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List of topics characterized as pseudoscience

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This is a list of topics characterized as pseudoscience by organizations within the international scientific community, by notable skeptical organizations, or by notable academics or researchers. Besides explicitly using the word "pseudoscience", some may also have used synonyms that help to explain why they consider a topic to be pseudoscientific. The existence of such expressed opinions suffices for inclusion in this list, and therefore inclusion does not necessarily indicate that any given entry is in fact pseudoscience. Opposing points of view exist and are presented in the main article for each subject listed below. Also included are important concepts associated with the main entries, and concepts that, while notable and self-evidently pseudoscientific, have not elicited commentary from mainstream scientific bodies or skeptical organizations. Notable parodies of pseudoscientific concepts are also included.

Some subjects in this list may be questioned aspects of otherwise legitimate fields of research, or have legitimate ongoing scientific research associated with them. For instance, while some proposed explanations for hypnosis have been criticized for being pseudoscientific, the phenomenon is generally accepted as real and scientific explanations exist. Some subjects and methods are included because certain claims regarding them are pseudoscientific, even though the subjects themselves may be legitimate, or the methods themselves may have some efficacy, thus indicating it is the claims that are pseudoscientific, and not necessarily the subjects or methods.

Astronomy and space sciences

  • 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.[3][4][5][6][7]
  • Erich Von Däniken proposed that Earth was visited by ancient astronauts.[1] Such beings have been claimed to have initiated the rise of human civilization or provided significant technological assistance to various ancient civilizations.[8][9]
  • The Face on Mars (in Cydonia Mensae) is a rock formation on Mars asserted to be evidence of intelligent, native life on the planet.[1] High resolution images taken recently show it to appear less face-like. It features prominently in the work of Richard C. Hoagland.
  • Lunar effect is the belief that the full moon influences human behavior.[1]

Earth and Earth sciences

  • Continental drift is a theory which suggests the major continents of the Earth move into different positions over geological time. This was long considered to be pseudoscience.[12] It was later recognized as a solid theory when more evidence of the existence of Pangea appeared and when abundant evidence for sea floor spreading and subduction was discovered during the 1950s and 60s. The concept was replaced with plate tectonics.

Paranormal and Ufology

Paranormal subjects[1][6][13][14] have been subject to critiques from a wide range of sources including the following claims of paranormal significance:

  • Animal mutilations are 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.[8]
  • Channeling is the communication of information to or through a person allegedly from a spirit or other paranormal entity.[15]
  • Crop circles are geometric designs of crushed or knocked-over crops created in a field. Aside from skilled farmers or pranksters working through the night, explanations for their formation include UFOs and anomalous, tornado-like air currents.[1] The study of crop circles has become known as "cerealogy".[16]
  • Dowsing refers to practices said to enable one to detect hidden water, metals, gemstones or other objects. [20]
  • Levitation, in this sense, is the act of rising up from the ground without any physical aids, usually by the power of thought.
  • Materialization is the supposed creation or appearance of matter from unknown sources.
  • Pseudoarchaeology is the investigation of the ancient past using alleged paranormal or other means which have not been validated by mainstream science.[8]
  • Psychokinesis is the paranormal ability of the mind to influence matter or energy at a distance.
  • Séances are ritualized attempts to communicate with the dead.[8]
  • Tutankhamun's curse was allegedly placed on the discoverers of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb, causing widespread deaths and other disastrous events.[8]
  • Close encounters are events where persons witness UFOs, or purportedly meet and/or communicate with alien beings.

Psychology

  • Attachment therapy is the common name for a set of potentially fatal[37] 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."[38] (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.[8] Despite its name it is not based on attachment theory or research.[39] 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).[40] 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.[40]
  • Biological psychiatry is an approach to psychiatry that aims to understand mental disorder in terms of the biological function of the nervous system. Psychiatrists Colin A. Ross and Alvin Pam[41] argue that 'the legitimacy and cultural authority granted to an objective and value-free science is undeserved by biologic psychiatry' and that 'the valid notion of investigating constitutional determinants of psychological disorders has been coopted by a biomedical reductionist ideology.'[42] Such sentiments and conflicting results of scientific research[43][44] have spawned the Biopsychiatry controversy and ADHD controversy.
  • Graphology is a 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.[8][46][47][48] Graphology is only superficially related to forensic document examination, which also examines handwriting.
  • The Polygraph (lie detector) is an instrument that measures and records several physiological responses such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, breathing rhythms, body temperature and skin conductivity while the subject is asked and answers a series of questions, on the theory that false answers will produce distinctive measurements. There is little scientific evidence to support the reliability of polygraphs.[49][50] Despite claims of 90% - 95% reliability, critics charge that rather than a "test", the method amounts to an inherently unstandardizable interrogation technique whose accuracy cannot be established. A 1997 survey of 421 psychologists estimated the test's average accuracy at about 61%, a little better than chance.[51]
  • Primal therapy is sometimes presented as a science.[54] 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."[55] Other sources have also questioned the scientific validity of primal therapy, some using the term "pseudoscience" (see Criticism of Primal Therapy).
  • Psychoanalysis is a 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.[56] Karl Popper characterized it as pseudoscience based on psychoanalysis failing the requirement for falsifiability.[57][58] 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 [Freud] insists that he has confirmed (not just instantiated) [his empirical theses] that he is being pseudoscientific."[59]
  • Subliminal perception is visual or auditory information that is discerned below the threshold of conscious awareness and has an effect on human behavior. It went into disrepute in the late 1970s [60] but there has been renewed research interest recently.[8][61][62]

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 [with the public] appears to be increasing."[63] "At least 60 percent of U.S. medical schools devote classroom time to the teaching of alternative therapies, generating controversy within the scientific community."[63] 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."[64] Degrees in alternative medicine have been described as "'pseudo-science' degrees",[63][64][65] "anti-scientific", and "harmful".[66]
  • Anthroposophic medicine, or Anthroposophically extended medicine, is a school of complementary medicine[67] 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.[68][69] Medications are formulated to stimulate healing by matching "key dynamic forces" with symptoms,[70] and are prepared for external, oral, or parenteral introduction in various dilutions ranging from whole to homeopathic.[71] The use of vaccinations, antibiotics, and antipyretics is generally restricted or delayed.[72][73][74] Skeptic Robert Carroll likens to sympathetic magic the principle that curative plants may be identified by distortions or abnormalities in their morphology or physiology.[75] Carroll and others state that the system is not based in science.[75][76][77] No thorough scientific analysis of the efficacy of anthroposophical medicine as a system independent of its philosophical underpinnings has been undertaken; no evidence-based conclusion of the overall efficacy of the system can be made at this time.[78]
  • The Bates method for better eyesight is an educational method developed by ophthalmologist William Bates intended to improve vision "naturally" to the point at which it can allegedly eliminate the need for glasses by undoing a habitual strain to see.[79] 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,[80] though the complaint was later dismissed.[81] 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.[82][83][84][85][86]
  • Biorhythms – a 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.[8][87][88][89] For the scientific study of biological cycles such as circadian rhythms, see chronobiology.
  • Brain Gym – a commercial training program that claims that any learning challenges can be overcome by finding the right movements, to subsequently create new pathways in the brain. They claim that the repetition of the 26 Brain Gym movements "activates the brain for optimal storage and retrieval of information",[90] and are designed to "integrate body and mind" in order to improve "concentration, memory, reading, writing, organizing, listening, physical coordination, and more."[91] Its theoretical foundation has been thoroughly discredited by the scientific community, who describe it as pseudoscience.[92][93][94][95] 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".[96]
  • Applied Kinesiology (AK) is 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[114] or illness[115][116] is not scientifically supported, and the International College of Applied Kinesiology requires concurrent use of standard diagnostic techniques.[117] Applied kinesiologists are often chiropractors, but may also be naturopaths, physicians, dentists, nutritionists, physical therapists, massage therapists, and nurses.[115] Applied Kinesiology should not be confused with kinesiology, the scientific study of human movement.
  • Innate Intelligence is a 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."[118]
  • Vertebral subluxation is a uniquely Chiropractic term. It describes variously a site of impaired flow of innate or a spinal lesion resulting in neuromusculoskeletal or visceral dysfunction. Scientific consensus does not support the existence of chiropractic's vertebral subluxation.[119]
  • Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (EHS) is a reported sensitivity to electric and magnetic fields or electromagnetic radiation of various frequencies at exposure levels well below established safety standards. Symptoms are inconsistent, but can include headache, fatigue, difficulty sleeping, and similar non-specific indications.[123] Provocation studies find that the discomfort of sufferers is unrelated to hidden sources of radiation,[124][125] and "no scientific basis currently exists for a connection between EHS and exposure to [electromagnetic fields]."[126]
  • Homeopathy is the belief in giving a patient with symptoms of an illness extremely dilute solutions of substances that produce those same symptoms in healthy people given larger doses. These preparations are often diluted beyond the point where any treatment molecule is likely to remain. Studies of homeopathic practice have been largely negative or inconclusive.[129][130][131][132] No scientific basis for homeopathic principles has been substantiated.[14][133][134][135][136][137][138]
  • Hypnosis is a state of extreme relaxation and inner focus in which a person is unusually responsive to suggestions made by the hypnotist. The modern practice has its roots in the idea of animal magnetism, or mesmerism, originated by Franz Mesmer[139] and Though Mesmer's explanations were thoroughly discredited, hypnosis itself is today almost universally regarded as real.[8][62] It is clinically useful for e.g. pain management, but some claimed uses of hypnosis outside of hypnotherapy clearly fall within the area of pseudoscience. Such areas include the use of hypnotic regression beyond plausible limits, including past life regression.[140] Also see false memory syndrome.
  • Iridology is a means of medical diagnosis which proponents believe can identify and diagnose health problems through close examination of the markings and patterns of the iris. Practitioners divide the iris into 80-90 zones, each of which is connected to a particular body region or organ. This connection has not been scientifically validated, and disorder detection is neither selective nor specific.[141][142][143] 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.
  • Magnetic therapy is the 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.[8][144][145]
  • Maharishi's Ayurveda. Traditional Ayurveda is a 5,000 year old alternative medical practice with roots in ancient India based on a mind-body set of beliefs.[146][147] Imbalance or stress in an individual’s consciousness is believed to be the reason of diseases.[146] 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.[146][147] It has long been the main traditional system of health care in India,[147] and it has become institutionalized in India's colleges and schools, although unlicensed practitioners are common.[148] 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,[149] 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.[149]
  • Radionics is a means of medical diagnosis and therapy which proponents believe can diagnose and remedy health problems using various frequencies in a putative energy field coupled to the practitioner's electronic device. The first such "black box" devices were designed and promoted by Albert Abrams, and were definitively proven useless by an independent investigation commissioned by Scientific American in 1924.[150] The internal circuitry of radionics devices is often obfuscated and irrelevant, leading proponents to conjecture dowsing and ESP as operating principles.[151][152] 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.[153][154] 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 is a form of vitalism where a practitioner, who may be also a nurse,[155] passes his or her hands over and around a patient to "realign" or "rebalance" a putative energy field.[20] A recent Cochrane Review concluded that "[t]here is no evidence that [Therapeutic Touch] promotes healing of acute wounds."[156] No biophysical basis for such an energy field has been found.[157][158]
  • Acupuncture is the 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.[164][168] Some acupuncturists regard them as functional rather than structural entities, useful in guiding evaluation and care of patients.[162][169][170] 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,[171] and its effects and application remain controversial among Western medical researchers and clinicians.[171] Because it is a procedure rather than a pill, the design of controlled studies is challenging, as with surgical and other procedures.[162][171][172][173][174]: 126  Some scholarly reviews conclude that acupuncture's effects are mainly placebo,[175][176] and others find likelihood of efficacy for particular conditions.[171][177][178][179]
  • Acupuncture points or acupoints are a collection of several hundred points on the body lying along meridians. According to TCM theory, each corresponds to a particular organ or function.
  • Moxibustion is the application on or above the skin of smoldering mugwort, or moxa, to stimulate acupuncture points.
  • TCM materia medica is the 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.[184] Most preparations have not been rigorously evaluated or give no indication of efficacy.[167][185][186] Pharmacognosy research for potential active ingredients present in these preparations is active, though the applications do not always correspond to those of TCM.[187]
  • Zang-fu is the concept of organs as functional yin and yang entities for the storage and manipulation of qi.[160] 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.[188]
  • Vitalism is a 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. According to the Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience, "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."[189]

Religious and spiritual beliefs

Spiritual and religious practices and beliefs are normally not classified as pseudoscience.[190] The following have been related pseudoscience in some way, however:

  • Creationist cosmologies are ones which, among other things, allow for a universe that is only thousands of years old.
  • Flood geology is the creationist form of geology that advocates most of the geologic features on Earth are explainable by a global flood.
  • Modern geocentrism, citing uniform gamma-ray bursts distribution, and other arguments of this type, as evidence that we are at the center of the universe.
  • Intelligent design 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."[192] These features include:[4][191][193]
  • Irreducible complexity is the claim that some systems are so complex that they cannot have evolved from simpler systems. It is used by proponents of intelligent design to argue that evolution by natural selection alone is incomplete or flawed, and that some additional mechanism (an "Intelligent Designer") is required to explain the origins of life.
  • Specified complexity is the claim that when something is simultaneously complex and specified, one can infer that it was produced by an intelligent cause (i.e., that it was designed) rather than being the result of natural processes.
  • The Shroud of Turin is a length of linen cloth believed by some members of the Christian community to have been Jesus' death shroud.[8] Radiocarbon dating of the original material has shown that it dates from the 13th or 14th century,[204] though some claim that the material tested was not representative of the whole shroud.[205][206] Analyses of the paint and the herringbone twill weave of the cloth similarly point to a medieval origin.[207]

Energy

  • Hongcheng Magic Liquid is a pseudoscience incident in China where an inventor claimed that could turn water into a usable fuel by just adding a few drops of his "secret formula" liquid. The government 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.[208]
  • Water-fuelled cars are an instance of perpetual motion machines.[210] Such devices are claimed to use water as fuel or produce fuel from water onboard with no other energy input.

Other

  • Laundry balls are spherical or toroidal objects marketed as soap substitutes for washing machines.[8]
  • Melanin Theory is a belief founded in the distortion of known physical properties of melanin, a natural polymer, that posits the inherent superiority of Black people and the essential inhumanity and an inferiority of Whites.[213][214]
  • Memetics is an approach to evolutionary models of cultural information transfer based on the concept of the meme. 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 from several fronts. It has been called redundant, without physical basis, and a means for attacking others' beliefs as opposed to actual science.[215][216][217]

Idiosyncratic ideas

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

  • 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.[220]
  • Electrogravitics is based upon the original work of Nikola Tesla and advanced by Thomas Townsend Brown that attempts to connect gravity and electromagnetism.[222]
  • Lawsonomy was a proposed philosophy and system of claims about physics made by baseball player Alfred William Lawson.[223]
  • Kauko Armas Nieminen is a self-published Finnish autodidact proposing various alternative physical ideas.
  • Nucleonic energy is a technological concept developed by Canadian autodidact and inventor Mel Winfield.[224]
  • Ousiograph is a device created by schizophrenic Steven Green to detect the messages that are sent to one's brain.[225]
  • Penta Water is a claimed acoustically-induced structural reorganization of liquid water into long-lived small clusters of five molecules each. Neither these clusters nor their asserted benefits to humans have been shown to exist.[226][227]
  • Polywater is a hypothetical polymerized form of water proposed in the 1960s with a higher boiling point, lower freezing point, and much higher viscosity than ordinary water. It was later found not to exist, with the anomalous measurements being explained by biological contamination.[228]

Previously disputed unusual natural phenomena

Certain unusual natural phenomena have previously been considered pseudoscientific but are no longer doubted by modern science:

  • Ball lightning is a slow-moving, luminous sphere which is up to 30 cm in diameter, explanations for which have ranged from combusted hydrocarbon gas to "Will o' the wisp" creatures.[8] The phenomenon is now better understood[231] and contemporary scientific consensus clearly accepts the existence of a phenomenon which mimics some reports of ball lightning, but is on a much smaller scale.[232][233]
  • Meteorites are objects composed of stone and/or metal that fall from space onto the surface of the Earth. This was contested by skeptical scientists in the 18th century, especially those of the French Academy. Ernst Chladni demonstrated their celestial origin in 1794, and a substantial fall of meteorites in France in 1803 dispersed the skepticism.[234]

Parody pseudoscience

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

  • Dihydrogen monoxide hoax dhmo.org is a web site purporting to be set up by concerned citizens to examine "the controversy surrounding dihydrogen monoxide" including evidence of its environmental, health, and other problems. Dihydrogen Monoxide is H2O (also known as water).[235]
  • Turboencabulator is a hoax invention that relies on technobabble and incongruous use of jargon to give the appearance of a legitimate invention when it is, in fact, nonsense.

See also

Notes and references

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k article on the website of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.Astronomical Pseudo-Science: A Skeptic's Resource List (Version 3.0; August 2003)
  2. ^ Knier, Gil (2001-03-30). "The Moon Landing Hoax". NASA. Retrieved 2007-12-02. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help) "Did we actually send humans to the Moon in the 1960's? Of course we did!"
  3. ^ "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."
  4. ^ a b c statement from the California Academy of Sciences.[1]
  5. ^ a b c statement from the Iowa Academy of Science.[2]
  6. ^ a b c statement from the Russian Academy of Sciences.[3]
  7. ^ 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... 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."
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t entry in The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience.
  9. ^ 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."
  10. ^ Brendan O'Neill (2008-08-04). "Do they really think the earth is flat?". BBC News.
  11. ^ Plinio Prioreschi (1998). Edwin Mellen Press (ed.). A history of medicine. p. xxxv. ISBN 1888456035. Since the Renaissance, there has been a pseudo-scientific counterpart for each of the various sciences. The existence of pseudo-scientific counterparts for physiscs, astronomy (...) is indicated, respectively, by the activities of the believers in perpetual motion, the members of the flat earth society, (...)
  12. ^ William F. Williams, editor (2000) Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience: From Alien Abductions to Zone Therapy Facts on File p. 58 ISBN 0-8160-3351-X
  13. ^ Indicators 2000 - Chapter 8: Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Public Understanding - Belief in the Paranormal or Pseudoscience
  14. ^ a b Beyerstein, BL (1997). "Distinguishing Science from Pseudoscience" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-07-14.
  15. ^ Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Public Understanding - Science Fiction and Pseudoscience
  16. ^ "They call it cerealogy", CNN.com
  17. ^ Bell, David (2005). Science Technology and Culture. McGraw-Hill International. p. 114.
  18. ^ Prothero (2007). Evolution. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 13. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |First= ignored (|first= suggested) (help)
  19. ^ Sewell, Kip K. (1999). The Cosmic Sphere. Nova Publishers. p. 447.
  20. ^ a b c d e Scientific American
  21. ^ http://parapsych.org/glossary_e_k.html#e Parapsychological Association website, Glossary of Key Words Frequently Used in Parapsychology, Retrieved January 24, 2006
  22. ^ 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)
  23. ^ Carroll, Robert Todd, The Skeptic's Dictionary 2003, Wiley Publishing Company, ISBN 0471272426
  24. ^ Shermer, Michael (2005). "Turn Me On, Dead Man". Scientific American. Retrieved 2007-02-28. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  25. ^ 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
  26. ^ Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Public Understanding - Science Fiction and Pseudoscience
  27. ^ Parapsychological Association website, Glossary of Key Words Frequently Used in Parapsychology, Retrieved December 24, 2006
  28. ^ "extrasensory perception" Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.
  29. ^ Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Public Understanding - Science Fiction and Pseudoscience
  30. ^ 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)."
  31. ^ Randi, James (1989). The Faith Healers. Prometheus Books. ISBN 0-87975-535-0.
  32. ^ David Vernon in Skeptical - a Handbook of Pseudoscience and the Paranormal, ed Donald Laycock, David Vernon, Colin Groves, Simon Brown, Imagecraft, Canberra, 1989, ISBN 0731657942, p47
  33. ^ ""Psychic surgery" -- 40 (3): 184 -- CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians". Retrieved 2007-07-28.
  34. ^ Carroll, Robert Todd. "Psychic Surgery". The Skeptic's Dictionary. Retrieved 2007-07-28.
  35. ^ "Psychic surgeon charged". The Filipino Reporter. June 17–23, 2005. Retrieved 2007-07-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
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  41. ^ Attention: This template ({{cite pmid}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by PMID 2088016, please use {{cite journal}} with |pmid=2088016 instead.
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  43. ^ Attention: This template ({{cite pmid}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by PMID 17667478, please use {{cite journal}} with |pmid=17667478 instead.
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  47. ^ "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"
  48. ^ 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."
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  77. ^ Ernst, Edzard (2006), "Mistletoe as a treatment for cancer", BMJ, 333 (7582): 1282, doi:10.1136/bmj.39055.493958.80, PMID 17185706 "Anthroposophic drugs are based on ancient alchemistic and homeopathic notions, far removed from the concepts of pharmacology."
  78. ^ Ernst, Edzard, "Anthroposophical Medicine: A systematic review of randomised clinical trials." Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift, ISSN 0043-5325, 2004, vol. 116, no4, pp. 128–130
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  80. ^ Worrall, Russell S. (2007-09-12 "The claims Bates made in advertising his book were so dubious that in 1929 the Federal Trade Commission issued a complaint against him for advertising "falsely or misleadingly.""). "Eye-Related Quackery". Retrieved 2007-11-17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
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  82. ^ 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."
  83. ^ 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."
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  86. ^ Randi, James (2006-11-11 "This is pure old quackery, it’s wishful thinking, and it’s profitable."). "Swift: the weekly newsletter of the JREF". Retrieved 2007-11-17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  87. ^ "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."
  88. ^ 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."
  89. ^ Hines, Terence (1998). "Comprehensive Review of Biorhythm Theory" (pdf (summary)). Psychological Reports. 83: 19–64. doi:10.2466/PR0.83.5.19-64. Retrieved 2008-02-20. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help) "The conclusion is that biorhythm theory is not valid."
  90. ^ "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.
  91. ^ About Brain Gym
  92. ^ "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.
  93. ^ Goswami, Usha (2006). "Neuroscience and education: from research to practice?" (fee required). Nature. 7: 406–413. doi:10.1038/nrn1907. Retrieved 2008-08-11. Cognitive neuroscience is making rapid strides in areas highly relevant to education. However, there is a gulf between current science and direct classroom applications. Most scientists would argue that filling the gulf is premature. Nevertheless, at present, teachers are at the receiving end of numerous 'brain-based learning' packages. Some of these contain alarming amounts of misinformation, yet such packages are being used in many schools. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  94. ^ "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.
  95. ^ 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}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  96. ^ "News in brief". The Times. 2008-04-05. Retrieved 2008-09-01. Paul Dennison, a Californian educator who created the programme, admitted that many claims in his teacher's guide were based on his 'hunches' and were not proper science. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  97. ^ "An Introduction to Chiropractic". National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2007-11. Retrieved 2009-01-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  98. ^ "Standards for Doctor of Chiropractic programs and requirements for institutional status" (PDF). The Council on Chiropractic Education. 2007. Retrieved 2008-02-14.
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  101. ^ Keating JC Jr, Cleveland CS III, Menke M (2005). "Chiropractic history: a primer" (PDF). Association for the History of Chiropractic. Retrieved 2008-06-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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  105. ^ Ernst E, Canter PH (2006). "A systematic review of systematic reviews of spinal manipulation". J R Soc Med. 99 (4): 192–6. doi:10.1258/jrsm.99.4.192. PMC 1420782. PMID 16574972. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
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  114. ^ "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."
  115. ^ a b "Applied Kinesiology". American Cancer Society. 2007-05-23. Retrieved 2008-01-27. "Available scientific evidence does not support the claim that applied kinesiology can diagnose or treat cancer or other illness."
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  125. ^ Goldacre, Ben. "Electrosensitives: the new cash cow of the woo industry". Retrieved 2007-11-17.
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  127. ^ 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."
  128. ^ Frazier, Kendrick (2005-01). "In the Land of Galileo, Fifth World Skeptics Congress Solves Mysteries, Champions Scientific Outlook". Skeptical Inquirer. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Retrieved 2007-12-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) "The majority of rigorous trials show no effect beyond placebo." (Edzard Ernst)
  129. ^ Goldacre, Ben (2007-11-17). "Benefits and Risks of Homoeopathy". The Lancet. 370: 1672. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(07)61706-1. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (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."
  130. ^ "Homoeopathy's benefit questioned". BBC News. 2005-08-25. Retrieved 2008-01-30. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help) "Professor Egger said: "We acknowledge to prove a negative is impossible. "But good large studies of homeopathy do not show a difference between the placebo and the homoeopathic remedy, whereas in the case of conventional medicines you still see an effect.""
  131. ^ "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"
  132. ^ "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."
  133. ^ 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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  135. ^ 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."
  136. ^ "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)."
  137. ^ "What is Homeopathy". American Cancer Society. 2000-01-05. Retrieved 2008-01-30. "Most scientists say homeopathic remedies are basically water and can act only as placebos."
  138. ^ "In a statement, the Royal College of Pathologists said they were "deeply alarmed" that the regulation of medicine had "moved away from science and clear information for the public"."Scientists attack homeopathy move, BBC News, 25 October 2006. Retrieved 2 February 2008.
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  141. ^ "Iridology". Natural Standard. 2005-07-07. Retrieved 2008-02-01. "Research suggests that iridology is not an effective method to diagnose or help treat any specific medical condition."
  142. ^ Ernst E. Iridology: not useful and potentially harmful. Arch. Ophthalmol. 2000 Jan;118(1):120-1. PMID 10636425
  143. ^ "H-175.998 Evaluation of Iridology". American Medical Association. Retrieved 2008-02-01. "Our AMA believes that iridology, the study of the iris of the human eye, has not yet been established as having any merit as a diagnostic technique."
  144. ^ Park, Robert L. (2000). Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud. New York, New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 58–63. ISBN 0-19-513515-6 "Not only are magnetic fields of no value in healing, you might characterize these as "homeopathic" magnetic fields.". {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  145. ^ 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 [magnet therapy], 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."
  146. ^ a b c "Report 12 of the Council on Scientific Affairs (A-97)". American Medical Association. 1997.
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  149. ^ a b Robert Todd Carroll (2003). John Wiley and Sons (ed.). The Skeptic's Dictionary. pp. 45-4?. ISBN 0471272426. (Pseudoscience and Ayurvedic medicine entries in the online version)
  150. ^ Pilkington, Mark (2004-04-15). "A vibe for radionics". The Guardian. Retrieved 2008-02-07. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help) "Scientific American concluded: 'At best, [ERA] is all an illusion. At worst, it is a colossal fraud.'"
  151. ^ "10 lesser-known alternative therapies". British Broadcasting Corporation. 2006-05-23. Retrieved 2008-02-07. {{cite news}}: |first= missing |last= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) " Radionics is a technique of healing using extrasensory perception (ESP) and an instrument."
  152. ^ "What is Radionics". The Radionic Association. Retrieved 2008-02-07. "This subtle field cannot be accessed using our conventional senses. Radionic practitioners use a specialised dowsing technique to both identify the sources of weakness in the field and to select specific treatments to overcome them. "
  153. ^ "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."
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  188. ^ 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.
  189. ^ Williams, William A. (2000). Encyclopedia of pseudoscience. New York: Facts on File. ISBN 0-8160-3351-X.
  190. ^ Carl Sagan, "Does Truth Matter? Science, Pseudoscience, and Civilization", Skeptical Inquirer, 1996
  191. ^ a b statement from the International Council for Science.ICSU Insight
  192. ^ 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
  193. ^ 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."
  194. ^ Christopher Riche Evans (1974). Cults of Unreason. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 0-374-13324-7. Chapter 6.
  195. ^ Russell Miller. Bare-faced messiah: The true story of L. Ron Hubbard. Key Porter.
  196. ^ Dr. Peter Banys in the SF Chronicle
  197. ^ defined as pseudoscience at Skeptic's Dictionary
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  199. ^ Park, Robert L. (2000). Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud. New York, New York: Oxford University Press. p. 39. ISBN 0-19-513515-6. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help) "[People] 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."
  200. ^ Stenger, Victor J. (1997-01). "Quantum Quackery". Skeptical Inquirer. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Retrieved 2008-02-07. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help) "Capra's book was an inspiration for the New Age, and "quantum" became a buzzword used to buttress the trendy, pseudoscientific spirituality that characterizes this movement."
  201. ^ 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?"
  202. ^ Kuttner, Fred (2006-11). "Teaching physics mysteries versus pseudoscience". Physics Today. American Institute of Physics. Retrieved 2008-02-08. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help) "We should not underestimate how persuasively physics can be invoked to buttress mystical notions. We physicists bear some responsibility for the way our discipline is exploited."
  203. ^ 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."
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  205. ^ Rogers, Raymond N.: "Studies on the radiocarbon sample from the shroud of turin." Thermochimica Acta, Volume 425, Issue 1–2 (20 January 2005), pages 189–194
  206. ^ Ball, Philip. "To Know a Veil". Nature online, 28 January 2005.
  207. ^ Nickell, Joe "the scientific approach allows the preponderance of evidence to lead to a conclusion: the shroud is the work of a medieval artisan". "PBS "Secrets of the Dead" Buries the Truth About Turin Shroud". Retrieved 2007-11-18.
  208. ^ Does truth matter?, by Carl Sagan "[text of proclamation] 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)
  209. ^ 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.
  210. ^ Ball, Philip (September 14, 2007). "Burning water and other myths". Nature News. Retrieved 2008-08-19.
  211. ^ 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."
  212. ^ Kurtz, Paul (2004-09). "Can the Sciences Help Us to Make Wise Ethical Judgments?". Skeptical Inquirer Magazine. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Retrieved 2007-12-01. {{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."
  213. ^ Skeptinq, Ortiz de Montellano, B. R. 1993. “Afrocentricity, Melanin, and Pseudoscience," Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 36, 33-58
  214. ^ Ortiz de Montellano, Bernard R. (December 17, 2006). "Afrocentric Pseudoscience: The Miseducation of African Americans". Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 775. New York Academy of Sciences: 561–572. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1996.tb23174.x.
  215. ^ Benitez-Bribiesca, Luis (2001): Memetics: A dangerous idea. Interciecia 26: 29–31, p. 29.
  216. ^ McGrath, Alister (December 7, 2004). Dawkins' GOD: Genes, Memes, and the Meaning of Life. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 119–135. ISBN 1405125381.
  217. ^ Rosenfelder, Mark. "The new pseudoscience of memes" (Essay). Retrieved 2009-04-24.
  218. ^ "No Neutrinos". Society for the Advancement of Autodynamics. Retrieved 2008-02-07.
  219. ^ Philipkoski, Kristen (1999-07-13). "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"
  220. ^ 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.
  221. ^ 't Hooft, Gerard (2008), "Editorial note", Foundations of Physics, 38: 1–2
  222. ^ Byron Preiss (1985). The Planets. Bantam Books. p. 27. ISBN 0553051091.
  223. ^ Martin Gardner (1957). Fads And Fallacies In The Name Of Science. Dover Publications. pp. pp. 69–79. ISBN 978-0486203942. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); |pages= has extra text (help)
  224. ^ Winfield, Mel E. (2004). The Science of Actuality. Vancouver: University Press. ISBN 0-9739347-0-0.
  225. ^ Ousiograph, Dressler, Cases and Materials on Criminal Law, Fourth Edition, pages 648-655, 2007
  226. ^ Goldacre, Ben (2005-01-27). "Testing the water". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, Ltd. Retrieved 2008-04-29. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  227. ^ Structured Water Pseudoscience and Quackery
  228. ^ Rousseau, Denis L. (1992-01). "Case Studies in Pathological Science". American Scientist. 80 (1): 54–63. Retrieved 2008-04-29. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  229. ^ Ray, Gene. Time Cube. 12 Mar. 2007
  230. ^ Science gone wrong
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  232. ^ Muir, Hazel (2001-12-20). "Ball lightning scientists remain in the dark". New Scientist. Retrieved 2009-01-14.
  233. ^ Abrahamson J, Dinniss J., "Ball lightning caused by oxidation of nanoparticle networks from normal lightning strikes on soil", Nature. 2000 Feb 3;403(6769):519-21.
  234. ^ William F. Williams, Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience, ISBN 0-8160-5080-5, p. 215
  235. ^ Gnad, Megan (2007-09-14). "MP tries to ban water". New Zealand Herald. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  236. ^ Evangelical Scientists Refute Gravity With New 'Intelligent Falling' Theory, The Onion

Further reading

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