association defines Reparative therapy as "psychiatric treatment...which is based upon the assumption that homosexuality per se is a mental disorder or based upon the a priori assumption that a patient should change his/her sexual homosexual orientation."
• Graphology – 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.
• Memetics – approach to evolutionary models of cultural information transfer based on the concept that units of information, or "memes", have an independent existence, are self-replicating, and are subject to selective evolution through environmental forces. Starting from a proposition put forward in the writings of Richard Dawkins, it has since turned into a new area of study, one that looks at the self-replicating units of culture. It has been proposed that just as memes are analogous to genes, memetics is analogous to genetics. Memetics has been deemed a pseudoscience on several fronts. Its proponents' assertions have been labeled "untested, unsupported or incorrect."
• Parapsychology – controversial discipline that seeks to investigate the existence and causes of psychic abilities and life after death using the scientific method. Parapsychological experiments have included the use of random number generators to test for evidence of precognition and psychokinesis with both human and animal subjects and Ganzfeld experiments to test for extrasensory perception.
• Phrenology – now 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 – 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).
• Psychoanalysis – body of ideas developed by Austrian physician Sigmund Freud and his followers, which is devoted to the study of human psychological functioning and behavior. It has been controversial ever since its inception. Karl Popper characterized it as pseudoscience based on psychoanalysis failing the requirement for falsifiability. Frank Cioffi argued that "though Popper is correct to say that psychoanalysis is pseudoscientific and correct to say that it is unfalsifiable, he is mistaken to suggest that it is pseudoscientific because it is unfalsifiable. It is when insists that he has confirmed (not just instantiated) that he is being pseudoscientific."
• Subliminal advertising, a visual or auditory information that is discerned below the threshold of conscious awareness and claims to have a powerful enduring effect on consuming habits. It went into disrepute in the late 1970s but there has been renewed research interest recently. The mainstream accepted science of Subliminal perception does not have a powerful, enduring effect on human behaviour.

Health and medicine

• Alternative medicine has been described as pseudoscientific. The National Science Foundation has conducted surveys of the "Public Attitudes and Public Understanding" of "Science Fiction and Pseudoscience", which includes studying the popularity of alternative medicine. It considers belief in alternative medicine a matter of concern, defining it as "all treatments that have not been proven effective using scientific methods." After quoting the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry's listing of alternative medicine as one of many pseudoscientific subjects, as well as mentioning the concerns of individual scientists, organizations, and members of the science policymaking community, it comments that "nevertheless, the popularity of alternative medicine appears to be increasing." "At least 60 percent of U.S. medical schools devote classroom time to the teaching of alternative therapies, generating controversy within the scientific community." It has been reported that universities are "increasingly turning their backs on homoeopathy and complementary medicine amid opposition from the scientific community to “pseudo-science” degrees." Degrees in alternative medicine have been described as "'pseudo-science' degrees", "anti-scientific", and "harmful".
• Anthroposophic medicine, or anthroposophically extended medicine – 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. Despite a very considerable body of academic research into anthroposophic medicine, Edzard Ernst suggests that no thorough scientific analysis of the efficacy of anthroposophical medicine as a system independent of its philosophical underpinnings has been undertaken; and that no evidence-based conclusion can be drawn as to the overall efficacy of the system. The medical approach has achieved some academic recognition: there is a chair of anthroposophic medicine at the University of Witten/Herdecke within its Department for Medical theory, Integrative, and Anthroposophical Medicine, and the Institute of Complementary Medicine at the University of Bern includes a division focusing on anthroposophic medicine.
• The Bates method for better eyesight – 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 – hypothesis holding that human physiology and behavior are governed by physical, emotional, and intellectual cycles lasting 23, 28, and 33 days, respectively. 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.
• Body memory – hypothesis that the body itself is capable of storing memories, as opposed to only the brain. This is used to explain having memories for events where the brain was not in a position to store memories and is sometimes a catalyst for repressed memories recovery. These memories are often characterised with phantom pain in a part or parts of the body – the body appearing to remember the past trauma. The idea of body memory is a belief frequently associated with the idea of repressed memories, in which memories of incest or sexual abuse can be retained and recovered through physical sensations.
• Brain Gym – 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 on good science, but on his "hunches".
• Chiropractic – alternative medicine practice focusing on spinal manipulation. Many modern chiropractors target solely mechanical dysfunction, and offer health and lifestyle counseling. Many others, however, base their practice on the vitalism of D.D. Palmer and B. J. Palmer, maintaining that all or many organic diseases are the result of hypothetical spinal dysfunctions known as vertebral subluxations and the impaired flow of Innate intelligence, a form of putative energy. These ideas are not based in science, and along with the lack of a strong research base are in part responsible for the historical conflict between chiropractic and mainstream medicine. Recent systematic reviews indicate the possibility of moderate effectiveness for spinal manipulation in the management of nonspecific low back pain. The effectiveness of chiropractic spinal manipulation has not been demonstrated according to the principles of evidence-based medicine for any other condition. Adverse events with possible neurologic involvement following spinal manipulation, particularly upper spinal manipulation, occur with a frequency of between 33% and 61%. Most events are minor, such as mild soreness, fainting, dizziness, light headedness, headache, or numbness or tingling in the upper limbs; serious complications such as subarachnoid hemorrhage, vertebral artery dissection, or myelopathy are observed infrequently.
  • Applied kinesiology (AK) – a chiropractic diagnostic method using manual muscle-strength testing for medical diagnosis and a subsequent determination of prescribed therapy, 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. For example, a practitioner will give the patient a jar containing a substance to hold in one hand, then test for muscle strength in the other hand; if there is little resistance, the practitioner may conclude that the patient is allergic to that substance. 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.
  • Innate intelligence – form of putative energy, the flow of which is considered by some chiropractors to be responsible for patient health. Chiropractic historian Joseph C. Keating, Jr., PhD. stated: "So long as we propound the 'One cause, one cure' rhetoric of Innate, we should expect to be met by ridicule from the wider health science community. Chiropractors can’t have it both ways. Our theories cannot be both dogmatically held vitalistic constructs and be scientific at the same time. The purposiveness, consciousness and rigidity of the Palmers’ Innate should be rejected."
  • Vertebral subluxation – a Chiropractic term that describes variously a site of impaired flow of innate or a spinal lesion that is postulated to cause neuromusculoskeletal or visceral dysfunction. Scientific consensus does not support the existence of chiropractic's vertebral subluxation.
• Colon cleansing (colonics, colon hydrotherapy) – encompasses a number of alternative medical therapies intended to remove fecal waste and unidentified toxins from the colon and intestinal tract. Practitioners believe that accumulations of putrefied feces line the walls of the large intestine and that they harbor parasites or pathogenic gut flora, causing nonspecific symptoms and general ill-health. This "auto-intoxication" hypothesis is based on medical beliefs of the Ancient Egyptians and Greeks, and was discredited in the early 20th century.
• Crystal healing – 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.
• Electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) – 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 – 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. However, faith-healing advocates respond by stating that what doctors describe as the placebo effect is a form of faith healing.
• Homeopathy – belief in giving a patient with symptoms of an illness extremely dilute remedies that are thought to produce those same symptoms in healthy people. 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.
• Hypnosis – 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. Mesmer's explanations were thoroughly discredited, and to this day there is no agreement amongst researchers whether hypnosis is a real phenomena, or merely a form of participatory role- enactment. Some aspects of suggestion have been clinically useful. Other claimed uses of hypnosis more 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 – 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 – practice of using magnetic fields to positively influence health. While there are legitimate medical uses for magnets and magnetic fields, the field strength used in magnetic therapy is too low to effect any biological change, and the methods used have no scientific validity.
• Maharishi 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 unlicensed practitioners are common. As with other traditional knowledge, much of it was lost; in the West, current practice is mostly based on the teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the 1980s, who mixed it with Transcendental Meditation. The most notable advocate of Ayurveda in America is Deepak Chopra, who claims that Maharishi's Ayurveda is based on quantum mysticism.
• Radionics – 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.
• Therapeutic touch – 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.
• Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) – traditional medical system originating in China and practiced as an alternative medicine throughout much of the world. It contains elements based in Taoism, Buddhism, and Neo-Confucianism, and considers the human body more in functional and vitalistic than anatomical terms. Health and illness in TCM follow the principle of yin and yang, and are ascribed to balance or imbalance in the flow of a vital force, qi. Diagnostic methods are solely external, including pulse examination at six points, examination of a patient's tongue, and a patient interview; interpractitioner diagnostic agreement is poor. The TCM theory of the function and structure of the human body is fundamentally different from modern medicine, though some of the procedures and remedies have shown promise under scientific investigation.
  • Acupuncture – use of fine needles to stimulate acupuncture points and balance the flow of qi. There is no known anatomical or histological basis for the existence of acupuncture points or meridians. Some acupuncturists regard them as functional rather than structural entities, useful in guiding evaluation and care of patients. Dry needling is the therapeutic insertion of fine needles without regard to TCM theory. Acupuncture has been the subject of active scientific research since the late 20th century, and its effects and application remain controversial among Western medical researchers and clinicians. Because it is a procedure rather than a pill, the design of controlled studies is challenging, as with surgical and other procedures. Some scholarly reviews conclude that acupuncture's effects are mainly placebo, and others find likelihood of efficacy for particular conditions.
    • Acupressure – manual non-invasive stimulation of acupuncture points.
    • Acupuncture points or acupoints – collection of several hundred points on the body lying along meridians. According to TCM theory, each corresponds to a particular organ or function.
  • Meridians – TCM are the channels through which qi flows, connecting the several zang-fu organ pairs. There is no known anatomical or histological basis for the existence of acupuncture points or meridians.
  • Moxibustion – application on or above the skin of smoldering mugwort, or moxa, to stimulate acupuncture points.
  • Qi – vital energy whose flow must be balanced for health. Qi has never been directly observed, and is unrelated to the energy used in science.
  • TCM materia medica – a collection of crude medicines used in Traditional Chinese medicine. These include many plants in part or whole, such as ginseng and wolfberry, as well as more exotic ingredients such as seahorses. Preparations generally include several ingredients in combination, with selection based on physical characteristics such as taste or shape, or relationship to the organs of TCM. Most preparations have not been rigorously evaluated or give no indication of efficacy. Pharmacognosy research for potential active ingredients present in these preparations is active, though the applications do not always correspond to those of TCM.
  • Zang-fu – concept of organs as functional yin and yang entities for the storage and manipulation of qi. These organs are not based in anatomy.
• Urine therapy – drinking either one's own undiluted urine or homeopathic potions of urine for treatment of a wide variety of diseases is based on pseudoscience.
• Vitalism – doctrine that the processes of life are not explicable by the laws of physics and chemistry alone and that life is in some part self-determining. The book Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience stated "today, vitalism is one of the ideas that form the basis for many pseudoscientific health systems that claim that illnesses are caused by a disturbance or imbalance of the body's vital force." "Vitalists claim to be scientific, but in fact they reject the scientific method with its basic postulates of cause and effect and of provability. They often regard subjective experience to be more valid than objective material reality."

Religious and spiritual beliefs

Spiritual and religious practices and beliefs, according to Carl Sagan, are normally not classified as pseudoscience. However, the following religious/spiritual items have been labeled as "pseudoscience" by naturalists hostile to the items in question:

• Biblical scientific foreknowledge (Judaism and Christianity) – asserts that the Bible makes accurate statements about the world that science verifies thousands of years later.
• Koranic scientific foreknowledge (Islam) – asserts that the Koran makes accurate statements about the world that science verifies hundreds of years later. This belief is a common theme in Bucailleism.
• Creation science – 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 – subset of creation science that tries to explain biology without macroevolution.
  • Creationist cosmologies – cosmologies which, among other things, allow for a universe that is only thousands of years old.
  • Flood geology – 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 (being in the Milky Way galaxy) are at the center of the cosmos.
  • Intelligent design – maintains 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." These features include:
    • Irreducible complexity – claim that some biological systems are too complex to 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. Irreducible complexity is one of two main arguments intended to support intelligent design, the other being specified complexity.
    • Specified complexity – 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.
• Dianetics (which is involved in Scientology) – 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".
• Feng shui – ancient Chinese system of mysticism and aesthetics based on astronomy, geography, and the putative flow of qi. It is widely considered a pseudoscience, and has been criticised by many organisations devoted to investigating paranormal claims. Evidence for its effectiveness is based on anecdote, and there is a lack of a plausible method of action; this leads to conflicting advice from different practitioners of feng shui. Feng shui practitioners use this as evidence of variations or different schools; critical analysts have described it thus: "Feng shui has always been based upon mere guesswork." Modern criticism differentiates between feng shui as a traditional proto-religion and the modern practice: "A naturalistic belief, it was originally used to find an auspicious dwelling place for a shrine or a tomb. However, over the centuries it... has become distorted and degraded into a gross superstition."
• 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.

Energy

• Hongcheng Magic Liquid – pseudoscience incident in China where an inventor claimed that he could turn water into a usable fuel by just adding a few drops of his "secret formula" liquid. The government of 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. (Also see: Gasoline pill)
• Perpetual motion – 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 – 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). This is in contrast to proposals made most notably by Harold Puthoff which involve the extraction of zero point energy, a real energy which in quantum mechanics is thought not to be available to do work.
  • Water-fuelled cars – 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.

Other

• Cosmetics and cleaning products frequently make pseudoscientific claims about their products. Claims are made about both the benefits or toxicity of certain products or ingredients. Practices include Angel dusting where a minuscule amount of an active ingredients used in a product insufficient to cause any measurable benefit. Examples of products include:
  • Laundry balls – spherical or toroidal objects marketed as soap substitutes for washing machines.
  • Anti-aging creams – predominantly moisturiser based cosmeceutical skin care products marketed with the promise of making the consumer look younger.
• Scientific racism – claim that scientific evidence shows the inferiority or superiority of certain races, or alternatively the claim of "classifying" individuals of different phenotypes into discrete races or ethnicities.
  • Melanin theory – 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.
• New Chronology - one of the theories of historical revisionism, the creation of Anatoly Fomenko.

Idiosyncratic ideas

The following concepts have only a very small number of proponents, yet have become notable:

• Autodynamics – 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.
• Einstein–Cartan–Evans theory – proposed unified theory of physics due to Myron Evans, a Welsh chemist.
• Electrogravitics – hypothesis that attempts to connect gravity and electromagnetism, based upon the original work of Nikola Tesla and advanced by Thomas Townsend Brown .
• Expanding Earth – historical proposal that was made alongside continental drift theory and has been all but abandoned by geologists, yet still has some lay advocates, the most famous of which is Neal Adams.
• Hydrinos – are a state of the hydrogen atom that, according to proponent Randell Mills, are of lower energy than ground state and thus a source of free energy.
• Lawsonomy – proposed philosophy and system of claims about physics made by baseball player Alfred William Lawson.
• Nucleonic energy – technological concept developed by Canadian autodidact and inventor Mel Winfield.
• Ousiograph – device created by schizophrenic Steven Green to detect the messages that are sent to one's brain.
• Penta Water – 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 – 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.
• Timewave zero – numerological formula that was invented by the late psychonaut Terence McKenna with the help of the hallucinogenic drug dimethyltryptamine. After discovering 2012 doomsday predictions, he redesigned his formula to have a "zero-point" at the same date as the Mayan longcount calendar.
• Torsion field - hypothetical physical field responsible for ESP, homeopathy, levitation, and other paranormal phenomena.

• Welteislehre – notion by the Austrian Hans Hörbiger that ice was the basic substance of all cosmic processes.

See also

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Notes and references

1. Pollak, Melissa (2000). "Chapter 7: Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Public Understanding: Relationships Between Science and Pseudoscience". In Bradburn, Norman M.; Lehming, Rolf; Carlson, Lynda; Frase, Mary J. (eds.). Science and Engineering Indicators – 2002. The National Science Board. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
2. O'Neill, Ian (2008). "2012: No Geomagnetic Reversal". Universe Today. Retrieved 2009-05-27. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
3. Rosenbaum, Ron (May 22, 2009). "2012: Tsunami of Stupidity: Why the latest apocalyptic cult is a silly scam". Slate.com. Retrieved 2009-05-26. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
4. Hummels, Cameron (27 April 2009). "April 27th: Will the World End in 2012?" (Podcast). 365daysofastronomy.org. Retrieved 2009-09-22.
5. Schilling, Govert (2009). The Hunt For Planet X: New Worlds and the Fate of Pluto. Copernicus Books. p. 111. ISBN 0387778047. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
6. Morrison, David (2008). "Armageddon from Planet Nibiru in 2012? Not so fast" (blog). discovery.com. Retrieved 2009-04-02. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
7. Plait, Phil (2003). "The Planet X Saga: Science" (blog). badastronomy.com. Retrieved 2009-04-02. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
8. Brown, Mike (2008). "I do not ♥ pseudo-science" (blog). Mike Brown's planets. Retrieved 2009-04-12. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
9. Myles Standish (16 July 1992). "Planet X - No dynamical evidence in the optical observations". Astronomical Journal volume= 105 (5): 200–2006. Retrieved 2009-04-30. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Missing pipe in: |journal= (help)
10. ^ Fraknoi, Andrew (2009). "The "Great Moon Hoax": Did Astronauts Land on the Moon?". Astronomical Pseudo-Science: A Skeptic's Resource List. Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Retrieved 2011-11-2. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
11. Knier, Gil; Bray, Becky (30 March 2001). "The Moon Landing Hoax". NASA. Did we actually send humans to the Moon in the 1960s? Of course we did! {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); |archive-url= requires |url= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
12. "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. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
13. ^ "Statement of the position of the Iowa Academy of Science on Pseudoscience" (PDF). Iowa Academy of Science. 1986. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
14. ^ statement from the Russian Academy of Sciences. Broken Link!
15. National Science Foundation (2002). "Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Public Understanding: Science Fiction and Pseudoscience". Arlington, VA: National Science Foundation. pp. ch. 7. ISBN 978-0160665790. 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. {{cite web}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
16. Fraknoi, Andrew (2009). "The Dogon Tribe and Sirius B". Astronomical Pseudo-Science: A Skeptic's Resource List. Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Retrieved 2011-11-2. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
17. Fraknoi, Andrew (2009). "Ancient Astronauts and Erich Von Daniken". Astronomical Pseudo-Science: A Skeptic's Resource List. Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Retrieved 2011-11-2. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
18. ^ entry in The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience.
19. 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."
20. Kilgannon, Corey (January 8, 2010). "Origin of the Species, From an Alien View". New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 29 October 2010. Mr. Sitchin has been called silly before — by scientists, historians and archaeologists who dismiss his theories as pseudoscience and fault their underpinnings: his translations of ancient texts and his understanding of physics.
21. Carroll, Robert T (1994–2009). "The Skeptic's Dictionary". Zecharia Sitchin and The Earth Chronicles. John Wiley & Sons. Retrieved 29 October 2010.
22. Nettleton, Paul "Peer Review" Guardian 1 September 2005
23. Angell, Ian O. Megalithic mathematics, ancient almanacs or neolithic nonsense. Bull. Inst. Math. Appl. 14 (1978), no. 10, 253--258
24. Goode, Jamie (2006-03-01). The science of wine: from vine to glass. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520248007.
25. Linda Chalker-Scott, "The Myth of Biodynamic Agriculture", Master Gardener Magazine (2004).
26. Smith, D. "ON FERTILE GROUND? OBJECTIONS TO BIODYNAMICS". Fine Wine. 12. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
27. Kirchmann, Holger (1994). "Biological dynamic farming--an occult form of alternative agriculture?". J. Agric. Environ. Ethics. 7 (2): 173–187. doi:10.1007/BF02349036. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |author-name-separator= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |author-separator= ignored (help)
28. Kennedy, D. “An Unfortunate U-turn on Carbon”, Science. 30 March 2001, p. 5513.
29. Brown, R. G. E., Jr. “Environmental science under siege: Fringe science and the 104th Congress, U. S. House of Representatives.” Report, Democratic Caucus of the Committee on Science, U. S. House of Representatives. Washington, D. C. October 23, 1996. http://www.worldcat.org/title/environmental-science-under-siege-fringe-science-and-the-104th-congress/oclc/57343997
30. Lahsen, Myanna. Technocracy, Democracy, and the U.S. Climate Politics: The Need for Demarcations” Science, Technology, & Human Values. Winter 2005, pp. 137-169.
31. Lysenkoism - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary
32. , .
33. Indicators 2000 - Chapter 8: Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Public Understanding - Belief in the Paranormal or Pseudoscience
34. ^ Beyerstein, BL (1997). "Distinguishing Science from Pseudoscience" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-07-11. Retrieved 2007-07-14.
35. ^ Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Public Understanding - Science Fiction and Pseudoscience
36. "They call it cerealogy", CNN.com
37. Prothero, Donald R. (2007). Evolution. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 13. ISBN 9780231139625. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
38. The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience by Michael Shermer & Pat Linse, 2002, ISBN 1-57607-653-9
39. ^ Scientific American
40. Parapsychological Association website, Glossary of Key Words Frequently Used in Parapsychology. Retrieved January 24, 2006.
41. 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)
42. Carroll, Robert Todd, The Skeptic's Dictionary 2003, Wiley Publishing Company, ISBN 0-471-27242-6
43. Shermer, Michael (2005). "Turn Me On, Dead Man". Scientific American. Retrieved 2007-02-28. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
44. 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
45. Parapsychological Association website, Glossary of Key Words Frequently Used in Parapsychology. Retrieved December 24, 2006.
46. "extrasensory perception" Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.
47. National Science Foundation (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)."
48. According to skeptical investigator Joe Nickell, the typical ghost hunter is practicing pseudoscience.Ettkin, Brian (October 27, 2008). "Skeptic: Ghost hunters practice 'pseudoscience'". Albany Times-Union. Retrieved 14 December 2009.
49. Skeptic's Dictionary on Levitation
50. Randi, James (1989). The Faith Healers. Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975-535-0.
51. David Vernon in Skeptical - a Handbook of Pseudoscience and the Paranormal, ed Donald Laycock, David Vernon, Colin Groves, Simon Brown, Imagecraft, Canberra, 1989, ISBN 0-7316-5794-2, p47
52. ""Psychic surgery" -- 40 (3): 184 -- CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians". Retrieved 2007-07-28.
53. Carroll, Robert Todd. "Psychic Surgery". The Skeptic's Dictionary. Retrieved 2007-07-28.
54. "Psychic surgeon charged". The Filipino Reporter. June 17–23, 2005. Retrieved 2007-07-28.
55. Vyse, Stuart A. (1997). Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition. Oxford University Press US. p. 129. ISBN 0195136349. ost scientists, both psychologists and physicists, agree that it has yet to be convincingly demonstrated.
56. Stableford, Brian M (2006). Science fact and science fiction: an encyclopedia. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-97460-7.
57. "Russian Alien Spaceship Claims Raise Eyebrows, Skepticism", Robert Roy Britt, SPACE.com
58. The Universe, LIFE Science Library, 1970.
59. National Science Foundation (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."
60. Randi, James (16 July 2004 "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)
61. Maloney, Shannon-Bridget. "Be Wary of Attachment Therapy". Retrieved 2007-11-17.
62. 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
63. ^ 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); Invalid |ref=harv (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
64. Haldeman, Douglas C. (1999-12). "The Pseudo-science of Sexual Orientation Conversion Therapy" (PDF). ANGLES: the Policy Journal of the Institute for Gay and Lesbian Strategic Studies. 4 (1). Retrieved 2010-11-07. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)
65. "Position Statement on Therapies Focused on Attempts to Change Sexual Orientation (Reparative or Conversion Therapies)" (Document). American Psychiatric Association. 2000Template:Inconsistent citations {{cite document}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |accessdate= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |format= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |url= ignored (help)CS1 maint: postscript (link)
66. "Just the Facts About Sexual Orientation & Youth: A Primer for Principals, Educators and School Personnel" (Document). Just the Facts Coalition. 1999Template:Inconsistent citations {{cite document}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |accessdate= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |url= ignored (help)CS1 maint: postscript (link)
67. Glassgold, JM (2009-08-01). "Report of the American Psychological Association Task Force on Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation" (Document). American Psychological AssociationTemplate:Inconsistent citations {{cite document}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |accessdate= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |format= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |url= ignored (help)CS1 maint: postscript (link)
68. "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.'"
69. "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"
70. 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."
71. ^ James W. Polichak, "Memes as Pseudoscience", in Michael Shermer, Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience. P. 664f.
72. Schmidt, Helmut (1969). "Clairvoyance Tests with a Machine'". Journal of Parapsychology. 33. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
73. Schmidt, Helmut (1970). "PK Experiments with Animals as Subjects". Journal of Parapsychology. 34. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
74. Schmidt, Helmut (1973). "PK Tests with a High Speed Random Number Generator'". Journal of Parapsychology. 37. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
75. Magendie, F (1843) An Elementary Treatise on Human Physiology. 5th Ed. Tr. John Revere. New York: Harper, note: "pseudo-science" (p.150).
76. Fodor, JA. (1983) The Modularity of Mind. MIT Press. p.14, 23, 131
77. Primal therapy homepage
78. Moore, Timothy (2001). Primal Therapy. Gale Group. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
79. Merkin, Daphne (September 5, 2004). "Psychoanalysis: Is It Science or Is It Toast?". New York Times. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); More than one of |work= and |journal= specified (help)
80. Currie, G; Musgrave, A (eds) (1985) “Popper and the Human Sciences (Nijhoff International Philosophy Series)” SpringerVerlag, pp13-44
81. Popper KR, "Science: Conjectures and Refutations", reprinted in Grim P (1990) Philosophy of Science and the Occult, Albany, pp. 104–110
82. Cioffi, Frank (1985). "Psychoanalysis, Pseudo-Science and Testability". In Currie, Gregory; Musgrave, Alan (eds.). Popper and the human sciences. Springer. ISBN 9789024729982.. Reprinted in Cioffi, Frank (1998). Freud and the question of pseudoscience. Open Court. ISBN 9780812693850.
83. "Urban Legends Reference Pages: Business (Subliminal Advertising)". The Urban Legends Reference Pages. Retrieved 2006-08-11.
84. ^ Westen et al. 2006 "Psychology: Australian and New Zealand edition" John Wiley.
85. Attention: This template ({{cite doi}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by doi:10.1002/mar.4220050405, please use {{cite journal}} (if it was published in a bona fide academic journal, otherwise {{cite report}} with |doi=10.1002/mar.4220050405 instead.
86. ^ National Science Foundation survey: Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Public Understanding. Science Fiction and Pseudoscience.
87. ^ Alexandra Frean, Education Editor. Universities drop degree courses in alternative medicine. Universities are increasingly turning their backs on homoeopathy and complementary medicine amid opposition from the scientific community to 'pseudo-science' degrees. The Times, January 30, 2009
88. Zoë Corbyn. Experts criticise 'pseudo-scientific' complementary medicine degrees. Times Higher Education 24 April 2008
89. Roger Highfield. Alternative medicine degrees 'anti-scientific'. The Daily Telegraph March 22, 2007
90. 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
91. Klotter, Jule (2006). "Anthroposophical Medicine". Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients. 24 (1): 274. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
92. Helmut Kiene, Complementary Methodology in Clinical Research - Cognition-based Medicine, Springer Publishers: Heidelberg, New York. 2001. ISBN 3-540-41022-8
93. "Miscellaneous Holistic Remedies". Holistic Online. Retrieved 2008-02-09.
94. "The Position of Anthroposophic Medicine". Internationale Vereinigung Anthroposophischer Ärztegesellschaften (International Federation of Anthroposophic Medical Associations). Archived from the original on 2008-02-22. Retrieved 2008-02-09. "Some medicines are similar to herbal medicinal products, some are prepared according to the guidelines of homeopathic pharmacopoeias."
95. Alm, JS; Swartz, J; Lilja, G; Scheynius, A; Pershagen, G (1999). "Atopy in children of families with an anthroposophic lifestyle" (PDF). Lancet. 353 (9163): 1485–8. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(98)09344-1. PMID 10232315. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |author-name-separator= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |author-separator= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
96. 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. PMID 16387585. Retrieved 2008-03-03. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
97. Klotter, Jule. "Anthroposophic lifestyle & allergies in children.(Shorts)." Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients 274 (May 2006): 24(2).
98. ^ Carroll, Robert. "anthroposophic medicine". Skeptic's Dictionary. Retrieved 2008-02-09.
99. Hansson, Sven Ove (1991). "Is Anthroposophy Science?". Conceptus. XXV (64): 37–49. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help) "The claims that anthroposophy is a science are not justified."
100. Ernst, Edzard (2006). "Mistletoe as a treatment for cancer". BMJ. 333 (7582): 1282. doi:10.1136/bmj.39055.493958.80. PMC 1761165. PMID 17185706. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help) "Anthroposophic drugs are based on ancient alchemistic and homeopathic notions, far removed from the concepts of pharmacology."
101. Heusser, Peter, Akademische Forschung in der Anthroposophischen Medizin, Komplementäre Medizin im interdisziplinären Diskurs, Volume 3. Bern: Peter Lang, 1999
102. List of publications through 2009
103. Publications regarding anthroposophical mistletoe preparations
104. Ernst, Edzard, "Anthroposophical Medicine: A systematic review of randomised clinical trials." Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift, ISSN 0043-5325, 2004, vol. 116, no4, pp. 128–130
105. University of Witten/Herdecke
106. University of Bern
107. Quackenbush, Thomas R. (2000). Better Eyesight The complete magazines of William H. Bates. North Atlantic Books. p. age 643. ISBN 1-55643-351-4.
108. Worrall, Russell S. (12 September 2007 "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)
109. Pollack P. (1956). "Chapter 3: Fallacies of the Bates System". The Truth about Eye Exercises. Philadelphia: Chilton Co. {{cite book}}: External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
110. 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."
111. 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."
112. Robyn E. Bradley (September 23, 2003). "Advocates See Only Benefits From Eye Exercises" (PDF). The Boston Globe (MA).
113. 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. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
114. Randi, James (11 November 2006 "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)
115. "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."
116. 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."
117. Hines, Terence (1998). "Comprehensive Review of Biorhythm Theory" (pdf (summary)). Psychological Reports. 83 (1): 19–64. doi:10.2466/PR0.83.5.19-64. PMID 9775660. Retrieved 2008-02-20. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help) "The conclusion is that biorhythm theory is not valid."
118. ^ Smith, SE (1993). "Body Memories: And Other Pseudo-Scientific Notions of "Survivor Psychology"". Issues in Child Abuse Accusations. 5 (4). {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
119. Scott O. Lilienfeld SO; Lynn SJ; Lohr JM, ed. (2002). Science and Pseudoscience in Clinical Psychology. The Guilford Press. ISBN 1572308281.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
120. "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.
121. About Brain Gym
122. "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.
123. Goswami, Usha (2006). "Neuroscience and education: from research to practice?" (fee required). Nature. 7 (5): 406–413. doi:10.1038/nrn1907. PMID 16607400. 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}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
124. "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.
125. 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}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
126. "News in brief". London: The Times. 5 April 2008. 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.
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133. Johnson, T. (1999-12). "Angry scientists fight university's attempt to affiliate with chiropractic college". Canadian Medical Association Journal. 160: 99–100. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)
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137. Assendelft WJ, Morton SC, Yu EI, Suttorp MJ, Shekelle PG (2004). Assendelft, Willem JJ (ed.). "Spinal manipulative therapy for low back pain". Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (1): CD000447. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD000447.pub2. PMID 14973958. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
138. Ernst E (2008). "Chiropractic: a critical evaluation". Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. 35 (5): 544–62. doi:10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2007.07.004. PMID 18280103. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
139. Thiel HW, Bolton JE, Docherty S, Portlock JC (2007). "Safety of chiropractic manipulation of the cervical spine: a prospective national survey". Spine. 32 (21): 2375–8, discussion 2379. doi:10.1097/BRS.0b013e3181557bb1. PMID 17906581. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
140. Ernst E (2007). "Adverse effects of spinal manipulation: a systematic review". Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 100 (7): 330–8. doi:10.1258/jrsm.100.7.330. PMC 1905885. PMID 17606755. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
141. Vohra S, Johnston BC, Cramer K, Humphreys K (2007). "Adverse events associated with pediatric spinal manipulation: a systematic review". Pediatrics. 119 (1): e275–83. doi:10.1542/peds.2006-1392. PMID 17178922. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
142. Barrett, Stephen (31 July 2008). "Chiropractic's Dirty Secret: Neck Manipulation and Strokes". Quackwatch. Retrieved 2009-01-06.
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144. "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."
145. ^ "Applied Kinesiology". American Cancer Society. 23 May 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-27. "Available scientific evidence does not support the claim that applied kinesiology can diagnose or treat cancer or other illness."
146. "Applied Kinesiology". Natural Standard. 1 July 2005. Retrieved 2008-01-27. "applied kinesiology has not been shown to be effective for the diagnosis or treatment of any disease."
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150. Barrett, S (2008-03-09). "Gastrointestinal Quackery: Colonics, Laxatives, and More". Quackwatch. Retrieved 2008-09-02.
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153. Carroll, Robert Todd. "crystal power". The Skeptic's Dictionary. Retrieved 2007-07-28.
154. Stephen S. Carey. A Beginner's Guide to Scientific Method. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing. ISBN 0-534-58450-0.
155. Röösli M, Moser M, Baldinini Y, Meier M, Braun-Fahrländer C (2004). "Symptoms of ill health ascribed to electromagnetic field exposure--a questionnaire survey". International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health. 207 (2): 141–50. doi:10.1078/1438-4639-00269. PMID 15031956. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
156. Rubin, G James (2005). "Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity: A Systematic Review of Provocation Studies". Psychosomatic Medicine. 67 (2): 224–232. doi:10.1097/01.psy.0000155664.13300.64. PMID 15784787. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
157. Goldacre, Ben. "Electrosensitives: the new cash cow of the woo industry". Retrieved 2007-11-17.
158. "Electromagnetic fields and public health". Retrieved 2007-11-17.
159. National Science Foundation (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... Polls also show that one quarter to more than half of the public believes in ... faith healing."
160. Frazier, Kendrick (2005-01). "In the Land of Galileo, Fifth World Skeptics Congress Solves Mysteries, Champions Scientific Outlook". Skeptical Inquirer. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Archived from the original on 2007-10-17. Retrieved 2007-12-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) "The majority of rigorous trials show no effect beyond placebo." (Edzard Ernst)
161. Rev. Charles Capps, Concepts of Faith.
162. Kayne SB, Caldwell IM (2006), Homeopathic pharmacy: theory and practice (2 ed.), Elsevier Health Sciences, p. 52.
163. Goldacre, Ben (17 November 2007). "Benefits and Risks of Homoeopathy". The Lancet. 370 (9600): 1672. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61706-1. PMID 18022024. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (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."
164. "Homoeopathy's benefit questioned". BBC News. 25 August 2005. 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.""
165. "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"
166. "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."
167. CSICOP, cited in National Science Foundation 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.
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169. 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."
170. "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)."
171. "What is Homeopathy". American Cancer Society. 5 January 2000. Archived from the original on 2008-01-20. Retrieved 2008-01-30. "Most scientists say homeopathic remedies are basically water and can act only as placebos."
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178. "Iridology". Natural Standard. 7 July 2005. Retrieved 2008-02-01. "Research suggests that iridology is not an effective method to diagnose or help treat any specific medical condition."
179. Ernst, E (2000). "Iridology: not useful and potentially harmful". Archives of ophthalmology. 118 (1): 120–1. PMID 10636425. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |author-name-separator= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |author-separator= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
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181. Park, Robert L. (2000). "pp.58-63, quote p.61". Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud. New York, New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-513515-6  "Not only are magnetic fields of no value in healing, you might characterize these as "homeopathic" magnetic fields." {{cite book}}: External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: postscript (link)
182. National Science Foundation (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."
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185. 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. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help) (page 512)
186. ^ Robert Todd Carroll (2003). John Wiley and Sons (ed.). The Skeptic's Dictionary. John Wiley and Sons. pp. 45–4?. ISBN 0471272426. (Pseudoscience and Ayurvedic medicine entries in the online version)
187. Pilkington, Mark (15 April 2004). "A vibe for radionics". The Guardian. London. 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.'"
188. "10 lesser-known alternative therapies". British Broadcasting Corporation. 23 May 2006. 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."
189. "What is Radionics". The Radionic Association. Archived from the original on 2008-01-15. 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. "
190. "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."
191. 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. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameters: |coeditors= and |coauthors= (help)
192. Wallace, Sampson (24 March 1998). ""Therapeutic Touch" Fails a Rare Scientific Test". CSICOP News. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Archived from the original on 2007-10-13. 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."
193. O'Mathuna, DP (2003/2006). O'Mathúna, Dónal P (ed.). "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= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
194. 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."
195. "Energy Medicine: An Overview". National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 24 October 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-05. "neither the external energy fields nor their therapeutic effects have been demonstrated convincingly by any biophysical means."
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200. Barrett, Stephen (December 30, 2007). "Be Wary of Acupuncture, Qigong, and "Chinese Medicine"". Quackwatch. Retrieved 2009-01-04.
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205. ^ Felix Mann: "...acupuncture points are no more real than the black spots that a drunkard sees in front of his eyes." (Mann F. Reinventing Acupuncture: A New Concept of Ancient Medicine. Butterworth Heinemann, London, 1996,14.) Quoted by Matthew Bauer in Chinese Medicine Times, Vol 1 Issue 4 - Aug 2006, "The Final Days of Traditional Beliefs? - Part One"
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214. Furlan AD, van Tulder MW, Cherkin DC; et al. (2005). Furlan, Andrea D (ed.). "Acupuncture and dry-needling for low back pain". Cochrane database of systematic reviews (Online) (1): CD001351. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD001351.pub2. PMID 15674876. {{cite journal}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |author= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
215. Lee A, Done ML (2004). Lee, Anna (ed.). "Stimulation of the wrist acupuncture point P6 for preventing postoperative nausea and vomiting". Cochrane database of systematic reviews (Online) (3): CD003281. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD003281.pub2. PMID 15266478. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
216. Acupuncture: Review and Analysis of Reports on Controlled Clinical Trials. World Health Organization, 2003. Section 3. Section 3 (HTML);
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220. Stenger, Victor J. (1998-06). "Reality Check: the energy fields of life". Skeptical Briefs. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Archived from the original on 2007-12-11. Retrieved 2007-12-25. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help) "Despite complete scientific rejection, the concept of a special biological fields within living things remains deeply engraved in human thinking. It is now working its way into modern health care systems, as non-scientific alternative therapies become increasingly popular. From acupuncture to homeopathy and therapeutic touch, the claim is made that healing can be brought about by the proper adjustment of a person's or animal's "bioenergetic fields.""
221. "Traditional Medicine and Pseudoscience in China: A Report of the Second CSICOP Delegation (Part 2)". CSICOP. Retrieved 2009-02-15.
222. "Traditional Chinese Medicine: Overview of Herbal Medicines". Complementary/Integrative Medicine Therapies. The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. Retrieved 2009-02-12.
223. Yuehua, N; Chen, J; Wu, T; Jiafu, W; Liu, G; Chen, Jin (2004). Chen, Jin (ed.). "Chinese medicinal herbs for sore throat (Review)". doi:10.1002/14651858.CD004877. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)
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225. Normile, Dennis (2003). "ASIAN MEDICINE: the New Face of Traditional Chinese Medicine". Science. 299 (5604): 188–190. doi:10.1126/science.299.5604.188. PMID 12522228. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
226. Gardner, Martin (2001). Did Adam and Eve Have Navels?: Debunking Pseudoscience. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. pp. 92–101. ISBN 0-393-32238-6.
227. Williams, William A. (2000). Encyclopedia of pseudoscience. New York: Facts on File. ISBN 0-8160-3351-X.
228. {{cite magazine|first=Carl |last=Sagan |url=http://www.godslasteraar.org/assets/ebooks/Sagan_Carl_Does_truth_matter_-_Science_pseudoscience_and_civilization_-_includes_related_articles.pdf |title=Does Truth Matter? Science, Pseudoscience, and Civilization|publication= Skeptical Inquirer|year=1996|ref=harv}
229. ^ Till, Farrell (1990). "What About Scientific Foreknowledge in the Bible?" (self published). The Skeptical Review. pp. 2–5. {{cite magazine}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
230. Parkins, Michael D. (2001-03). "Pharmacological Practices of Ancient Egypt" (PDF). Proceedings of the 10th Annual History of Medicine. Retrieved 2010-11-07. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
231. ^ statement from the International Council for Science.ICSU Insight
232. National Academy of Science (1999). Science and Creationism: A View from the National Academy of Sciences, 2nd edition. National Academy Press. p. 48.
233. ASP: Astronomical Pseudo-Science: A Skeptic's Resource List
234. Young, Davis A. (1995). The biblical Flood: a case study of the Church's response to extrabiblical evidence. Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans. p. 340. ISBN 0-8028-0719-4. Retrieved 2008-09-16.
235. Index to Creationist Claims: Geology, Mark Isaak (ed.), TalkOrigins Archive
236. Such as the existence of the geologic column; see Glenn Morton, The Geologic Column and its Implications for the Flood, TalkOrigins Archive
237. Isaak 2007 harvnb error: no target: CITEREFIsaak2007 (help) page 173, Creationist claim CD750: "Much geological evidence is incompatible with catastrophic plate tectonics."
238. 21st Century Geocentrism
239. http://www.theskepticsguide.org/archive/podcastinfo.aspx?mid=1&pid=270
240. The TWiT Netcast Network with Leo Laporte
241. 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
242. ^ 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."
243. "We therefore find that Professor Behe’s claim for irreducible complexity has been refuted in peer-reviewed research papers and has been rejected by the scientific community at large." Ruling, Judge John E. Jones III, Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District
244. "True in this latest creationist variant, advocates of so-called intelligent design ... use more slick, pseudoscientific language. They talk about things like 'irreducible complexity'" —
     Shulman, Seth (2006). Undermining science: suppression and distortion in the Bush Administration. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 13. ISBN 0-520-24702-7. "for most members of the mainstream scientific community, ID is not a scientific theory, but a creationist pseudoscience."
     David Mu (Fall 2005). "Trojan Horse or Legitimate Science: Deconstructing the Debate over Intelligent Design" (PDF). Harvard Science Review. 19 (1). {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
     Perakh M (2005 Summer). "Why Intelligent Design Isn't Intelligent — Review of: Unintelligent Design". Cell Biol Educ. 4 (2): 121–2. doi:10.1187/cbe.05-02-0071. PMC 1103713. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)
     Mark D. Decker. College of Biological Sciences, General Biology Program, University of Minnesota Frequently Asked Questions About the Texas Science Textbook Adoption Controversy "The Discovery Institute and ID proponents have a number of goals that they hope to achieve using disingenuous and mendacious methods of marketing, publicity, and political persuasion. They do not practice real science because that takes too long, but mainly because this method requires that one have actual evidence and logical reasons for one's conclusions, and the ID proponents just don't have those. If they had such resources, they would use them, and not the disreputable methods they actually use."
245. Than, Ker (September 23, 2005). "Why scientists dismiss 'intelligent design' - LiveScience". msnbc.com. Retrieved 2010-05-17.
246. Christopher Riche Evans (1974). Cults of Unreason. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 0-374-13324-7. Chapter 6.
247. Russell Miller. Bare-faced messiah: The true story of L. Ron Hubbard. Key Porter. ISBN 0805006540.
248. Dr. Peter Banys in the SF Chronicle
249. defined as pseudoscience at Skeptic's Dictionary
250. "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
251. Edwin Joshua Dukes, The Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics, T & T Clark, Edinburgh, 1971, p 834
252. Monty Vierra. Harried by "Hellions" in Taiwan. Sceptical Briefs newsletter, March 1997.
253. Dukes, op cit, p 833
254. Park, Robert L (2000) p.39 " 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."
255. Stenger, Victor J. (1997-01). "Quantum Quackery". Skeptical Inquirer. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Archived from the original on 2008-01-17. 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."
256. Gell-Mann, Murray (1995). The Quark and the Jaguar: Adventures in the Simple and Complex. Macmillan. p. 168. ISBN 0805072535. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (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?"
257. Kuttner, Fred (2006-11). "Teaching physics mysteries versus pseudoscience". Physics Today. American Institute of Physics. Archived from the original on 2007-11-15. 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."
258. 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."
259. 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)
260. Gardner, M. "Zero Point Energy and Harold Puthoff" in Skeptical Inquirer, May/June 1998, p. 13. On the misuse of some physics ideas and cosmology.
261. Ball, Philip (September 14, 2007). "Burning water and other myths". Nature News. Retrieved 2008-08-19.
262. cosmetics – Bad Science
263. McLaughlin, Martyn (2007-12-20). "Pseudo science can't cover up the ugly truth". The Scotsman. Edinburgh.
264. Gould, Stephen Jay (1981). The Mismeasure of Man. New York, NY: W W Norton and Co. pp. 28–29. ISBN 0-393-01489-4. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (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."
265. Kurtz, Paul (2004-09). "Can the Sciences Help Us to Make Wise Ethical Judgments?". Skeptical Inquirer Magazine. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Archived from the original on 2007-11-23. Retrieved 2007-12-01. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (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."
266. Skeptinq, Ortiz de Montellano, B. R. 1993. “Afrocentricity, Melanin, and Pseudoscience," Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 36, 33-58
267. Ortiz de Montellano, Bernard R. (December 17, 2006). "Afrocentric Pseudoscience: The Miseducation of African Americans". Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 775 (1 Phagocytes). New York Academy of Sciences: 561–572. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1996.tb23174.x. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
268. Проблемы борьбы с лженаукой (обсуждение в Президиуме РАН) — Вестник Российской академии наук 1999, том 69, № 10, с. 879—904
269. Чем угрожает обществу лженаука? (заседание Президиума РАН) 2003.
270. Morten Monrad Pedersen, Was the First Queen of Denmark a Man?, Skeptic Report, November 2002. Retrieved 9 October 2007.
271. James H. Billington, Russia in Search of Itself, (Washington: Woodrow Wilson Center Press / Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press), 2004, pp. 82-4.
272. "les conceptions fantasmagoriques de Fomenko sur la « nouvelle chronologie » mondiale." Marlène Laruelle, Review of James H. Billington, Russia in search of itself, Washington, D.C., Woodrow Wilson Center Press / Baltimore — London, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004; Cahiers du Monde Russe, 45/3-4, pp. 736-7.
273. H. G. van Bueren, "Mathematics and Logic", Review of A. T. Fomenko, Empirico-Statistical Analysis of Narrative Materials and its Applications to Historical Dating, 2 vols, (Dordrecht: Kluwer) 1994, in Annals of Science, 53 (1996): 206-207.
274. "No Neutrinos". Society for the Advancement of Autodynamics. Retrieved 2008-02-07.
275. Philipkoski, Kristen (13 July 1999). "Shedding Light in the Dark". Wired News. Retrieved 2008-02-07. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help) "Mainstream physicists have considered autodynamics a crackpot theory for decades"
276. 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.
277. 't Hooft, Gerard (2008). "Editorial note". Foundations of Physics. 38 (1): 1–2. doi:10.1007/s10701-007-9187-8. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
278. Byron Preiss (1985). The Planets. Bantam Books. p. 27. ISBN 0553051091.
279. Fowler (1990), pp 281 & 320-327; Duff (1993), pp 609–613; Stanley (1999), pp 223–226
280. Bucher, K. (2005). "Blueschists, eclogites, and decompression assemblages of the Zermatt-Saas ophiolite: High-pressure metamorphism of subducted Tethys lithosphere". American Mineralogist. 90 (5–6): 821. doi:10.2138/am.2005.1718Template:Inconsistent citations {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)CS1 maint: postscript (link)
281. Van Der Lee, Suzan; Nolet, Guust (1997). "Seismic image of the subducted trailing fragments of the Farallon plate". Nature. 386 (6622): 266. doi:10.1038/386266a0Template:Inconsistent citations {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)CS1 maint: postscript (link)
282. Erico Guizzo (January 2009). "Loser: Hot or Not?". IEEE Spectrum. Why it's a loser: Most experts don't believe such lower states exist, and they say the experiments don't present convincing evidence. (part of Winners & Losers VI, by Philip E. Ross in the same publication)
283. Morrison, Chris (2008-10-21). "Blacklight Power bolsters its impossible claims of a new renewable energy source". New York Times.
284. Martin Gardner (1957). Fads And Fallacies In The Name Of Science. Dover Publications. pp. 69–79. ISBN 978-0486203942. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
285. Winfield, Mel E. (2004). The Science of Actuality. Vancouver: University Press. ISBN 0-9739347-0-0.
286. Ousiograph, Dressler, Cases and Materials on Criminal Law, Fourth Edition, pages 648-655, 2007
287. Goldacre, Ben (27 January 2005). "Testing the water". The Guardian. London: Guardian News and Media, Ltd. Retrieved 2008-04-29. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
288. Water Cluster Quackery. The junk science of structure-altered waters, Stephen Lower
289. Rousseau, Denis L. (1992-01). "Case Studies in Pathological Science". American Scientist. 80 (1): 54–63. Bibcode:1992AmSci..80...54R. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)
290. Dynamics of Hyperspace
291. The Timewave: The Zero Date
292. Kruglyakov, Edward P. "Pseudoscience. How Does It Threaten Science and the Public? Report at a RAN Presidium meeting of 27 May 2003". Zdraviy Smysl. Saint Petersburg Branch of the Russian Humanist Society.
293. Science gone wrong

Further reading

• Singer, Barry; Abell, George O. (1983). Science and the paranormal: probing the existence of the supernatural. New York: Scribner. ISBN 0-684-17820-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Collins, Paul (2002). Banvard's folly: thirteen tales of people who didn't change the world. New York: Picador USA. ISBN 0-312-30033-6.
• Gardner, Martin (1957). Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science (2nd, revised & expanded ed.). Mineola, New York: Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-20394-8. Retrieved 14 November 2010  Originally published 1952 by G.P. Putnam's Sons, under the title In the Name of Science {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)CS1 maint: postscript (link)
• Gardner, Martin (1981). Science--good, bad and bogus. Buffalo, N.Y: Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975-144-4.
• Randi, James (1982). Flim-flam!: psychics, ESP, unicorns, and other delusions. Buffalo, N.Y: Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975-198-3.
• Sagan, Carl (1997). The demon-haunted world: science as a candle in the dark. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-40946-9.
• Vaughn, Lewis; Schick, Theodore (1999). How to think about weird things: critical thinking for a new age. Mountain View, Calif: Mayfield Pub. ISBN 0-7674-0013-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Shermer, Michael (2002). Why people believe weird things: pseudoscience, superstition, and other confusions of our time. New York: A.W.H. Freeman/Owl Book. ISBN 0-8050-7089-3.

External links

• 'Reading room' of Skeptic Society website. Various articles on pseudoscience and related topics can be found here at any given time.
• Essays by Michael Shermer at Scientific American. Shermer is a regular contributor to Scientific American, writing a column dealing with issues relating to skepticism and pseudoscience.

• Fringe science
• Paranormal
• Pseudoscience
• Scientific skepticism