Talk:List of pseudosciences and pseudoscientific concepts/temp

• The Face on Mars (in Cydonia Mensae) is a rock formation on Mars asserted to be evidence of intelligent, native life on the planet. High resolution images taken recently show it to appear less face-like. It features prominently in the pseudoscientific speculations of Richard C. Hoagland.

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

• Pseudoarchaeology is the investigation of the ancient past using alleged paranormal or otherwise means which have not been validated by mainstream science.
• Tutankhamun's curse was allegedly placed on the discoverers of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun, causing widespread deaths and other disastrous events.
• Tunguska event is an anomalous meteor strike said to actually be the impact of a miniature black hole or a large body composed of antimatter, or Ball lightning.

• Attachment therapy is a set of potentially fatal {{cite web|url=http://www.randi.org/jr/071604an.html#7 |title=Swift: Online Newsletter of the JREF |accessdate=2007-11-17 |last=Randi |first=James |date=2004-07-16 "This is a total quack procedure that has actually killed children." }} 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."{{cite web|url=http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/at.html |title=Be Wary of Attachment Therapy |accessdate=2007-11-17 |last=Maloney |first=Shannon-Bridget }} 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. 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 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).{{cite journal |author=Chaffin M, Hanson R, Saunders BE, et al |title=Report of the APSAC task force on attachment therapy, reactive attachment disorder, and attachment problems. |journal=Child Maltreat|volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=76–89 |year=2006 |pmid=16382093 |doi=10.1177/1077559505283699}}
• Graphology is a purported psychological test based on a belief that personality traits unconsciously and consistently influence handwriting morphology - that certain types of people exhibit certain quirks of the pen. Analysis of handwriting attributes provides no better than chance correspondence with personality, and neuroscientist Barry Beyerstein likened the assigned correlations to sympathetic magic. {{cite web|url=http://www.pbs.org/safarchive/3_ask/archive/qna/3282_bbeyerstein.html |title=Barry Beyerstein Q&A |accessdate=2008-02-22 |work=Ask the Scientists |publisher=Scientific American Frontiers }} "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.'" {{cite news | first= | last= | coauthors= | title=The use of graphology as a tool for employee hiring and evaluation | year=1988 | publisher=British Columbia Civil Liberties Union | url =http://www.bccla.org/positions/privacy/88graphology.html | work = | pages = | accessdate = 2008-02-22 | language = }} "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" {{cite web|url=http://www.ntskeptics.org/factsheets/graphol.htm |title=Graphology Fact Sheet |accessdate=2008-02-22 |last=Thomas |first=John A. |year=2002 |publisher=North Texas Skeptics }} "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." Graphology is only superficially related to forensic document examination, which also examines handwriting.
• Phrenology is a defunct theory for determining personality traits by feeling bumps on the skull proposed by 18th century physiologist Franz Joseph Gall. In an early recorded use of the term "pseudo-science", François Magendie referred to phrenology as "a pseudo-science of the present day".Magendie, F (1843) An Elementary Treatise on Human Physiology. 5th Ed. Tr. John Revere. New York: Harper, note: "pseudo-science" (p.150). 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).Fodor, JA. (1983) The Modularity of Mind. MIT Press. p.14, 23, 131
• Primal therapy is sometimes presented as a science.[http://www.primaltherapy.comPrimal therapy homepage] 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."{{cite book | last = Moore | first = Timothy | authorlink = | coauthors = | title = Primal Therapy | publisher = Gale Group | year = 2001 | location = | pages = | url =http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g2699/is_0005/ai_2699000587 | doi = | id = | isbn = }}. Other sources have also questioned the scientific validity of primal therapy, some using the term "pseudoscience" (see Criticism of Primal Therapy).
• Subliminal perception is visual or auditory information that is discerned below the threshold of conscious awareness and has an effect on human behavior. It went into disrepute in the late 1970s {{cite web|title=Urban Legends Reference Pages: Business (Subliminal Advertising)|publisher=The Urban Legends Reference Pages|url=http://www.snopes.com/business/hidden/popcorn.asp|accessdate=2006-08-11}} but there has been renewed research interest recently.For example, processing of happy and sad faces affecting the desirability of subsequent stimulus (Westen, 2006 p.184-185).Westen et al. 2006 "Psychology: Austraian and New Zealand edition" John Wiley.

• Anthroposophic medicine, or Anthroposophically extended medicine, is a school of complementary medicinevon Rohr et al., [http://www.smw.ch/docs/pdf/2000_34/2000-34-245.PDF "Experiences in the realisation of a research project on anthroposophical medicine in patients with advanced cancer"], Schweiz Med Wochenschr 2000;130:1173–84 founded in the 1920s by Rudolf Steiner in conjunction with Ita Wegman based on the spiritual philosophy ofanthroposophy. It is an individualized holistic and salutogenic approach to health, deemphasizing randomized controlled trials.Klotter, Jule (May 2006). "Anthroposophical Medicine". Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, 24(1):274.Helmut Kiene, Complementary Methodology in Clinical Research - Cognition-based Medicine, Springer Publishers: Heidelberg, New York. 2001. {{ISBN|3-540-41022-8}} Medications are formulated to stimulate healing by matching "key dynamic forces" with symptoms, {{cite web|url=http://www.holisticonline.com/hol_miscellaneous.htm |title=Miscellaneous Holistic Remedies |accessdate=2008-02-09 |publisher=Holistic Online }} and are prepared for external, oral, or parenteral introduction in various dilutions ranging from whole to homeopathic. {{cite web|url=http://www.ivaa.info/IVAA_new/anthroposophical_medicine.htm|title=The Position of Anthroposophic Medicine |accessdate=2008-02-09 |publisher=Internationale Vereinigung Anthroposophischer Ärztegesellschaften (International Federation of Anthroposophic Medical Associations) }} "Some medicines are similar to herbal medicinal products, some are prepared according to the guidelines of homeopathic pharmacopoeias." The use of vaccinations, antibiotics, and antipyretics is generally restricted or delayed.Alm, J. S., Swartz, J., Lilja, G., Scheynius, A., and Pershagen, G. (1999). Atopy in children of families with an anthroposophic lifestyle. Lancet, 353(9163):1485-8. {{PMID|10232315}}[http://www.waldorflibrary.org/journal_articles/rb5103.pdf Reprint copy] {{cite journal|title=Allergic disease and sensitization in Steiner school children|journal=The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology|date=2006-01|first=Helen|last=Flöistrup|coauthors=Jackie Swartz, Anna Bergström, Johan S. Alm, Annika Scheynius, Marianne van Hage, Marco Waser, Charlotte Braun-Fahrländer, Dieneke Schram-Bijkerk, Machteld Huber, Anne Zutavern, Erika von Mutius, Ellen Üblagger, Josef Riedler, Karin B. Michaels, Göran Pershagen|volume=117|issue=1|pages=59–66|doi= 10.1016/j.jaci.2005.09.039|url=http://www.jacionline.org/article/PIIS0091674905021287/abstract|format=|accessdate=2008-03-03 }}Klotter, Jule. "Anthroposophic lifestyle & allergies in children.(Shorts)." Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients 274 (May 2006): 24(2). SkepticRobert Carroll likens to sympathetic magic the principle that curative plants may be identified by distortions or abnormalities in their morphology or physiology. {{cite web|url=http://skepdic.com/anthroposophicmedicine.html|title=anthroposophic medicine |accessdate=2008-02-09 |last=Carroll |first=Robert |work=Skeptic's Dictionary }} Carroll and others state that the system is not based in science. {{cite journal |title=Is Anthroposophy Science?|journal=Conceptus |year=1991 |first=Sven Ove |last=Hansson |coauthors= |volume=XXV |issue=64|pages=37–49 |id= |format= |accessdate=2008-02-09 }} "The claims that anthroposophy is a science are not justified." {{citation | last = Ernst | first = Edzard | year = 2006 |title = Mistletoe as a treatment for cancer | journal = BMJ | volume = 333 | issue = 7582 | pages = 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."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.Ernst, Edzard, "Anthroposophical Medicine: A systematic review of randomised clinical trials." Wiener Klinische Wochenschrift, ISSN 0043-5325, 2004, vol. 116, no4, pp. 128–130
• Applied kinesiology is a means of medical diagnosis which proponents believe can identify health problems or nutritional deficiencies through practitioner assessment of external physical qualities such as muscle response, posture, or motion analysis. A variety of therapies are prescribed based on tested weakness or smoothness of muscle action and a conjectured viscerosomatic association between particular muscles and organs. The sole use of Applied Kinesiology to diagnose or treat any allergy {{cite web|url=http://www.massmed.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Search§ion=Advocacy_State&template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentFileID=309 |title=Report of the Special Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medical Practitioners, In Opposition to the Licensure of Naturopaths |accessdate=2008-01-27 |format=PDF |publisher=Massachusetts Medical Society }} "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." or illness {{cite web|url=http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ETO/content/ETO_5_3X_Applied_Kinesiology.asp |title=Applied Kinesiology |accessdate=2008-01-27 |date=2007-05-23 |publisher=American Cancer Society }} "Available scientific evidence does not support the claim that applied kinesiology can diagnose or treat cancer or other illness." {{cite web|url=http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH/WSIHW000/8513/34968/358738.html?d=dmtContent|title=Applied Kinesiology |accessdate=2008-01-27 |date=2005-07-01 |publisher=Natural Standard }}"applied kinesiology has not been shown to be effective for the diagnosis or treatment of any disease." is not scientifically supported, and the International College of Applied Kinesiology requires concurrent use of standard diagnostic techniques. {{cite web|url=http://www.icak.com/college/status.shtml |title=Applied Kinesiology Status Statement |accessdate=2008-01-27 |date=1992-06-16 |publisher=International College of Applied Kinesiology}} 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.
• 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. {{cite book | last = Quackenbush | first = Thomas R. | title = Better Eyesight The complete magazines of William H. Bates | publisher = North Atlantic Books | year = 2000 | pages = page 643 | isbn = 1-55643-351-4 }} 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, {{cite web|url=http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/eyequack.html |title=Eye-Related Quackery |accessdate=2007-11-17 |last=Worrall |first=Russell S. |coauthors=Jacob Nevyas, Stephen Barrett |date=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.""}} though the complaint was later dismissed.{{cite book | author=Pollack P. | title=The Truth about Eye Exercises | publisher=Philadelphia: Chilton Co. | year=1956 | chapter=Chapter 3: Fallacies of the Bates System | chapterurl=http://www.quackwatch.org/11Ind/bates.html}} 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.{{cite web | url=http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/features/natural-vision-correction-does-it-work | title=Natural Vision Correction: Does It Work? | author=Leanna Skarnulis | publisher=WebMD | date= February 5, 2007}} "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." {{cite book | last=Gardner | first=Martin | title=Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science | year=1957 | chapter=Chapter 19: Throw Away Your Glasses | pages = 230–241 | publisher=Reprint: Courier Dover | isbn=0-486-20394-8 | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=kWoJ8mEEJ0wC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_summary_r#PPA232,M1}} "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." {{cite news | author=Robyn E. Bradley | title=ADVOCATES SEE ONLY BENEFITS FROM EYE EXERCISES | publisher=The Boston Globe (MA) | date=September 23, 2003 | url=http://visioneducators.com/articles/advocates_see_only_benefits_from_eye_exercises.pdf|format=PDF}}{{cite journal | author=Marg, E. | title="Flashes" of clear vision and negative accommodation with reference to the Bates Method of visual training. | journal=Am J Opt Arch Am Ac Opt | year=1952 | volume=29 | issue=4 | pages=167–84 | url=http://brain.berkeley.edu/pub/1952%20April%20Flashes%20of%20Clear%20Vision.pdf | format =PDF}} {{cite web|url=http://www.randi.org/jr/2006-11/111706rampa.html#i3 |title=Swift: the weekly newsletter of the JREF |accessdate=2007-11-17 |last=Randi |first=James |date=2006-11-11 "This is pure old quackery, it’s wishful thinking, and it’s profitable."}}
• Biorhythms – a hypothesis holding that human physiology and behavior are governed by physical, emotional, and intellectual cycles lasting 23, 28, and 33 days, respectively; not to be confused with Chronobiology, the scientific study of biological rhythms. The system posits that, for instance, errors in judgment are more probable on days when an individual's intellectual cycle, as determined by days since birth, is near a minimum. No biophysical mechanism of action has been discovered, and the predictive power of biorhythms charts is no better than chance. {{cite web|url=http://www.princeton.edu/~ota/disk1/1991/9108_n.html|title=Biological Rhythms: Implications for the Worker |accessdate=2008-02-21 |date=1991-09 |work=OTA-BA-463 Box 2-A pg. 30 |publisher=Office of Technology Assessment }} "No evidence exists to support the concept of biorhythms; in fact, scientific data refute their existence." {{cite web|url=http://skepdic.com/biorhyth.html|title=Biorhythms |accessdate=2008-02-21 |last=Carroll |first=Robert Todd |work=Skeptic's Dictionary}} "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." {{cite journal|title=Comprehensive Review of Biorhythm Theory|journal=Psychological Reports|year=1998|first=Terence|last=Hines|coauthors=|volume=83|issue=|pages=19–64|doi= 10.2466/PR0.83.5.19-64|url=http://ammonsscientific.com/link.php?N=10326|format=pdf (summary)|accessdate=2008-02-20 }} "The conclusion is that biorhythm theory is not valid." 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",{{cite web|url=http://www.braingym.org/faq#How_does_movement_affect_the_brain__Do_actual_physical_changes_in_the_brain_occur_through_the_use_of_BRAIN_GYM___|title=Brain Gym - FAQ |publisher=The Official Brain Gym Web Site |accessdate=2008-08-11 |quote=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.}} and are designed to "integrate body and mind" in order to improve "concentration, memory, reading, writing, organizing, listening, physical coordination, and more."[http://www.braingym.org/about About Brain Gym] Its theoretical foundation has been thoroughly discredited by the scientific community, who describe it aspseudoscience.{{cite web|url=http://www.tlrp.org/pub/documents/Neuroscience%20Commentary%20FINAL.pdf|format=PDF|title=Neuroscience and Education: Issues and Opportunities |publisher=the ESRC's Teaching and Learning Research Programme website |accessdate=2007-08-03 |quote=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.}}{{cite journal |last=Goswami |first=Usha |year=2006 |month=May |title=Neuroscience and education: from research to practice? |journal=Nature|volume= 7|issue= |pages=406–413 |doi=10.1038/nrn1907 |url=http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v7/n5/abs/nrn1907.html |format=fee required|accessdate=2008-08-11 |quote=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 web|url=http://www.senseaboutscience.org.uk/index.php/site/project/233/ |title=Sense About Science - Brain Gym |publisher=Sense About Science |accessdate=2008-04-11 |quote=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.}}

{{cite journal

|last=Hyatt

|first=Keith J.

|year=2007

|month=April

|title=Brain Gym - Building Stronger Brains or Wishful Thinking?

|journal=Remedial and Special Education

|publisher=SAGE Publications

|volume=28

|issue=2

|pages=117–124

|issn=0741-9325

|url=http://rse.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/28/2/117

|doi=10.1177/07419325070280020201

|format=fee required

|quote=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.

|accessdate=2008-09-12}}

Peer reviewed scientific studies into Brain Gym have found no significant improvement in general academic skills. Its claimed results have been put down to the placebo effect and the benefits of breaks and exercise. Its founder, Paul Dennison, has admitted that many of Brain Gym's claims are not based good science, but on his "hunches".

{{cite news

|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3671213.ece

|title=News in brief

|date=2008-04-05

|publisher=The Times

|accessdate=2008-09-01

|quote=Paul Dennison, a Californian educator who created the programme, admitted that many claims in his teacher’s guide were based on his 'hunches' and were not proper science.}}

• Crystal healing is the belief that crystals have healing properties. Once common among pre-scientific and indigenous peoples, it has recently enjoyed a resurgence in popularity with the new age movement.{{cite journal|first=Edward|last=Campion|journal=New England Journal of Medicine|year=1993|title=Why Unconventional Medicine|doi=10.1056/NEJM199301283280413|volume=328|pages=282|pmid=8418412}}{{cite web|url=http://skepdic.com/crystals.html |title=crystal power |accessdate=2007-07-28 |format= |work=The Skeptic's Dictionary|author=Carroll, Robert Todd }}{{cite book |author=Stephen S. Carey|title=A Beginner's Guide to Scientific Method |publisher=Wadsworth Publishing |location=Belmont, CA|year= |pages= |isbn=0-534-58450-0 |oclc= |doi=}}
• 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.{{cite journal | last = Roosli | first = Martin | coauthors = M Moser, Y Baldinini, M Meier, C Braun-Fahrlander | title = Symptoms of ill health ascribed to electromagnetic field exposure--a questionnaire survey | journal = Int J Hyg Environ Health | volume = 207 | issue = 2 | pages = 141–50 | month = February | year = 2004 | url =http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15031956 | doi = 10.1078/1438-4639-00269}} Provocation studies find that the discomfort of sufferers is unrelated to hidden sources of radiation,{{cite journal | last = Rubin |first = G James | authorlink = | coauthors = Jayati Das Munshi, Simon Wessely | title = Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity: A Systematic Review of Provocation Studies | journal = Psychosomatic Medicine | volume = 67 | pages = 224–232 | year = 2005 | doi = 10.1097/01.psy.0000155664.13300.64 | accessdate = | pmid = 15784787 }} {{cite web|url=http://www.badscience.net/2007/06/electrosensitives-the-new-cash-cow-of-the-woo-industry/ |title=Electrosensitives: the new cash cow of the woo industry |accessdate=2007-11-17 |last=Goldacre |first=Ben }} and "no scientific basis currently exists for a connection between EHS and exposure to [electromagnetic fields]." {{cite web|url=http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs296/en/index.html |title=Electromagnetic fields and public health |accessdate=2007-11-17 }}
• Faith healing is the act of curing disease by such means as prayer and laying on of hands. No material benefit in excess of that expected by placebo is observed.{{cite book | last = National Science Board | first = | authorlink = National Science Foundation | coauthors = | title = Science and Engineering Indicators – 2002 | publisher = National Science Foundation | year = 2002 | location = Arlington, VA | pages = ch. 7 | url = http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind02/c7/c7s5.htm | doi = | id = | isbn = 978-0160665790 }} "Belief in pseudoscience is relatively widespread... Polls also show that one quarter to more than half of the public believes in ... faith healing." {{cite web|url=http://www.csicop.org/si/2005-01/congress.html |title=In the Land of Galileo, Fifth World Skeptics Congress Solves Mysteries, Champions Scientific Outlook |accessdate=2007-12-18 |last=Frazier |first=Kendrick |date=2005-01 |work=Skeptical Inquirer |publisher=Committee for Skeptical Inquiry }} "The majority of rigorous trials show no effect beyond placebo." (Edzard Ernst)
• 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 ofanimal magnetism, or mesmerism, originated by Franz Mesmer {{cite web|url=http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ETO/content/ETO_5_3X_Hypnosis.asp |title=Hypnosis |accessdate=2008-02-25 |publisher=American Cancer Society }} and Though Mesmer's explanations were thoroughly discredited, hypnosis itself is today almost universally regarded as real. It is clinically useful for e.g. pain management, but some claimed uses of hypnosis outside of hypnotherapy clearly fall within the area of pseudoscience. Such areas include the use of hypnotic regression beyond plausible limits, including past life regression. {{Citation| first=Steven Jay |last=Lynn| coauthors=Timothy Lock, Elizabeth Loftus, Elisa Krackow, and Scott O. Lilienfeld|contribution=The remembrance of things past: problematic memory recovery techniques in psychotherapy| title=Science and Pseudoscience in Psychotherapy| editor-first=Scott O.| editor-last=Lilienfeld| coeditors=Steven Jay Lynn, Jeffrey M. Lohr| publisher=Guilford Press| place=New York| pages=219–220| date=2003| year=| isbn = 1572308281| contribution-url=| format=|accessdate=2008-02-25 }} "hypnotically induced past life experiences are rule-governed, goal-directed fantasies that are context generated and sensitive to the demands of the hypnotic regression situation." 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. {{cite web|url=http://www.intelihealth.com/IH/ihtIH?d=dmtContent&c=358826&p=~br,IHW/~st,24479/~r,WSIHW000/~b,*/ |title=Iridology |accessdate=2008-02-01 |date=2005-07-07 |publisher=Natural Standard }} "Research suggests that iridology is not an effective method to diagnose or help treat any specific medical condition." Ernst E. Iridology: not useful and potentially harmful. Arch. Ophthalmol. 2000 Jan;118(1):120-1. {{PMID|10636425}} {{cite web|url=http://www.ama-assn.org/apps/pf_new/pf_online?f_n=browse&doc=policyfiles/HnE/H-175.998.HTM |title=H-175.998 Evaluation of Iridology |accessdate=2008-02-01 |publisher=American Medical Association }} "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." 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 inmagnetic therapy is too low to effect any biological change, and the methods used have no scientific validity.{{cite book | last = Park | first = Robert L. |authorlink = Robert L. Park | coauthors = | title = Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 2000 | location = New York, New York | pages = 58–63 | url = | doi = | id = | 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 | last = National Science Board | first = | authorlink = National Science Foundation | coauthors = | title = Science and Engineering Indicators – 2002 | publisher = National Science Foundation | year = 2002 | location = Arlington, VA | pages = ch. 7 | url =http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind02/c7/c7s5.htm | doi = | id = | isbn = 978-0160665790 }} "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."
• 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.{{cite web | url = http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/13638.html | title = Report 12 of the Council on Scientific Affairs (A-97) | year = 1997 | publisher = American Medical Association}}{{cite web | url = http://www.skepdic.com/ayurvedic.html | title = Ayurvedic medicine | publisher = Quackwatch | accessdate = 2008-08-16}} Imbalance or stress in an individual’s consciousness is believed to be the reason of diseases. Patients are classified by body types (threedoshas, which are considered to control mind-body harmony, determine an individual’s "body type"); and treatment is aimed at restoring balance to the mind-body system. It has long been the main traditional system of health care in India, and it has become institutionalized in India's colleges and schools. Although it superficially adheres to modern institutions, the institutional practitioners are haunted by Ayurvedic vaidyas, who were trained outside the traditional medicine school.{{cite journal | journal = Medical Anthropology Quarterly | author = Lesley A. Sharp | title = Review of Fluent bodies: Ayourvedic Remedies for Postcolonial Imbalance | url = http://www.anthrosource.net/doi/abs/10.1525/maq.2003.17.4.511 | doi = 10.1525/maq.2003.17.4.512 | issue = 4 | pages = 511–512 | month = December | year = 2003 | accessdate = 2008-08-16 | volume = 17}} (page[http://www.anthrosource.net/doi/abs/10.1525/maq.2003.17.4.512 512]) As with other traditional knowledge, it was not recorded anywhere and most of it was lost, and the current practice is mostly based on the teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on the 1980s, who mixed it with Transcendental Meditation. The most notable advocate of Ayurveda on America is Deepak Chopra, who claims that Maharishi's Ayurveda is based on quantum physics.{{cite book | title = The Skeptic's Dictionary | author = Robert Todd Carroll | editor = John Wiley and Sons | year = 2003 | pages = 45-4? | isbn = 0471272426 | url =http://books.google.com/books?id=6FPqDFx40vYC&pg=PA45&dq=ayurveda+pseudoscience&client=opera&hl=es}} ([http://skepdic.com/pseudosc.html Pseudoscience] and [http://skepdic.com/ayurvedic.htmlAyurvedic medicine] entries on the online version)
• Radionics is a means of medical diagnosis and therapy which proponents believe can diagnose and remedy health problems using various frequencies in aputative 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 byScientific American in 1924.{{cite news | first=Mark | last=Pilkington | coauthors= | title=A vibe for radionics | date=2004-04-15 | publisher= | url =http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2004/apr/15/farout | work =The Guardian | pages = | accessdate = 2008-02-07 | language = }} "Scientific American concluded: 'At best, [ERA] is all an illusion. At worst, it is a colossal fraud.'" The internal circuitry of radionics devices is often obfuscated and irrelevant, leading proponents to conjecture dowsing and ESP as operating principles.{{cite news | first= Radionic Association, cited by BBC | last= | coauthors= | title=10 lesser-known alternative therapies | date=2006-05-23 | publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/5007802.stm | work = | pages = | accessdate = 2008-02-07 | language = }} " Radionics is a technique of healing using extrasensory perception (ESP) and an instrument." {{cite web|url=http://www.radionic.co.uk/What_is_radionics.htm |title=What is Radionics |accessdate=2008-02-07 |publisher=The Radionic Association }} "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. " Similar devices continue to be marketed under various names, though none is approved by the USFood and Drug Administration; there is no scientific evidence for the efficacy or underlying premise of radionics devices. {{cite web|url=http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ETO/content/ETO_5_3X_Electromagnetic_Therapy.asp|title=Electromagnetic Therapy |accessdate=2008-02-06 |publisher=American Cancer Society}}"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." {{Citation| first=David | last=Helwig| coauthors=| contribution=Radionics| title=The Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine| editor-first=Jacqueline L.| editor-last=Longe| coeditors=| publisher=Gale Cengage| place=| pages=| date=2004-12| year=| isbn=978-0787674243 | contribution-url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g2603/is_0006/ai_2603000616| format=| accessdate=2008-02-07 }} 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 asradiotherapy or radiofrequency ablation.
• Traditional Chinese Medicine. Practices such as qigong and ideas such as chi are held as pseudoscience and "quackery", and acupuncture as pseudoscientific, byCSICOP.{{cite news|title=Traditional Medicine and Pseudoscience in China: A Report of the Second CSICOP Delegation (Part 2)|url=http://www.csicop.org/si/9609/china.html|publisher=CSICOP|date=|accessdate=2009-01-04}}{{cite news|first=Stephen|last=Barrett|title=Be Wary of Acupuncture, Qigong, and "Chinese Medicine"|url=http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/acu.html|publisher=Quackwatch|date=December 30, 2007|accessdate=2009-01-04}} According to the NIHconsensus statement on acupuncture, these traditional Chinese medical concepts "are difficult to reconcile with contemporary biomedical information but continue to play an important role in the evaluation of patients and the formulation of treatment in acupuncture."{{cite web |author=NIH Consensus Development Program |title=Acupuncture --Consensus Development Conference Statement |url=http://consensus.nih.gov/1997/1997Acupuncture107html.htm|date=November 3-5, 1997 |publisher=National Institutes of Health |accessdate=2007-07-17}}{{Verify credibility|date=January 2009}} The effectiveness of acupuncture remains controversial. A 2007 review led by Professor of Complementary MedicineEdzard Ernst finds that research is active and growing and the "emerging clinical evidence seems to imply that acupuncture is effective for some but not all conditions."{{cite journal |author=Ernst E, Pittler MH, Wider B, Boddy K. |title=Acupuncture: its evidence-base is changing |journal=Am J Chin Med. |volume=35|issue=1 |pages=21–5 |year=2007|pmid=17265547 |doi=10.1142/S0192415X07004588}} The World Health Organization lists 28 conditions "for which acupuncture has been proved - through controlled trials - to be an effective treatment", and several dozen more for which evidence is suggestive.Acupuncture: Review and Analysis of Reports on Controlled Clinical Trials. World Health Organization, 2003. Section 3. [http://www.who.int/medicinedocs/en/d/Js4926e/#Js4926e.5 Section 3 (HTML)]; [http://www.who.int/medicinedocs/pdf/s4926e/s4926e.pdf]
• Vertebral subluxation. Metaphysical chiropractic theory of how the body's general health is linked to nervous system and misalignments of the spine.{{cite news|title=Chiropractic: A Profession Seeking Identity|url=http://www.csicop.org/si/2008-01/homola.html|publisher=CSICOP|date=|accessdate=2009-01-07}}

Spiritual and religious practices and beliefs are normally not classified as pseudoscience.Carl Sagan, [http://www.godslasteraar.org/assets/ebooks/Sagan_Carl_Does_truth_matter_-_Science_pseudoscience_and_civilization_-_includes_related_articles.pdf "Does Truth Matter? Science, Pseudoscience, and Civilization"], Skeptical Inquirer, 1996 The following have been related pseudoscience in some way, however:

• Biblical scientific foreknowledge asserts that the Bible makes accurate statements about the world that science verifies thousands of years later.
• Dianetics is L. Ron Hubbard's pseudoscience that purports to treat a hypotheticalreactive mind by means of an E-meter, a device which Hubbard was later legally forced to admit "does nothing".{{cite book | author=Christopher Riche Evans | title=Cults of Unreason| publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux | year=1974 | isbn=0-374-13324-7}} Chapter 6.{{cite book | author=Russell Miller | title=Bare-faced messiah: The true story of L. Ron Hubbard |publisher=Key Porter}}[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/06/09/MNGO572ISD1.DTL Dr. Peter Banys] in the SF Chronicle[http://skepdic.com/dianetic.html defined as pseudoscience] at Skeptic's Dictionary"Dianetics, that unholy alliance of psychoanalysis and cybernetics, rates a special chapter." - Some Comments on Popular-Science Books, John Pfeiffer, Science (New Series), Vol. 117, No. 3042 (Apr., 1953), pp. 399-403, referencing Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science by Martin Gardner
• The Shroud of Turin is a length of linen cloth believed by some members of the Christian community to have been Jesus' death shroud. Radiocarbon dating of the original material has shown that it dates from the 13th or 14th century,{{cite journal|title=Radiocarbon dating of the Shroud of Turin|journal=Nature|date=1989-02|first=P. E.|last=Damon|coauthors=D. J. Donahue, B. H. Gore, A. L. Hatheway, A. J. T. Jull, T. W. Linick, P. J. Sercel, L. J. Toolin, C. R. Bronk, E. T. Hall, R. E. M. Hedges, R. Housley, I. A. Law, C. Perry, G. Bonani, S. Trumbore, W. Woelfli, J. C. Ambers, S. G. E. Bowman, M. N. Leese, M. S. Tite|volume=337|issue=6208|pages=611–615|doi= 10.1038/337611a0|url=http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v337/n6208/abs/337611a0.html|format=|accessdate=2007-11-18 }} though some claim that the material tested was not representative of the whole shroud.Rogers, Raymond N.: "[http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6THV-4DTBVHC-1&_user=10&_handle=B-WA-A-W-WE-MsSAYWA-UUA-AAUYYDZUYC-AAUZVCZYYC-YZEWAVVVC-WE-U&_fmt=full&_coverDate=01%2F20%2F2005&_rdoc=26&_orig=browse&_srch=%23toc%235292%232005%23995749998%23553672!&_cdi=5292&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=3d89246a5d4144616be7657f0d83b6cf Studies on the radiocarbon sample from the shroud of turin]." Thermochimica Acta, Volume 425, Issue 1–2 (20 January 2005), pages 189–194Ball, Philip. "To Know a Veil". Nature [http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050124/full/news050124-17.html online], 28 January 2005. Analyses of the paint and the herringbone twill weave of the cloth similarly point to a medieval origin. {{cite web|url=http://www.csicop.org/list/listarchive/msg00455.html |title=PBS "Secrets of the Dead" Buries the Truth About Turin Shroud |accessdate=2007-11-18 |last=Nickell |first=Joe "the scientific approach allows the preponderance of evidence to lead to a conclusion: the shroud is the work of a medieval artisan" }}

• Hongcheng Magic Liquid is a pseudoscience incident in China where an inventor claimed that could turn water into a usable fuel by just adding a few drops of his "secret formula" liquid. The government and China and the Chinese Communist Party were alarmed by pseudoscience developments like this one and issued a joint proclamation condemning the recent decline of public education in science.[http://www.godslasteraar.org/assets/ebooks/Sagan_Carl_Does_truth_matter_-_Science_pseudoscience_and_civilization_-_includes_related_articles.pdf Does truth matter?], byCarl 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)
• Laundry balls are spherical or toroidal objects marketed as soap substitutes for washing machines.
• Scientific racism is the claim that scientific evidence shows the inferiority or superiority of certain races.{{cite book | last = Gould | first = Stephen Jay | authorlink = Stephen Jay Gould | coauthors = | title = The Mismeasure of Man | publisher = W W Norton and Co. | year = 1981 | location = New York, NY | pages = 28–29 | url =http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mismeasure_of_Man | doi = | id = | isbn = 0-393-01489-4 }} "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." {{cite web|url=http://www.csicop.org/si/2004-09/scientific-ethics.html |title=Can the Sciences Help Us to Make Wise Ethical Judgments? |accessdate=2007-12-01 |last=Kurtz |first=Paul |date=2004-09 |work=Skeptical Inquirer Magazine |publisher=Committee for Skeptical Inquiry }} "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."
• 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.Skeptinq, Ortiz de Montellano, B. R. 1993. “Afrocentricity, Melanin, and Pseudoscience," Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 36, 33-58{{cite journal|last=Ortiz de Montellano|first=Bernard R.|date=December 17, 2006|title=Afrocentric Pseudoscience: The Miseducation of African Americans|journal=Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences|publisher=New York Academy of Sciences|volume=775|pages=561–572|url=http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119242630/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0|doi=10.1111/j.1749-6632.1996.tb23174.x}}
• Stock market prediction can involve prediction of stock prices using technical analysis techniques based purely on charts of past price behavior or patterns in various metrics.{{cite journal | author = Lo, A.W. | coauthors = Mamaysky, H.; Wang, J. | year = 2000 | title = Foundations of Technical Analysis: Computational Algorithms, Statistical Inference, and Empirical Implementation | journal = The Journal of Finance |volume = 55 | issue = 4 | pages = 1705–1765 | doi = 10.1111/0022-1082.00265}} These techniques are dubiously justified, and violate the efficient market hypothesis.Burton Malkiel, A Random Walk Down Wall Street