Pseudoscience
Pseudoscience (wikipedia.org)
Pseudoscience
Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable claims; reliance on confirmation bias rather than rigorous attempts at refutation; lack of openness to evaluation by other experts; absence of systematic practices when developing hypotheses; and continued adherence long after the pseudoscientific hypotheses have been experimentally discredited.The demarcation between science and pseudoscience has scientific, philosophical, and political implications. Philosophers debate the nature of science and the general criteria for drawing the line between scientific theories and pseudoscientific beliefs, but there is widespread agreement "that creationism, astrology, homeopathy, Kirlian photography, dowsing, ufology, ancient astronaut theory, Holocaust denialism, Velikovskian catastrophism, and climate change denialism are pseudosciences." There are implications for health care, the use of expert testimony, and weighing environmental policies. Addressing pseudoscience is part of science education and developing scientific literacy.Pseudoscience can have dangerous effects. For example, pseudoscientific anti-vaccine activism and promotion of homeopathic remedies as alternative disease treatments can result in people forgoing important medical treatments with demonstrable health benefits, leading to deaths and ill-health. Furthermore, people who refuse legitimate medical treatments for contagious diseases may put others at risk. Pseudoscientific theories about racial and ethnic classifications have led to racism and genocide.The term pseudoscience is often considered pejorative, particularly by purveyors of it, because it suggests something is being presented as science inaccurately or even deceptively. Therefore, those practicing or advocating pseudoscience frequently dispute the characterization.
Source: Pseudoscience (wikipedia.org)
Princess Martha Louise: Norway's princess sets date to wed shaman
Norway's Princess Martha Louise will marry her American partner, self-styled shaman Durek Verrett, next summer, the couple has announced. King Harald V congratulated the pair, saying he was happy to welcome Mr Verrett to his family.
Bageshwar Dham Sarkar: The Indian guru making headlines over 'miracle' cures
India is home to thousands of religious gurus, but a controversial new "godman" has been making headlines for the past fortnight.
Kambo: Australia investigates suspected frog mucus deaths
For the past two weeks, a small courthouse tucked away in a lush corner of eastern Australia has heard confronting and unusual evidence about the sudden deaths of two locals.
Tim Minchin's Storm the Animated Movie
NOW AVAILABLE AS AN ILLUSTRATED BOOK WITH ALL NEW ART! www.timminchin.com/stormthebook
In the confines of a London dinner party, comedian Tim Minchin argues with a hippy named Storm. While Storm herself may not be converted, audiences from London to LA have been won over by Tim's wordplay and the t
Why some people don't want a Covid-19 vaccine
As we head towards the end of another extraordinary year, BBC Future is taking a look back at some of our favourite stories for our "Best of 2021" collection. Discover more of our picks here. There should be no doubt about it: Covid-19 vaccines are saving lives.
Freedom Convoy: Ottawa declares emergency over trucker Covid rules protests
The mayor of Canada's capital Ottawa has declared a state of emergency in response to more than a week of truckers' protests against Covid restrictions. Jim Watson said the city was completely out of control, with demonstrators outnumbering police.
How Covid disinformation has fuelled attacks on Czech doctors
One of the more bewildering aspects of the Covid crisis in the Czech Republic is the hostility and aggression directed at health workers. But it is a problem that existed before the pandemic, and is unlikely to end with it. "A year ago people were applauding health workers.
HIV: The misinformation still circulating in 2021
The last time Paul Thorn saw his parents, decades ago, they threw away the crockery he ate off out of fear of infection. When he was diagnosed with HIV, in 1988, he had to stop training as a nurse.
Should bad science be taken off social media?
How do you solve a problem like bad information? When it comes to understanding science and making health decisions, it can have life-or-death consequences.
Anti-vax protests: ‘Sovereign citizens’ fight UK Covid vaccine rollout
Opposition to Covid vaccinations has come in many forms, but none stranger than the "sovereign citizen" defence. It uses defunct ancient English law to try to challenge regulations.
Ivermectin: Arkansas inmates sue over Covid treatment with horse dewormer
A group of inmates at a jail in the US state of Arkansas are taking legal action, saying they were unknowingly prescribed the horse deworming drug Ivermectin to treat Covid-19.Small doses of Ivermectin are approved for use on humans, but health officials have warned against its use for Covid.
Sponsored Content: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
John Oliver explains why the integrity of local news is so important, how sponsored content could damage that integrity, and why the Venus Veil is so much more than a blanket! (It’s not.)
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Covid: Twitter suspends Naomi Wolf after tweeting anti-vaccine misinformation
American author Naomi Wolf has been suspended from Twitter after spreading vaccine misinformation. Dr Wolf, well known for her acclaimed third-wave feminist book The Beauty Myth, posted a wide-range of unfounded theories about vaccines.
Baba Ramdev: Doctors furious over yoga guru's insulting Covid remark
Doctors in India have hit out against yoga guru Baba Ramdev over his controversial statements against modern medicine. He recently said that tens of thousands died of Covid after taking modern medicines and mocked patients for trying to get oxygen cylinders.
Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop series on Netflix slammed by NHS chief
Gwyneth Paltrow's new Netflix series poses a "considerable health risk" to the public, NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens has said.
Vaccine rumours debunked: Microchips, 'altered DNA' and more
We've looked into some of the most widely shared false vaccine claims - everything from alleged plots to put microchips into people to the supposed re-engineering of our genetic code. The fear that a vaccine will somehow change your DNA is one we've seen aired regularly on social media.
JunkScience.com
All the junk that’s fit to debunk. My latest in the Washington Times (Web | PDF). Please support JunkScience.com!
Investigating the 'spiritual healers' sexually abusing women
Spiritual healing, also known as "Quranic healing", is a popular practice in the Arab and Muslim world. It is mostly women who visit healers - believing that they can solve problems and cure illness by expelling evil spirits known as "jinn".
How high-profile scientists felt tricked by group denying climate change
A dozen scientists, politicians, and campaigners say they have been tricked into participating in online events promoting climate-change denial.The events were organised by the Creative Society, an international activist group that denies global warming is being caused by human activity.
Tim Minchin: how my beat poem took the world by Storm
My 2006 solo show, So Rock, included a very short song with a very long title: If You Open Your Mind Too Much Your Brain Will Fall Out (Take My Wife), a 90-second long refutation of the plausibility of astrology, psychics, homeopathy and an interventionist God.
Laser vagina menopause therapy shows no benefit in trial
A potentially risky laser treatment offered to menopausal women to rejuvenate the vagina is no better than sham or fake therapy, researchers say. They tested it in a trial to see if it might ease vaginal dryness and painful sex linked to going through the change.
Ivermectin: How false science created a Covid 'miracle' drug
Ivermectin has been called a Covid "miracle" drug, championed by vaccine opponents, and recommended by health authorities in some countries. But the BBC can reveal there are serious errors in a number of key studies that the drug's promoters rely on.
Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes 'lied and cheated', trial hears
Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes "lied and cheated" for money and fame prosecutors alleged on the first day of the former Silicon Valley star's trial. Ms Holmes faces 12 fraud charges over her role at the now-defunct blood-testing firm which was once worth $9bn.
The YouTubers who blew the whistle on an anti-vax plot
A mysterious marketing agency secretly offered to pay social media stars to spread disinformation about Covid-19 vaccines. Their plan failed when the influencers went public about the attempt to recruit them.
Covid: False and misleading health claims spread in Indonesia
With the surge of the Delta variant in Indonesia, misleading claims about products claiming to be cures and preventions are on the rise.
Tim Minchin's Storm the Animated Movie
NOW AVAILABLE AS AN ILLUSTRATED BOOK WITH ALL NEW ART! www.timminchin.com/stormthebook
In the confines of a London dinner party, comedian Tim Minchin argues with a hippy named Storm. While Storm herself may not be converted, audiences from London to LA have been won over by Tim's wordplay and the t
If You Open Your Mind Too Much Your Brain Will Fall Out (Take My Wife) by Tim Minchin
Taken from the forthcoming series of ITV's 'Comedy Cuts'.
Animator: Martin White ( http://www.martylog.com )
Director: Fergus March
Director of Photography: Tim Jordan
Producer: Rohan Acharya
Go Figure: Watching out for Wimbledon-washing machine links
What's the link between tennis on TV and washing machines? If you suspect a weird connection, ask a statistician, says Michael Blastland in his regular column. "Indeed we do. Wimbledon is it?
Spurious correlations: Margarine linked to divorce?
A website set up by a student at Harvard teaches us to look carefully at statistics. And it's fun at the same time. What if you read a little further and found a compelling graph showing the rates of divorce and margarine consumption tracking each other closely over almost 10 years.
Somalis with albinism: Pelted with stones and raw eggs
Referring to the stigma he faces in Somalia because he has albinism, 25 year-old Elmi Bile Mohamed says: "People tell me I am a cannibal and that I will eat their children. They are terrified of me."
Pakistan: Police hunt for 'healer' who hit nail into woman's head
The woman arrived at a hospital in Peshawar after trying to extract the 5cm (two-inch) nail with pliers. Initially, she told doctors that she had carried out the act herself, but later admitted a faith healer who had claimed he could guarantee she gave birth to a baby boy was responsible.
Madhya Pradesh: Minor girls paraded naked in India 'rain ritual'
Six minor girls in central India were stripped and paraded naked as part of a village ritual to summon rains. The incident took place in a drought-parched village in the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh state.
The insidious attacks on scientific truth
What is truth? You can speak of moral truths and aesthetic truths but I’m not concerned with those here, important as they may be. By truth I shall mean the kind of truth that a commission of inquiry or a jury trial is designed to establish.
'Kenyan police asked if my husband was a sorcerer'
While Chirindo Chisubi was still mourning her husband, she was shocked by a question asked by the police investigating his death in Kenya's Kilifi County on the Indian Ocean coast. Her husband, Dzuya Chisubi, had been hacked to death over accusations that he practised witchcraft.
Tower of London's 'queen' raven Merlina missing
The Tower of London's "queen" raven is missing and feared dead, according to staff at the fortress. Merlina, who joined the flock in 2007, has not been seen for several weeks.
Why is Hong Kong so superstitious?
On a hot and humid day in Hong Kong, local finance worker Wai Li is visiting Wong Tai Sin, the city’s busiest temple, to use a fortune-telling practice known as kau cim.
Why some Chinese believe a name change could improve luck
One afternoon in April, Mandy Pang’s worst fears came true. She was summoned onto a Zoom with her boss on short notice. Due to the economic downturn from the pandemic, she was being made redundant at her marketing job.
Gadhimai: Nepal's animal sacrifice festival goes ahead despite 'ban'
Less than five years ago, animal charities heralded the end of animal sacrifice at a religious festival dubbed "the world's bloodiest". But on Tuesday, the Gadhimai festival began with the killing of a goat, rat, chicken, pig and pigeon.
The 'sorcerer' keeping Mali's marionette tradition alive
The people behind Mali's marionette tradition, which has been used to pass on the folklore and culture of a community, are struggling to survive as the recent insecurity has stopped the vital income that came from visitors, as Clair MacDougall reports from Bamako.
Exorcism: Vatican course opens doors to 250 priests
The Vatican has opened its doors for its annual exorcism course amid increasing demand among some of the world's Catholic communities.
Panama: Seven people found dead after suspected exorcism
The bodies of seven people have been found in a mass grave in an indigenous area of Panama where members of a religious sect were believed to be performing exorcisms, officials say. The victims included a pregnant woman, 32, and five of her children, aged one to 11. The sixth was a neighbour, 17.
Woman arrested for naked video on India's Lakshman Jhula bridge
image copyrightGetty ImagesA French woman has been arrested in India for making a video of herself naked on a sacred bridge in the northern city of Rishikesh.The video, shot on the Lakshman Jhula bridge, was posted on social media.
Porn star Nacho Vidal held in Spain after man dies in toad-venom ritual
A Spanish porn actor is being investigated on suspicion of manslaughter after a photographer died during a toad-venom ritual, police say.Nacho Vidal, 46, and two others were briefly detained last Friday over the death.
Burundi albino boy 'dismembered'
The dismembered body of a young albino boy has been found in a river on the Burundi-Tanzania border, reports say. The boy, aged nine, was taken from Makamba province in Burundi by a gang that crossed the border, the head of Burundi's albino association said.
Petition · WHO: End the suffering of the Ebola crisis. Test and distribute homeopathy as quickly as possible to contain the outbreaks. · Change.org
Over 3,000 idiots and counting. This is the intersection of Hanlon’s Razor with Clarke’s third law: any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.
Homoeopathy's benefit questioned
The Lancet says the time for more studies is over and doctors should be bold and honest with patients about homoeopathy's "lack of benefit". Advocates of homoeopathy maintained the therapy, which works on the principle of treating like with like, does work.
Homeopathy 'no cancer care harm'
Some homeopathic medicines may ease the side-effects of cancer treatments without interfering in how they work, a scientific review has concluded.
Homeopathy
Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific[1][2][3][4] system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann.
Don’t laugh too loudly at Homeopathy
The EU Commissioners are ‘mandating’ farmers to use herbal homeopathic methods for treating sick animals. We can reliably say that, because homeopathy requires diluting ‘remedies’ a million or a billion times, it simply does not work.
Sign the Petition
Homeopathy has a proven track record of treating and preventing serious epidemic diseases. It’s used by governments for dengue fever, leptospirosis, epidemic fever, malaria, and Japanese encephalitis epidemics, and, historically, for other serious contagious diseases.
Homeopathy 'could be blacklisted'
Ministers are considering whether homeopathy should be put on a blacklist of treatments GPs in England are banned from prescribing, the BBC has learned. The controversial practice is based on the principle that "like cures like", but has been damned as given patients useless sugar pills.
Water memory
Water memory is the purported ability of water to retain a memory of substances previously dissolved in it even after an arbitrary number of serial dilutions.
pseudoscience junk science superstition alternative medicine homeopathy faith healing