# kb

id: replication-crisis-20260505-14
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replication_crisis-14.md
category: reference
title: Replication crisis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replication_crisis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:03.756578+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: replication-crisis-20260505-0
summary:
The dominant scientific and statistical model of causation is the linear model. The linear model assumes that mental variables are stable properties which are independent of each other. In other words, these variables are not expected to influence each other. Instead, the model assumes that the variables will have an independent, linear effect on observable outcomes. Social scientists Sebastian Wallot and Damian Kelty-Stephen argue that the linear model is not always appropriate. An alternative is the complex system model which assumes that mental variables are interdependent. These variables are not assumed to be stable, rather they will interact and adapt to each specific context. They argue that the complex system model is often more appropriate in psychology, and that the use of the linear model when the complex system model is more appropriate will result in failed replications. ...psychology may be hoping for replications in the very measurements and under the very conditions where a growing body of psychological evidence explicitly discourages predicting replication. Failures to replicate may be plainly baked into the potentially incomplete, but broadly sweeping failure of human behavior to conform to the standard of independen[ce] ... ==== Replication should seek to revise theories ==== Replication is


id: viktor-schauberger-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Schauberger-0.md
category: reference
title: Viktor Schauberger
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Schauberger
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:04.950282+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: viktor-schauberger-20260505-0
summary:
Viktor Schauberger (Austrian German: [ˈʃaʊbɛrɡɐ]; 30 June 1885 – 25 September 1958) was an Austrian forest caretaker, naturalist, philosopher, pseudoscientist, and inventor. == Early life == Schauberger was born in Holzschlag, Upper Austria on 30 June 1885. His parents were Leopold Schauberger and Josefa, née Klimitsch. From 1891 to 1897, he attended the elementary school in Aigen, then until 1900 the state grammar school in Linz. Until 1904, he went to the forestry school in Aggsbach in the Kartause Aggsbach, where he passed the exam as a forester. From 1904 to 1906, he was a forest clerk in Groß-Schweinbarth in Lower Austria. == Technology == Nick Cook visited the PKS bio-technical institute, Pythagoras-Kepler System, in the Salzkammergut Mountains. Viktor's grandson Joerg gave Nick access to the family archives, which included Viktor's books, letters, diary, and patent applications. Besides inventing a log flume, Viktor worked on bio-technical machinery. In 1939, Viktor filed a patent with the Reich Patent Office for a "multistage centrifuge with concentrically juxtaposed pressure chambers," a means of propelling machines through air or water, water purification, or electricity generation. In 1940, Viktor contracted Kaempfer in Berlin to build the machine, then in February 1941, switched to the Kertl


id: science-in-a-free-society-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_in_a_Free_Society-0.md
category: reference
title: Science in a Free Society
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_in_a_Free_Society
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:06.201511+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: science-in-a-free-society-20260505-0
summary:
Science in a Free Society is the 2nd full length book by the Austrian philosopher of science, Paul Feyerabend. It was published in 1978 by Schocken Books and later reprinted by Verso Books. While Feyerabend never published a second edition, Verso pressed four copies in 1982, 1983, 1985, and 1987. Parts of the book were reprinted in later editions of Against Method. The book largely develops arguments from the first edition of Against Method and spells out their political implications. The book also contains a collection of previously published material in which he responds to some of his critics of Against Method. In 1979, Feyerabend also published, in German, Erkenntnis für freie Menschen (Knowledge for Free People), which contains roughly two-thirds of the material from Science in a Society while expanding on some sections and diminishing others. == Content == The book is divided into three sections: "Reason and Practice" expounds Feyerabend's theory of rationality as something embedded in, rather than separate from, traditions. "Science in a Free Society" develops Feyerabend's views about the place of science in democratic societies. "Conversations with Illiterates" provides responses to criticisms of Against Method. === Reason and Practice === The first section develops a


id: science-wars-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_wars-0.md
category: reference
title: Science wars
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_wars
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:07.536969+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: science-wars-20260505-0
summary:
In the philosophy of science, the science wars were a series of scholarly and public discussions in the 1990s over the social place of science in making authoritative claims about the world. Encyclopedia.com, citing the Encyclopedia of Science and Religion, describes the science wars as the "complex of discussions about the way the sciences are related to or incarnated in culture, history, and practice. [...] [which] came to be called a 'war' in the mid 1990s because of a strong polarization over questions of legitimacy and authority. One side [...] is concerned with defending the authority of science as rooted in objective evidence and rational procedures. The other side argues that it is legitimate and fruitful to study the sciences as institutions and social-technical networks whose development is influenced by linguistics, economics, politics, and other factors surrounding formally rational procedures and isolated established facts." The science wars took place principally in the United States in the 1990s in the academic and mainstream press. Scientific realists (such as Norman Levitt, Paul R. Gross, Jean Bricmont and Alan Sokal) accused many writers, whom they described as 'postmodernist', of having effectively rejected scientific objectivity, the scientific method, empiricism, and scientific knowledge. Though much


id: science-wars-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_wars-1.md
category: reference
title: Science wars
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_wars
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:07.536969+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: science-wars-20260505-0
summary:
A number of different philosophical and historical schools, often grouped together as "postmodernism", began reinterpreting scientific achievements of the past through the lens of the practitioners, often positing the influence of politics and economics in the development of scientific theories in addition to scientific observations. Rather than being presented as working entirely from positivistic observations, many scientists of the past were scrutinized for their connection to issues of gender, sexual orientation, race, and class. Some more radical philosophers, such as Paul Feyerabend, argued that scientific theories were themselves incoherent and that other forms of knowledge production (such as those used in religion) served the material and spiritual needs of their practitioners with equal validity as did scientific explanations. Imre Lakatos advanced a midway view between the "postmodernist" and "realist" camps. For Lakatos, scientific knowledge is progressive; however, it progresses not by a strict linear path where every new element builds upon and incorporates every other, but by an approach where a "core" of a "research program" is established by auxiliary theories which can themselves be falsified or replaced without compromising the core. Social conditions and attitudes affect how strongly one attempts to resist falsification for the core of a program,


id: science-wars-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_wars-2.md
category: reference
title: Science wars
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_wars
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:07.536969+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: science-wars-20260505-0
summary:
=== Continued conflict === In the first few years after the 'Science Wars' edition of Social Text, the seriousness and volume of discussion increased significantly, much of it focused on reconciling the 'warring' camps of postmodernists and scientists. One significant event was the 'Science and Its Critics' conference in early 1997; it brought together scientists and scholars who study science and featured Alan Sokal and Steve Fuller as keynote speakers. The conference generated the final wave of substantial press coverage (in both news media and scientific journals), though by no means resolved the fundamental issues of social construction and objectivity in science. Other attempts have been made to reconcile the two camps. Mike Nauenberg, a physicist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, organized a small conference in May 1997 that was attended by scientists and sociologists of science alike, among them Alan Sokal, N. David Mermin and Harry Collins. In the same year, Collins organized the Southampton Peace Workshop, which again brought together a broad range of scientists and sociologists. The Peace Workshop gave rise to the idea of a book that intended to map out some of the arguments between the disputing parties. The One Culture?: A Conversation


id: scientism-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientism-0.md
category: reference
title: Scientism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:08.742517+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientism-20260505-0
summary:
Scientism is the belief that science and the scientific method are the best or only way to render truth about the world and reality. While the term was defined originally to mean "methods and attitudes typical of or attributed to natural scientists", some scholars, as well as political and religious leaders, have also adopted it as a pejorative term with the meaning "an exaggerated trust in the efficacy of the methods of natural science applied to all areas of investigation (as in philosophy, the social sciences, and the humanities)". == Overview == Francis Bacon has been viewed by some scholars as an early proponent of scientism, but this is a modern assertion as Bacon was a devout Anglican, writing in his Essays, "a little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion." With respect to the philosophy of science, the term scientism frequently implies a critique of the more extreme expressions of logical positivism and has been used by social scientists such as Friedrich Hayek, philosophers of science such as Karl Popper, and philosophers such as Mary Midgley, the later Hilary Putnam, and Tzvetan Todorov to describe (for example) the dogmatic endorsement


id: scientism-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientism-1.md
category: reference
title: Scientism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:08.742517+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientism-20260505-0
summary:
It is used to criticize a totalizing opinion of science as if it were capable of describing all reality and knowledge, or as if it were the only true method to acquire knowledge about reality and the nature of things; It is used, often pejoratively, to denote violations by which the theories and methods of one (scientific) discipline are applied inappropriately to another (scientific or non-scientific) discipline and its domain. An example of this second usage is to term as scientism any attempt to claim science as the only or primary source of human values (a traditional domain of ethics) or as the source of meaning and purpose (a traditional domain of religion and related worldviews). The term scientism was popularized by F. A. Hayek, who defined it in 1942 as the "slavish imitation of the method and language of Science". Mathematician Alexander Grothendieck, in his 1971 essay "The New Universal Church", characterized scientism as a religion-like ideology that advocates scientific reductionism, scientific authoritarianism, political technocracy and technological salvation, while denying the epistemological validity of feelings and experiences such as love, emotion, beauty and fulfillment. He predicted that "in coming years, the chief political dividing line will fall less and


id: scientism-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientism-2.md
category: reference
title: Scientism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:08.742517+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientism-20260505-0
summary:
== Relevance to debates about science and religion == Both religious and non-religious scholars have applied the term scientism to individuals associated with New Atheism. Theologian John Haught argued that philosopher Daniel Dennett and other New Atheists subscribe to a belief system of scientific naturalism, which includes the dogma that "only nature, including humans and our creations, is real: that God does not exist; and that science alone can give us complete and reliable knowledge of reality." Haught argued that this belief system is self-refuting since it requires its adherents to assent to beliefs that violate its own stated requirements for knowledge. Christian philosopher Peter Williams argued in 2013 that it is only by conflating science with scientism that New Atheists feel qualified to "pontificate on metaphysical issues". Daniel Dennett responded to religious criticism of his 2006 book Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon by saying that accusations of scientism "[are] an all-purpose, wild-card smear ... When someone puts forward a scientific theory that [religious critics] really don't like, they just try to discredit it as 'scientism'. But when it comes to facts, and explanations of facts, science is the only game in town". Non-religious scholars have also


id: scientism-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientism-3.md
category: reference
title: Scientism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:08.742517+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: scientism-20260505-0
summary:
Thomas M. Lessl argued that religious themes persist in what he terms scientism, the public rhetoric of science. There are two methods of describing this idea of scientism: the epistemological method (the assumption that the scientific method trumps other ways of knowing) and the ontological method (that the rational mind represents the world and both operate in knowable ways). According to Lessl, the ontological method is an attempt to "resolve the conflict between rationalism and skepticism". Lessl also argued that without scientism, there would not be a scientific culture. == Rationalization and modernity == In the introduction to his collected works on the sociology of religion, Max Weber asked why "the scientific, the artistic, the political, or the economic development [elsewhere] ... did not enter upon that path of rationalization which is peculiar to the Occident?" According to the German social theorist Jürgen Habermas, "For Weber, the intrinsic (that is, not merely contingent) relationship between modernity and what he called 'Occidental rationalism' was still self-evident." Weber described a process of rationalisation, disenchantment and the "disintegration of religious world views" that resulted in modern secular societies and capitalism. "Modernization" was introduced as a technical term only in the 1950s. It is


id: the-secret-life-of-plants-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Life_of_Plants-0.md
category: reference
title: The Secret Life of Plants
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_Life_of_Plants
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:13.703730+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-secret-life-of-plants-20260505-0
summary:
The Secret Life of Plants (1973) is a book by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird, which documents controversial experiments that claim to reveal unusual phenomena associated with plants, such as plant sentience and the ability of plants to communicate with other creatures, including humans. The book goes on to discuss philosophies and progressive farming methods based on these "findings". It was heavily criticized by scientists for promoting pseudoscientific claims. Later editions were published with the subtitle A Fascinating Account of the Physical, Emotional and Spiritual Relations Between Plants and Man. == Authors == Christopher Bird [de] (1928–1996) was a best-selling author who also wrote The Divining Hand: The 500-Year-Old Mystery of Dowsing. Peter Tompkins worked as a journalist, as well as a US military intelligence officer for the OSS in Italy during World War II. The original book cover design was created by underground comix illustrator Gail Burwen. == Summary == The book includes summaries of the life and work of 20th century scientists Jagadish Chandra Bose and Corentin Louis Kervran as well as 19th century scientist George Washington Carver. The book includes experiments on plant stimuli using a polygraph, a method which was pioneered by Cleve Backster. Parts of


id: criticism-of-the-space-shuttle-program-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_the_Space_Shuttle_program-0.md
category: reference
title: Criticism of the Space Shuttle program
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_the_Space_Shuttle_program
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:15.004523+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: criticism-of-the-space-shuttle-program-20260505-0
summary:
Criticism of the Space Shuttle program stemmed from claims that NASA's Space Shuttle program failed to achieve its promised cost and utility goals, as well as design, cost, management, and safety issues. Fundamentally, it failed in the goal of reducing the cost of space access. Space Shuttle incremental per-pound launch costs ultimately turned out to be considerably higher than those of expendable launchers. In 2010, the incremental cost per flight of the Space Shuttle was $409 million, or $14,186 per kilogram ($6,435 per pound) to low Earth orbit (LEO). In contrast, the comparable Proton launch vehicle cost was $141 million, or $6,721 per kilogram ($3,049 per pound) to LEO and the Soyuz 2.1 was $55 million, or $6,665 per kilogram ($3,023 per pound), despite these launch vehicles not being reusable. When all design and maintenance costs are taken into account, the final cost of the Space Shuttle program, averaged over all missions and adjusted for inflation (2008), was estimated to come out to $1.5 billion per launch, or $60,000 per kilogram ($27,000 per pound) to LEO. This should be contrasted with the originally envisioned costs of $260 per kilogram ($118 per pound) of payload in 1972 dollars (approximately $554 per


id: criticism-of-the-space-shuttle-program-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_the_Space_Shuttle_program-1.md
category: reference
title: Criticism of the Space Shuttle program
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_the_Space_Shuttle_program
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:15.004523+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: criticism-of-the-space-shuttle-program-20260505-0
summary:
NASA secured funding from the US Air Force's budget in exchange for USAF input to the design process. In order to fulfill the USAF's mission to launch payloads into polar orbit, the USAF insisted on a very large cross-range requirement. This necessitated the Shuttle's huge delta wings, which are far larger than the stub wings of the original design. Besides adding drag and weight (almost 20 percent), the excessive number of heat tiles needed to protect the delta wings added greatly to maintenance costs, besides increasing operational risks such as those that resulted in the Columbia disaster. At Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the USAF duplicated the entire infrastructure needed to launch and service the Space Shuttle, at a cost of over 4 billion dollars. Following the Challenger explosion, the facility was dismantled without ever having launched a single Shuttle mission. Aerospace engineer Robert Zubrin describes the Shuttle as having been designed "backwards" in that the Orbiter, the harder-to-recover portion, is made recoverable, while part of the booster (the liquid fuel tank) is thrown away even though it is easier to recover since it does not fly so high or fast. Maintenance of the thermal protection tiles was a


id: criticism-of-the-space-shuttle-program-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_the_Space_Shuttle_program-2.md
category: reference
title: Criticism of the Space Shuttle program
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_the_Space_Shuttle_program
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:15.004523+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: criticism-of-the-space-shuttle-program-20260505-0
summary:
As the Soviets demonstrated, capsules and uncrewed supply rockets are sufficient to supply a space station. NASA's initial policy of using the Shuttle to launch all crewless payloads declined in practice, and eventually was discontinued. Expendable launch vehicles (ELVs) proved much cheaper and more flexible. Following the Challenger disaster, use of the Shuttle to carry the powerful liquid fueled Centaur upper stages planned for interplanetary probes was ruled out for Shuttle safety reasons. The Shuttle's history of unexpected delays also made it liable to miss narrow launch windows. Advances in technology have made probes smaller and lighter. As a result, many robotic probes and communications satellites can now use expendable launch vehicles, such as the Delta and Atlas V, which are less expensive and perceived to be more reliable than the Shuttle. Advances in technology today happen much faster than in the years the Shuttle was developed. Thus the notion that Shuttle would be useful for recovering expensive satellites for return to Earth for refurbishment and updating with new technology is obsoleted; costs have dropped and capabilities increased so much that it is much more cost-effective to abandon old satellites and simply launch new ones. == Accidents == While the


id: criticism-of-the-space-shuttle-program-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_the_Space_Shuttle_program-3.md
category: reference
title: Criticism of the Space Shuttle program
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_the_Space_Shuttle_program
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:15.004523+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: criticism-of-the-space-shuttle-program-20260505-0
summary:
John Young and Jerry L. Ross were among those astronauts who believed that the shuttle was always an experimental craft, not an operational vehicle for routine spaceflight as President Ronald Reagan declared after STS-4. Rick Hauck said in 2017 that before STS-1 he saw an analysis estimating the risk of loss of the vehicle as 1 in 280, but an internal NASA risk assessment study (conducted by the Shuttle Program Safety and Mission Assurance Office at Johnson Space Center) released in late 2010 or early 2011 concluded that the agency had seriously underestimated the level of risk involved in operating the Shuttle. The report assessed that there was a 1 in 9 chance of a catastrophic disaster during the first nine flights of the Shuttle but that safety improvements had later improved the risk ratio to 1 in 90. In 1984 Reagan signed a National Security Decision Directive stating that the shuttle would not be "fully operational" until it could fly 24 missions a year, perhaps by 1988; the shuttle never flew more often than the nine missions of 1985, and averaged about six missions a year between 1988 and 2003. Although many NASA astronauts criticized the payload specialist program,


id: criticism-of-technology-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_technology-0.md
category: reference
title: Criticism of technology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_technology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:16.291552+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: criticism-of-technology-20260505-0
summary:
Criticism of technology is an analysis of adverse impacts of industrial and digital technologies. It is argued that, in all advanced industrial societies (not necessarily only capitalist ones), technology becomes a means of domination, control, and exploitation, or more generally something which threatens the survival of humanity. Some of the technology opposed by the most radical critics may include everyday household products, such as refrigerators, computers, and medication. However, criticism of technology comes in many shades. == Overview == Some authors such as Chellis Glendinning and Kirkpatrick Sale consider themselves Neo-Luddites and hold that technological progress has had a negative impact on humanity. Their work focused on seeking meaning out of technological change, specifically wrestling with the question of "how tools and their affordances change and alter the fabric of everyday life." Ellul, for instance, maintained that when people assert that technology is an instrument of freedom or the means to achieve historical destiny or the execution of divine vocation, it results in the glorification and sanctification of Technique so that it becomes that which gives meaning and value to life rather than mere ensemble of materials. This is echoed by rhetorical critics who cite the way technological discourse damages


id: judy-wilyman-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Wilyman-0.md
category: reference
title: Judy Wilyman
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Wilyman
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:17.425529+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: judy-wilyman-20260505-0
summary:
Roslyn Judith "Judy" Wilyman is an Australian anti-vaccination activist who came to prominence following the controversial award of a humanities PhD titled "A critical analysis of the Australian government's rationale for its vaccination policy" by University of Wollongong. The thesis came under heavy criticism from multiple directions, including medical professionals, due to claims within the thesis, including advancing a conspiracy theory whereby the World Health Organization (WHO) and the pharmaceutical industry supposedly conspire to promote vaccinations in the absence of evidence of safety and efficacy. The awarding of the degree created questions about the standards being applied and whether or not the thesis supervisors and examiners had sufficient knowledge to oversee the research, and led to calls for the university to review the doctorate. A number of individuals and medical organisations – including academics and researchers from other parts of the University of Wollongong – spoke out against the findings of the thesis, emphasising the need for vaccinations in order to prevent serious disease; and the University of Wollongong was criticised for a perceived lack of transparency in their doctoral process and an alleged failure to uphold standards of scholarship. The thesis was conducted from within the university's School of


id: judy-wilyman-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Wilyman-1.md
category: reference
title: Judy Wilyman
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Wilyman
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:17.425529+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: judy-wilyman-20260505-0
summary:
== PhD award == Wilyman entered a PhD a program in 2007 in the same UOW Faculty as awarded her Masters, but with her research focus expanded to cover Australian vaccination policy more generally. In 2008, the supervision of her studies was transferred to Peter Dingle at Murdoch University, and returned to UOW in 2011 under Brian Martin. The thesis was accepted by UOW in 2016. Although details of the examiners have not been released, in May 2016 The Australian reported that one of two original examiners did not recommend that a PhD be granted. It was passed after a third academic evaluated the thesis and recommended changes. The thesis came under heavy criticism from multiple directions, including medical professionals, due to claims within the thesis, including advancing a conspiracy theory that the World Health Organization (WHO) and the pharmaceutical industry supposedly conspire to promote vaccinations in the absence of evidence of safety and efficacy. The awarding of the thesis lead to criticism and questions about the standards being applied and whether or not the thesis supervisors and examiners had sufficient knowledge to oversee the research and led to calls for the university to review the doctorate. A number of


id: judy-wilyman-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Wilyman-2.md
category: reference
title: Judy Wilyman
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Wilyman
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:17.425529+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: judy-wilyman-20260505-0
summary:
Wilyman's "references to support these outrageous comments are from the bottom dwelling literature that includes 50-year-old discussions along with well-established, thoroughly debunked pseudoscience. At no point does she mention any of the vast scientific literature that includes large clinical and epidemiological studies - or attempt a critique of it." "It is [a] litany of deceitful reveries. How it could possibly pass as a piece of Doctoral level work is inexplicable and it has made no contribution to knowledge. Shame on you University of Wollongong." Saxon Smith, president of the NSW branch of the AMA, characterised it as "a thesis that's talking about the science of medicine without any support of its argument from credible scientific literature", adding "the evidence is clear about the safety of vaccines." Alison Campbell, an associate dean and biological sciences lecturer at the University of Waikato, produced a blistering analysis criticising the use of out-of-date references as well as pointing out numerous scientific errors in Wilyman's master's work, including calling the unexplained exclusion of two of four types of vaccine components "an alarming omission for a paper on immunisation". The Medical Journal of Australia criticised the university in awarding a PhD to a student "demonstrating a


id: judy-wilyman-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Wilyman-3.md
category: reference
title: Judy Wilyman
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Wilyman
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:17.425529+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: judy-wilyman-20260505-0
summary:
=== Remonstrations === In response to UOW and Wilyman's thesis an online petition called Stop the University of Wollongong's Spread of Disease and Death Via Anti-Vaccination PhD was established in January 2016 and attracted over 2,100 signatures within the first few weeks. The petition reportedly states that UOW's acceptance of the thesis "demonstrates an anti-scientific culture at the University of Wollongong that is inimical to scholarship". At the same time over sixty of the university's health and medical academics and researchers jointly signed a statement that "the evidence is clear" in support of vaccination urging all parents to ensure their children are fully immunised, Public Health Association of Australia president Heather Yeatman said the 65 academics wanted to clarify the scientific position and point out they are firmly behind vaccination and that "Universities need to publish papers based on sound evidence and the balance of evidence in relation to any matter". A week later, representatives from 12 medical research and clinical societies also signed a supporting statement on behalf of 5,000 scientists and clinicians in the fields of microbiology, virology, immunology and infectious diseases concerned about vaccine-preventable diseases in the community. Eminent research biologist Sir Gustav Nossal was one of


id: judy-wilyman-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Wilyman-4.md
category: reference
title: Judy Wilyman
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Wilyman
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:17.425529+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: judy-wilyman-20260505-0
summary:
== Masters thesis investigation == Wilyman was previously investigated and cleared by the university after allegations relating to her 2007 Masters thesis. After investigating the allegations and clearing Wilyman in 2015, the university declined to publicly release details, but under a Freedom of Information request a small number of documents were released after the Information & Privacy Commission of NSW intervened. In March 2016 there was a further release of hundreds of heavily redacted pages relating to the investigation, after the initial response was appealed. In what text was left unredacted, it showed that the complaint was referred to a high-level conduct committee, which dismissed the complaint after a two-month investigation and took no further action. The documents revealed that Judy Raper, the university's Deputy Vice Chancellor of Research, wrote to Wilyman after the investigation saying that it should not have occurred, that she was "sincerely sorry for this to have happened", and that "academic misconduct processes are not a forum for academic debate". == Political career == Wilyman ran in the 2019 Australian federal election as a candidate for the Western Australia senate as a member of the anti-vaccination/anti-fluoridation, Involuntary Medication Objectors (Vaccination/Fluoride) Party. She was not successful, receiving


id: fringe-science-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_science-0.md
category: reference
title: Fringe science
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_science
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:19.241482+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: fringe-science-20260505-0
summary:
Fringe science refers to ideas whose attributes include being highly speculative or relying on premises already refuted. The chance of ideas rejected by editors and published outside the mainstream being correct is remote. When the general public does not distinguish between science and imitators, it risks exploitation, and in some cases, a "yearning to believe or a generalized suspicion of experts is a very potent incentive to accepting some pseudoscientific claims". The term "fringe science" covers everything from novel hypotheses, which can be tested utilizing the scientific method, to wild ad hoc hypotheses and mumbo jumbo. This has resulted in a tendency to dismiss all fringe science as the domain of pseudoscientists, hobbyists, and quacks. A concept that was once accepted by the mainstream scientific community may become fringe science because of a later evaluation of previous research. For example, focal infection theory, which held that focal infections of the tonsils or teeth are a primary cause of systemic disease, was once considered to be medical fact. It has since been dismissed because of a lack of evidence. == Description == The boundary between fringe science and pseudoscience is disputed. Friedlander writes that there is no widespread understanding of what


id: fringe-science-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_science-1.md
category: reference
title: Fringe science
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_science
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:19.241482+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: fringe-science-20260505-0
summary:
== Responding to fringe science == Michael W. Friedlander has suggested some guidelines for responding to fringe science, which, he argues, is a more difficult problem than scientific misconduct. His suggested methods include impeccable accuracy, checking cited sources, not overstating orthodox science, thorough understanding of the Wegener continental drift example, examples of orthodox science investigating radical proposals, and prepared examples of errors from fringe scientists. Friedlander suggests that fringe science is necessary so mainstream science will not atrophy. Scientists must evaluate the plausibility of each new fringe claim, and certain fringe discoveries "will later graduate into the ranks of accepted" — while others "will never receive confirmation". Margaret Wertheim profiled many "outsider scientists" in her book Physics on the Fringe, who receive little or no attention from professional scientists. She describes all of them as trying to make sense of the world using the scientific method but in the face of being unable to understand modern science's complex theories. She also finds it fair that credentialed scientists do not bother spending a lot of time learning about and explaining problems with the fringe theories of uncredentialed scientists since the authors of those theories have not taken the time to understand


id: 21-grams-experiment-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21_grams_experiment-0.md
category: reference
title: 21 grams experiment
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21_grams_experiment
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:20.468073+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: 21-grams-experiment-20260505-0
summary:
The 21 grams experiment refers to a study published in 1907 by Duncan MacDougall, a physician from Haverhill, Massachusetts. MacDougall hypothesized that souls have physical weight, and attempted to measure the mass lost by a human when the soul departed the body. MacDougall attempted to measure the mass change of six patients at the moment of death. One of the six subjects lost three-quarters of an ounce (21.3 grams). MacDougall stated his experiment would have to be repeated many times before any conclusion could be obtained. The experiment is widely regarded as flawed and unscientific due to the small sample size, the methods used, as well as the fact only one of the six subjects met the hypothesis. The case has been cited as an example of selective reporting. Despite its rejection within the scientific community, MacDougall's experiment popularized the concept that the soul has weight, and specifically that it weighs 21 grams. == Experiment == In 1901, Duncan MacDougall, a physician from Haverhill, Massachusetts, who wished to scientifically determine if a soul had weight, identified six patients in nursing homes whose deaths were imminent. Four were suffering from tuberculosis, one from diabetes, and one from unspecified causes. MacDougall specifically


id: 21-grams-experiment-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21_grams_experiment-1.md
category: reference
title: 21 grams experiment
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/21_grams_experiment
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:20.468073+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: 21-grams-experiment-20260505-0
summary:
== Similar experiments == In December 2001, physicist Lewis E. Hollander Jr. published an article in Journal of Scientific Exploration where he exhibited the results of a similar experiment. He tested the weight of one ram, seven ewes, three lambs and one goat at the moment of death, seeking to explore upon MacDougall's purported findings. His experiment showed that seven of the adult sheep varied their weight upon dying, though not losing it, but rather gaining an amount of 18 to 780 grams, which was lost again over time until returning to their initial weight. In 2009, Hollander Jr.'s experiment was subjected to critical review by Masayoshi Ishida in the same journal. Ishida found Hollander's statement of a transient gain of weight was "not an appropriate expression of the experimental result", though he admitted "the cause of the force event remains to be explained." He also warned about possible malfunctions of the weighing platform in two of the cases. Similarly inspired by MacDougall's research, physician Gerard Nahum proposed in 2005 a follow-up experiment, based on utilizing an array of electromagnetic detectors to try to pick up any type of escaping energy at the moment of death. He offered to sell


id: activated-charcoal-cleanse-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activated_charcoal_cleanse-0.md
category: reference
title: Activated charcoal cleanse
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activated_charcoal_cleanse
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:21.578149+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: activated-charcoal-cleanse-20260505-0
summary:
Activated charcoal cleanses, also known as charcoal detoxes, are a pseudoscientific use of a proven medical intervention for poisoning, activated charcoal. Activated charcoal is available in powder, tablet, and liquid form. Its proponents claim the use of activated charcoal regularly will detoxify and cleanse the body as well as boost one's energy and brighten the skin. Such claims violate basic principles of chemistry and physiology. There is no medical evidence for any health benefits of cleanses or detoxes via activated charcoal or any other method. Charcoal, when ingested, will absorb vitamins and nutrients as well as prescription medications present in the gastrointestinal tract which can make it dangerous to use unless directed by a medical doctor. == Background == === Production and industrial applications === Activated charcoal, also known as activated carbon, is commonly produced from high-carbon source materials such as wood or coconut husk. It is made by treating the source material with either a combination of heat and pressure, or with a strong acid or base followed by carbonization to make it highly porous. This gives it a very large surface area for its volume, up to 3000 square metres per gram. It has a large number of


id: american-academy-of-anti-aging-medicine-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Academy_of_Anti-Aging_Medicine-0.md
category: reference
title: American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Academy_of_Anti-Aging_Medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:22.791474+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: american-academy-of-anti-aging-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
The American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine (A4M) is a United States 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, that promotes the field of anti-aging medicine, and the organization trains and certifies physicians in this specialty. As of 2011, approximately 26,000 practitioners had been given A4M certificates. The field of anti-aging medicine is not recognized by established medical organizations, such as the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) and the American Medical Association (AMA). The academy's activities include lobbying and public relations. The A4M was founded in 1993 by osteopathic physicians Robert M. Goldman and Ronald Klatz, and as of 2013 claimed 26,000 members from 120 countries. Several of the anti-aging methods recommended by the academy have wide support among experts in the field, such as exercise and a healthy diet, but others, such as hormone treatments, do not have support from a consensus of the wider medical community. Many scientists studying aging, dissociate themselves from the claims of A4M, and critics have accused the group of using misleading marketing to sell expensive and ineffective products. The A4M's founders and merchants who promote products through the organization have been involved in legal and professional disputes. The activities of the A4M are controversial: in 2003 a


id: american-academy-of-anti-aging-medicine-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Academy_of_Anti-Aging_Medicine-1.md
category: reference
title: American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Academy_of_Anti-Aging_Medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:22.791474+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: american-academy-of-anti-aging-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
== Publications == The A4M publishes Anti Aging Medical News, a trade periodical which is their official magazine, as well as proceedings of its anti-aging conferences in a periodical called Anti-Aging Therapeutics, this is edited by Klatz and Goldman. The International Journal of Anti-Aging Medicine (IJAAM) was another periodical published by the A4M. According to Ulrich's Periodicals Directory, IJAAM was published by Total Health Holdings, LLC from 1998 to 2001, on behalf of the A4M. The contents of the International Journal of Anti-Aging Medicine have been strongly criticised. In a 2002 letter published in Science, Aubrey de Grey described them as consisting of a set of advertisements for a "pseudoscientific anti-aging industry". According to Bruce Carnes of the University of Oklahoma: This alleged "journal" is particularly misleading because it gives the false impression that it is a genuine scientific journal and that what is published in it is peer-reviewed. It is little more than an advertising vehicle for every conceivable anti-aging product. Leonard Hayflick of the University of California, San Francisco, a former editor of Experimental Gerontology, writes: The International Journal of Anti-Aging Medicine is not a recognized scientific journal. What I find reprehensible about this 'journal' is that advertisers


id: american-academy-of-anti-aging-medicine-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Academy_of_Anti-Aging_Medicine-2.md
category: reference
title: American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Academy_of_Anti-Aging_Medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:22.791474+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: american-academy-of-anti-aging-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
The American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine was formed following a 1990 study on human growth hormone (hGH) that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study was performed by Daniel Rudman and colleagues at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Rudman had treated twelve men over 60 years of age with human growth hormone; after six months, these men had an increase in lean body mass and a decrease in adipose tissue mass when compared with a group of nine men who did not receive hormone. Members of the anti-aging movement have interpreted these results to support a role for growth hormone in slowing or reversing aging. A review in The Journal of Urology noted that this promotion of growth hormone as an anti-aging remedy is "arguably similar" to ideas that date back to the late 19th century, when the physiologist Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard advocated rejuvenating hormone products prepared from animal testicles and stated that "the injections have taken 30 years off my life". The New York Times reports that the idea that growth hormone can improve "health, energy level and sense of well-being." is a core belief of the A4M, with Klatz writing a book in 1998 entitled


id: american-academy-of-anti-aging-medicine-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Academy_of_Anti-Aging_Medicine-3.md
category: reference
title: American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Academy_of_Anti-Aging_Medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:22.791474+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: american-academy-of-anti-aging-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
As with other hormones, hGH levels often decline with age, but this decrease is not necessarily bad. At least one epidemiological study suggests that people who have high levels of hGH are more apt to die at younger ages than those with lower levels of the hormone. Researchers have also studied animals with genetic disorders that suppress growth hormone production and secretion and found reduced growth hormone secretion may actually promote longevity in those species that have been tested. The Clinical Interventions in Aging review also stated that although the decreasing levels of the hormone seen in the elderly might reduce quality of life, this change could protect from age-related diseases and cited evidence linking GH to cancer. This concern was mirrored in a 2008 review published in Clinical Endocrinology, which stated that the risk of increasing the incidence of cancer was a strong argument against the use of this hormone as an "elixir of youth" in healthy adults. == Legal disputes == === Credential dispute === The academy's co-founders include Klatz and Goldman, who are licensed osteopathic physicians and have Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degrees (D.O.). However, according to The New York Times, they also received M.D. degrees as


id: american-academy-of-anti-aging-medicine-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Academy_of_Anti-Aging_Medicine-4.md
category: reference
title: American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Academy_of_Anti-Aging_Medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:22.791474+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: american-academy-of-anti-aging-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
=== Dispute with Olshansky and Perls === In 2002, A4M was a co-recipient of the first "Silver Fleece Award", created to publicize "the most ridiculous claims about antiaging medicine" according to the award's inventor, S. Jay Olshansky. Heated legal and academic controversies ensued. Olshansky, a biodemographer at the University of Illinois at Chicago, described it as "a lighthearted attempt to make the public aware of ... anti-aging quackery". This "award" was presented by Olshansky, who stated that in his opinion, a "suite of anti-aging substances created by Ronald Klatz and Robert Goldman ... and sold on the Internet by Market America, Inc." had made "outrageous or exaggerated claims about slowing or reversing human aging". Writing in Biogerontology, anthropologist Courtney Mykytyn of the University of Southern California states that this award appears to have been an attempt by Olshansky to protect what he saw as "'real' science from the taint of swindle." Mykytyn states that this involved Olshansky "tagging the A4M as fraudulent and its principals as profiteers". In response, the academy filed defamation lawsuits, demanding $150 million in damages, with Klatz stating "We take great exception to Mr Olshansky and his tactics which have finally compelled us to file suit


id: anomalistics-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anomalistics-0.md
category: reference
title: Anomalistics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anomalistics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:24.032920+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: anomalistics-20260505-0
summary:
Anomalistics is the use of scientific methods to evaluate anomalies (phenomena that fall outside current understanding), with the aim of finding a rational explanation. The term itself was coined in 1973 by Drew University anthropologist Roger W. Wescott, who defined it as being the "serious and systematic study of all phenomena that fail to fit the picture of reality provided for us by common sense or by the established sciences." Wescott credited journalist and researcher Charles Fort as being the creator of anomalistics as a field of research, and he named biologist Ivan T. Sanderson and Sourcebook Project compiler William R. Corliss as being instrumental in expanding anomalistics to introduce a more conventional perspective into the field. Henry Bauer, emeritus professor of science studies at Virginia Tech, writes that anomalistics is "a politically correct term for the study of bizarre claims", while David J. Hess of the Department of Science and Technology Studies at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute describes it as being "the scientific study of anomalies defined as claims of phenomena not generally accepted by the bulk of the scientific community." Anomalistics covers several sub-disciplines, including ufology, cryptozoology, and parapsychology. Researchers involved in the field have included ufologist J.


id: aquatic-ape-hypothesis-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquatic_ape_hypothesis-0.md
category: reference
title: Aquatic ape hypothesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquatic_ape_hypothesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:25.340882+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: aquatic-ape-hypothesis-20260505-0
summary:
The aquatic ape hypothesis (AAH), also referred to as aquatic ape theory (AAT) or the waterside hypothesis of human evolution, postulates that the ancestors of modern humans took a divergent evolutionary pathway from the other great apes by becoming adapted to a more aquatic habitat. While the hypothesis has some popularity with the lay public, it is generally ignored or classified as pseudoscience by anthropologists. The theory developed before major discoveries of ancient hominin fossils in East Africa. The hypothesis was initially proposed by the English marine biologist Alister Hardy in 1960, who argued that a branch of apes was forced by competition over terrestrial habitats to hunt for food such as shellfish on the coast and seabed, leading to adaptations that explained distinctive characteristics of modern humans such as functional hairlessness and bipedalism. The popular science writer Elaine Morgan supported this hypothesis in her 1972 book The Descent of Woman. In it, she contrasted the theory with zoologist and ethologist Desmond Morris's theories of sexuality, which she believed to be rooted in sexism. Anthropologists do not take the hypothesis seriously: John Langdon characterized it as an "umbrella hypothesis" (a hypothesis that tries to explain many separate traits of humans


id: aquatic-ape-hypothesis-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquatic_ape_hypothesis-1.md
category: reference
title: Aquatic ape hypothesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquatic_ape_hypothesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:25.340882+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: aquatic-ape-hypothesis-20260505-0
summary:
My thesis is that a branch of this primitive ape-stock was forced by competition from life in the trees to feed on the sea-shores and to hunt for food, shell fish, sea-urchins etc., in the shallow waters off the coast. I suppose that they were forced into the water just as we have seen happen in so many other groups of terrestrial animals. I am imagining this happening in the warmer parts of the world, in the tropical seas where Man could stand being in the water for relatively long periods, that is, several hours at a stretch. Hardy argued a number of features of modern humans are characteristic of aquatic adaptations. He pointed to humans' lack of body hair as being analogous to the same lack seen in whales and hippopotamuses, and noted the layer of subcutaneous fat humans have that Hardy believed other apes lacked, although it has been shown that captive apes with ample access to food have levels of subcutaneous fat similar to humans. Additional features cited by Hardy include the location of the trachea in the throat rather than the nasal cavity, the human propensity for front-facing copulation, tears and eccrine sweating, though these claimed


id: aquatic-ape-hypothesis-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquatic_ape_hypothesis-2.md
category: reference
title: Aquatic ape hypothesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquatic_ape_hypothesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:25.340882+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: aquatic-ape-hypothesis-20260505-0
summary:
=== Critiques === The AAH is considered to be a classic example of pseudoscience among the scholarly community, and has been met with significant skepticism. The Nature editor and paleontologist Henry Gee has argued that the hypothesis has equivalent merit to creationism, and should be similarly dismissed. In a 1997 critique, anthropologist John Langdon considered the AAH under the heading of an "umbrella hypothesis" and argued that the difficulty of ever disproving such a thing meant that although the idea has the appearance of being a parsimonious explanation, it actually was no more powerful an explanation than the null hypothesis that human evolution is not particularly guided by interaction with bodies of water. Langdon argued that however popular the idea was with the public, the "umbrella" nature of the idea means that it cannot serve as a proper scientific hypothesis. Langdon also objected to Morgan's blanket opposition to the "savannah hypothesis" which he took to be the "collective discipline of paleoanthropology". He observed that some anthropologists had regarded the idea as not worth the trouble of a rebuttal. In addition, the evidence cited by AAH proponents mostly concerned developments in soft tissue anatomy and physiology, whilst paleoanthropologists rarely speculated on


id: aquatic-ape-hypothesis-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquatic_ape_hypothesis-3.md
category: reference
title: Aquatic ape hypothesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquatic_ape_hypothesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:25.340882+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: aquatic-ape-hypothesis-20260505-0
summary:
=== Reactions of Hardy and Morgan === Alister Hardy was astonished and mortified in 1960 when the national Sunday papers carried banner headlines "Oxford professor says man a sea ape", causing problems with his Oxford colleagues. As he later said to his ex-pupil Desmond Morris, "Of course I then had to write an article to refute this saying no this is just a guess, a rough hypothesis, this isn't a proven fact. And of course we're not related to dolphins." Elaine Morgan's 1972 book Descent of Woman became an international best-seller, a Book of the Month selection in the United States and was translated into ten languages. The book was praised for its feminism but paleoanthropologists were disappointed with its promotions of the AAH. Morgan removed the feminist critique and left her AAH ideas intact, publishing the book as The Aquatic Ape 10 years later, but it did not garner any more positive reaction from scientists. == Related academic and independent research == === Wading and bipedalism === AAH proponent Algis Kuliukas, performed experiments to measure the comparative energy used when lacking orthograde posture with using fully upright posture. Although it is harder to walk upright with bent knees on


id: aromatherapy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aromatherapy-0.md
category: reference
title: Aromatherapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aromatherapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:29.987127+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: aromatherapy-20260505-0
summary:
Aromatherapy is a practice based on the use of aromatic materials, including essential oils and other aroma compounds, with claims for improving psychological well-being. It is used as a complementary therapy or as a form of alternative medicine, and typically is used via inhalation and not by ingestion. Fragrances used in aromatherapy are not approved as prescription drugs in the United States. Although there is insufficient medical evidence that aromatherapy can prevent, treat or cure any disease, aromatherapy is used by some people with diseases, such as cancer, to provide general well-being and relief from pain, nausea or stress. People may use blends of essential oils as a topical application, massage, inhalation, or water immersion. Essential oils comprise hundreds to thousands of aromatic constituents, like terpinoids and phenylpropanoids, and to sufficiently research the pharmacological effects of essential oil constituents, each isolated constituent in the selected essential oil would have to be studied. == History == Oils and the belief that they had healing properties, along with other beliefs of the time, are described by Dioscorides in his De Materia Medica, written in the 1st century A.D. Distilled cedarwood oil was used by the ancient Egyptians, and the process of distilling


id: brain-electrical-oscillation-signature-profiling-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_Electrical_Oscillation_Signature_Profiling-0.md
category: reference
title: Brain Electrical Oscillation Signature Profiling
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_Electrical_Oscillation_Signature_Profiling
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:31.117509+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: brain-electrical-oscillation-signature-profiling-20260505-0
summary:
Brain Electrical Oscillation Signature Profiling (BEOSP or BEOS) is an EEG technique by which a suspect's participation in a crime is detected by eliciting electrophysiological impulses. It is a non-invasive neuro-psychological method of interrogation which is also referred to as 'brain fingerprinting'. BEOS has been used in over 700 police investigations in India, but has also faced criticism for a lack of thorough research and scientific consensus. == History == The methodology was developed by Champadi Raman Mukundan (C. R. Mukundan), a Neuroscientist, former Professor & Head of Clinical Psychology at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (Bangalore, India), while he worked as a Research Consultant to TIFAC-DFS Project on 'Normative Data for Brain Electrical Activation Profiling'. His works are based on research that was also formerly pursued by other scientists at American universities, including J. Peter Rosenfeld, Lawrence Farwell and Emanuel Donchin. BEOS was used in 2008 in India to find a woman guilty of murder. Later, the Indian Supreme Court ruled that BEOS was inadmissible as evidence. == Principle == BEOS operates on the principle that the human brain reacts differently to information that it has experienced previously, compared to new information. It is considered secondary,


id: california-drought-manipulation-conspiracy-theory-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_drought_manipulation_conspiracy_theory-0.md
category: reference
title: California drought manipulation conspiracy theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_drought_manipulation_conspiracy_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:32.400242+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: california-drought-manipulation-conspiracy-theory-20260505-0
summary:
The California drought manipulation conspiracy theory is a conspiracy theory that proposes that the 2011–2017 drought was a deliberate, man-made phenomenon, created by weather modification. It is largely promoted by a number of self-proclaimed "independent researchers" and "scientists", and by alternative news outlets. The theory has been dismissed by the scientific community and mainstream media as fringe science or pseudoscience. == Key claims and components == The 2011–2017 drought inspired alarm among many, leading to the emergence of conspiracy theories purporting to explain the cause of a complex problem using oversimplified and non-evidence-based explanations. Many of the proponents claim that chemtrails are used to affect storm clouds, in such a manner as to suppress the development of precipitation. This would occur because of the presence of too many cloud condensation nuclei, or "cloud seeds", in a single area. Others say that technologies similar to HAARP (a federal ionospheric research program, which was decommissioned in 2015), are being used to create a large and stubborn high-pressure area over the West Coast of the United States. They claim that this, also, discourages storms and rainfall. Dane Wigington and his group GeoEngineering Watch were the most visible proponents of this theory. Wigington said


id: detoxification-foot-baths-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detoxification_foot_baths-0.md
category: reference
title: Detoxification foot baths
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detoxification_foot_baths
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:33.534557+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: detoxification-foot-baths-20260505-0
summary:
Detoxification foot baths, also known as foot detox, ionic cleansing, ionic foot bath and aqua/water detox are pseudoscientific alternative medical devices marketed as being able to remove toxins from the human body. They work by providing an electric current to an electrode array immersed in a salt water solution. When switched on, the electrodes rapidly rust in a chemical process called electrolysis which quickly turns the water brown. This reaction happens regardless of whether or not a person's feet are immersed in the water, and no toxins from the human body have ever been detected in the water after use. == Description == Detoxification foot baths first became popular with consumers in the early 2000s and quickly became popular in spas due to the theatre of the visible brown water and sludge produced by the devices. One manufacturer of the device, known as Aqua Detox, states that the concept is based on research from the 1920s to 1930s by Royal Rife, an inventor who claimed his Rife Devices could "devitalize disease organisms" by vibrating them at certain frequencies. Detoxification foot baths consist of two major components, a simple container in which to place the feet and an electrode array. Usually


id: diseases-from-space-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diseases_from_Space-0.md
category: reference
title: Diseases from Space
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diseases_from_Space
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:34.643439+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: diseases-from-space-20260505-0
summary:
Diseases from Space is a book published in 1979 that was authored by astronomers Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe, where they propose that many of the most common diseases which afflict humanity, such as influenza, the common cold and whooping cough, have their origins in extraterrestrial sources. The two authors argue the case for outer space being the main source for these pathogens or at least their causative agents. The claim connecting terrestrial disease and extraterrestrial pathogens was rejected by the scientific community. == Overview == Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe spent over 20 years investigating the nature and composition of interstellar dust. Though many hypotheses regarding this dust had been postulated by various astronomers since the middle of the 19th century, all were found to be wanting as and when new data on the gas and dust clouds became available. Chandra Wickramasinghe proposed the existence of polymeric composition based on the molecule formaldehyde (H2CO). In 1974 Wickramasinghe first proposed the hypothesis that some dust in interstellar space was largely organic (containing carbon and nitrogen), and followed this up with other research confirming the hypothesis. Wickramasinghe also proposed and confirmed the existence of polymeric compounds based on formaldehyde. Fred Hoyle


id: electromagnetic-theories-of-consciousness-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_theories_of_consciousness-0.md
category: reference
title: Electromagnetic theories of consciousness
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_theories_of_consciousness
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:35.847467+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: electromagnetic-theories-of-consciousness-20260505-0
summary:
Electromagnetic theories of consciousness propose that consciousness can be understood as an electromagnetic phenomenon. == Overview == Theorists differ in how they relate consciousness to electromagnetism. Electromagnetic field theories (or "EM field theories") of consciousness propose that consciousness results when a brain produces an electromagnetic field with specific characteristics. Susan Pockett and Johnjoe McFadden have proposed EM field theories; William Uttal has criticized McFadden's and other field theories. In general, quantum mind theories do not treat consciousness as an electromagnetic phenomenon, with a few exceptions. AR Liboff has proposed that "incorporating EM field-mediated communication into models of brain function has the potential to reframe discussions surrounding consciousness". Also related are E. Roy John's work and Andrew and Alexander Fingelkurts theory "Operational Architectonics framework of brain-mind functioning". == Cemi theory == The starting point for McFadden and Pockett's theory is the fact that every time a neuron fires to generate an action potential, and a postsynaptic potential in the next neuron down the line, it also generates a disturbance in the surrounding electromagnetic field. McFadden has proposed that the brain's electromagnetic field creates a representation of the information in the neurons. Studies undertaken towards the end of the 20th century are


id: electromagnetic-theories-of-consciousness-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_theories_of_consciousness-1.md
category: reference
title: Electromagnetic theories of consciousness
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_theories_of_consciousness
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:35.847467+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: electromagnetic-theories-of-consciousness-20260505-0
summary:
The concepts underlying this theory derive from the physicists, Hiroomi Umezawa and Herbert Fröhlich in the 1960s. More recently, their ideas have been elaborated by Mari Jibu and Kunio Yasue. Water comprises 70% of the brain, and quantum brain dynamics (QBD) proposes that the electric dipoles of the water molecules constitute a quantum field, referred to as the cortical field, with corticons as the quanta of the field. This cortical field is postulated to interact with quantum coherent waves generated by the biomolecules in neurons, which are suggested to propagate along the neuronal network. The idea of quantum coherent waves in the neuronal network derives from Fröhlich. He viewed these waves as a means by which order could be maintained in living systems, and argued that the neuronal network could support long-range correlation of dipoles. This theory suggests that the cortical field not only interacts with the neuronal network, but also to a good extent controls it. The proponents of QBD differ somewhat as to the way in which consciousness arises in this system. Jibu and Yasue suggest that the interaction between the energy quanta (corticons) of the quantum field and the biomolecular waves of the neuronal network produces consciousness.


id: electromagnetic-theories-of-consciousness-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_theories_of_consciousness-2.md
category: reference
title: Electromagnetic theories of consciousness
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_theories_of_consciousness
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:35.847467+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: electromagnetic-theories-of-consciousness-20260505-0
summary:
Dobson, et al. (2000): 1.8 millitesla = 18,000 mG Thomas, et al. (2007): 400 microtesla = 4000 milligauss Huesser, et al. (1997): 0.1 millitesla = 1000 mG Bell, et al. (2007) 0.78 Gauss = 780 mG Marino, et al. (2004): 1 Gauss = 1000 mG Carrubba, et al. (2008): 1 Gauss = 1000 mG Jacobson (1994): 5 picotesla = 0.00005 mG Sandyk (1999): Picotesla range In April 2022, the results of two related experiments at the University of Alberta and Princeton University were announced at The Science of Consciousness conference, providing further evidence to support quantum processes operating within microtubules. In a study Stuart Hameroff was part of, Jack Tuszyński of the University of Alberta demonstrated that anesthetics hasten the duration of a process called delayed luminescence, in which microtubules and tubulins re-emit trapped light. Tuszyński suspects that the phenomenon has a quantum origin, with superradiance being investigated as one possibility. In the second experiment, Gregory D. Scholes and Aarat Kalra of Princeton University used lasers to excite molecules within tubulins, causing a prolonged excitation to diffuse through microtubules further than expected, which did not occur when repeated under anesthesia. However, diffusion results have to be interpreted carefully, since even


id: fringe-tv-series-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_(TV_series)-0.md
category: reference
title: Fringe (TV series)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_(TV_series)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:37.281312+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: fringe-tv-series-20260505-0
summary:
Fringe is an American science fiction television series created by J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci. It premiered on Fox on September 9, 2008, and concluded on January 18, 2013, after five seasons comprising 100 episodes. An FBI agent, Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv), a genius but dysfunctional scientist, Walter Bishop (John Noble), and his son with a troubled past, Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson), are all members of a newly formed Fringe Division in the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, the team uses fringe science to investigate a series of unexplained and often ghastly occurrences which are related to a parallel universe. The series has been described as a hybrid of fantasy, procedural dramas, and serials, influenced by films like Altered States and television shows such as Lost, The X-Files, and The Twilight Zone. The series began as a traditional mystery-of-the-week series and became more serialized in later seasons. Most episodes contain a standalone plot, with several others also exploring the series' overarching mythology. Critical reception was lukewarm at first but became more favorable after the first season, when the series began to explore its mythology, including parallel universes with alternate timelines. The show, along with


id: fringe-tv-series-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_(TV_series)-1.md
category: reference
title: Fringe (TV series)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_(TV_series)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:37.281312+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: fringe-tv-series-20260505-0
summary:
Season 1 introduces the Fringe Division as they investigate cases that form "the Pattern" geographically centered around Reiden Lake in New York state, many of which are orchestrated by an international network of rogue scientists known as ZFT (Zerstörung durch Fortschritte der Technologie, or in English, Destruction through Advancement of Technology), led by David Robert Jones (Jared Harris), who are preparing for a doomsday event. The ZFT threat appears to end when Peter kills Jones as he attempts travel to a parallel universe. Olivia comes to learn she was a child test subject for Walter years ago (then known as Olive) for a nootropic drug, Cortexiphan, giving her weak psionic abilities. Walter also struggles with adjusting to normal life in Peter's care after living seventeen years in a mental institution. In Season 2, the occurrences are found to be in conjunction with activities of a parallel universe, which is plagued by singularities occurring at weakened points of the fabric between worlds; over there, scientists have developed an amber-like substance that isolates these singularities as well as any innocent people caught in the area on its release. The Fringe team deals with more cases that are leading to a "great storm"


id: fringe-tv-series-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_(TV_series)-2.md
category: reference
title: Fringe (TV series)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_(TV_series)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:37.281312+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: fringe-tv-series-20260505-0
summary:
As predicted, time is reset from the invasion onwards in 2015; the Observers never invade, and Peter, Olivia, and Etta live their lives peacefully—though Peter receives one final letter from his father: a drawing of a white tulip.


id: fringe-tv-series-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_(TV_series)-3.md
category: reference
title: Fringe (TV series)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_(TV_series)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:37.281312+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: fringe-tv-series-20260505-0
summary:
== Mythology == === Parallel universe === Much of the story arc for Fringe involves a parallel universe that mostly mirrors the prime universe, but with numerous historical idiosyncrasies. A significant example element used is the effect of the September 11 attacks; though this event also occurred in the alternate universe, the World Trade Center was untouched by the attacks, leaving the buildings as predominant landmarks in the alternate world's skyline of "Manhatan". The South Tower was used as the office of William Bell in several episodes. The producers were strongly interested in "world-building", and the alternate universe allowed them to create a very similar world with a large amount of detail to fill in the texture of the world. An alternate universe also allowed them to show "how small choices that you make define you as a person and can change your life in large ways down the line," according to co-director Jeff Pinkner. However, the producers also realized the concept of the alternate universe could confuse viewers. To avoid this, they introduced elements of the world in small pieces over the course of the first two seasons before the larger revelation in the second-season finale and the third


id: fringe-tv-series-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_(TV_series)-4.md
category: reference
title: Fringe (TV series)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_(TV_series)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:37.281312+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: fringe-tv-series-20260505-0
summary:
=== Main === Anna Torv as Olivia Dunham: a Northwestern University-educated Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent assigned to investigate the spread of unexplained phenomena. She later discovers Walter performed tests on her when she was a child using nootropic drug Cortexiphan, giving her unusual abilities. Torv also plays Olivia's counterpart in the parallel universe, dubbed by the characters of the prime universe as "Fauxlivia", as well as William Bell. Joshua Jackson as Peter Bishop: a jack of all trades who is brought in as a civilian consultant by Olivia to work with his estranged father, Walter. Peter is actually "Walternate's" son from the alternate universe, abducted by Walter shortly after his own Peter's death at a young age. John Noble as Dr. Walter Bishop: a former government researcher in the field of fringe science who was seen as a mad scientist and institutionalized after a lab accident in which his assistant was killed. Noble also portrays the Walter's alternate, dubbed "Walternate" by the characters in the prime universe. Walternate rose to power as the U.S. Secretary of Defense and instigated the war against the prime universe after the abduction of his son Peter. Lance Reddick as Phillip Broyles (seasons


id: fringe-tv-series-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_(TV_series)-5.md
category: reference
title: Fringe (TV series)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_(TV_series)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:37.281312+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: fringe-tv-series-20260505-0
summary:
=== Conception === Co-created by J. J. Abrams, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, Fringe was produced by Bad Robot in association with Warner Bros. Television, as part of a commitment that Abrams previously made with the studio. At the time, Abrams was working with Orci and Kurtzman on the Star Trek film, and met at one of the Comic-Cons during Star Trek's production to brainstorm ideas for the show. Abrams later brought Bryan Burk, a producer on several of his films, to help with developing the series. Abrams's inspiration for Fringe came from a range of sources, including the writings of Michael Crichton and Robin Cook, the film Altered States, films by David Cronenberg, and the television series The Night Stalker, The X-Files and The Twilight Zone. Orci stated that Fringe is a "new kind of storytelling", combining procedural shows such as Law & Order, and an "extremely serialized and very culty" series like Lost. The procedural aspect was chosen because, at the time of its premiere, six of the ten top shows were procedural in nature; Orci stated that "you have to be a fool not to go study what it is that they're doing". Abrams had originally considered


id: fringe-tv-series-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_(TV_series)-6.md
category: reference
title: Fringe (TV series)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_(TV_series)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:37.281312+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: fringe-tv-series-20260505-0
summary:
Similarly, having Peter erased from the timeline as part of the finale for Season 3 was an idea that grew over the course of that season. The writers were aware this would be a risky move but felt the idea was very appropriate for Fringe, and opted to write towards this after considering all the consequences. Pinkner noted that this gave them an opportunity to "reset the character relationships" and determine the key aspects that would remain without Peter, as well as "making the audience uncomfortable at times". The cast was not initially sold with the idea, but came around as the fourth season progressed.


id: fringe-tv-series-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_(TV_series)-7.md
category: reference
title: Fringe (TV series)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_(TV_series)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:37.281312+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: fringe-tv-series-20260505-0
summary:
=== Production === After developing the core concepts of the show, Abrams began to seek studios to develop the show; Abrams' past successes led to Warner Bros. Television and the Fox Television Network to quickly jump on board the project. Peter Roth, the chief executive of Warner Bros. Television, had been actively seeking to bring any Abrams' project to his studio, and heard Abrams' pitch for Fringe at a dinner meeting in August 2007. Similarly, Kevin Reilly, the entertainment chairman at Fox, knew that it was critical for him to bring the next Abrams' project to his network, and worked with Roth to assure this would happen. Jeff Pinkner was selected to act as the head showrunner and executive producer. Abrams noted that he trusts Pinkner after working together with him on Alias and Lost. Pinkner became interested in the show during a visit to the set of Star Trek, during which Abrams was discussing the concept of Fringe with Orci and Kurtzman, knowing that they would not be involved in the direct production of the work. Abrams pitched the idea to Pinkner, who was intrigued by the importance of characters in a science fiction drama. In season two, J.H.


id: fringe-tv-series-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_(TV_series)-8.md
category: reference
title: Fringe (TV series)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_(TV_series)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:37.281312+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: fringe-tv-series-20260505-0
summary:
=== Casting === The show's main characters, Olivia, Peter, and Walter, were at the core of the concept for Fringe. The creators recognized early that "the idea that telling a father-son story and a relationship story was a really compelling one and a very accessible one", according to Kurtzman. They were able to provide the characters with backstories that, like with other long-term plot elements, could be alluded to over several episodes and seasons. The characters would also contrast with the typical procedural genre show; rather than having clearly defined roles episode to episode, they instead "have an emotional memory and an emotional investment", as stated by Orci. This also allowed for, as necessary, characters to be removed or introduced to the show and have a larger impact on the other characters. The first actors cast were Kirk Acevedo and Mark Valley, who portrayed FBI agents Charlie Francis and John Scott, respectively. John Noble and Lance Reddick, who play Dr. Walter Bishop and Homeland Security agent Phillip Broyles, joined the cast later on. Casting of Anna Torv, Blair Brown, and Jasika Nicole, who play Olivia Dunham, Massive Dynamic employee Nina Sharp, and Astrid Farnsworth, a federal agent and assistant to


id: fringe-tv-series-20260505-9
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_(TV_series)-9.md
category: reference
title: Fringe (TV series)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_(TV_series)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:37.281312+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: fringe-tv-series-20260505-0
summary:
=== First season === The pilot episode was watched by 9.13 million viewers, garnering 3.2/9 Nielsen ratings among adults 18–49, with ratings improving over the course of the episode. Ratings improved greatly for the second episode, "The Same Old Story" which 13.27 million people watched, making it the fifth most watched show of the week. As of October 2008, the show had achieved the first place in the 18–49 demographic among new shows. Barry Garron at The Hollywood Reporter found it promising and "reminiscent of battle-of-the-sexes charm." Robert Bianco, of USA Today, said, "What Abrams brings to Fringe is a director's eye for plot and pace, a fan's love of sci-fi excitement, and a story-teller's gift for investing absurd events with real emotions and relatable characters." Travis Fickett of IGN gave it 7.6 out of 10, calling it "a lackluster pilot that promises to be a pretty good series". While Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle remarked that it was "boundlessly ambitious", Chicago Sun-Times's Misha Davenport called it an "update of The X-Files with the addition of terrorism and the office of Homeland Security". In a 2016 retrospective of the series, A.V. Club writer Joshua Alston noted that the


id: fringe-tv-series-20260505-10
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_(TV_series)-10.md
category: reference
title: Fringe (TV series)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_(TV_series)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:37.281312+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: fringe-tv-series-20260505-0
summary:
=== Subsequent seasons === Seasons of Fringe after the first season were seen as vast improvements on the first. Entertainment Weekly stated, "The best new show of the year took a few weeks to grow on me, but now it's a full-blown addiction." The Los Angeles Times called Walter Bishop one of the best characters of 2008, noting, "the role of the modern-day mad scientist could so easily have been a disaster, but the 'Fringe' writers and the masterful John Noble have conspired to create a character that seems, as trite as it sounds, more Shakespearean than sci-fi." Chicago Tribune stated that some episodes are "distressingly predictable and formulaic" but adds that there have also been some excellent episodes. The New York Times named Fringe one of the top 10 television shows in 2010, while Television Without Pity, previously dismissive of the show, listed it amongst their 2010 "Most Memorable TV Moments", stating "there were so many great Fringe moments this year" and "we were treated to some of the best sci-fi on television this past fall". The A.V. Club named Fringe the 15th best show of 2010, stated that the episode "Peter" gave "the series' overarching storyline a devastating


id: fringe-tv-series-20260505-11
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_(TV_series)-11.md
category: reference
title: Fringe (TV series)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_(TV_series)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:37.281312+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: fringe-tv-series-20260505-0
summary:
Fringe premiered in the 2008 United States television season at a regular timeslot of 9:00 p.m. Eastern on Tuesdays. During Season 1, Fringe was part of a Fox initiative known as "Remote-Free TV". Episodes of Fringe were longer than standard dramas on current network television. The show ran with half the commercials, adding about six minutes to the show's runtime. When the show went to a commercial, a short bumper aired informing the viewer of roughly how much time commercials would consume before the program resumed. The pilot episode was leaked via BitTorrent, three months before the series premiere; similar to leaked fellow Fox series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. The series was renewed for a second season on May 4, 2009, and moved to 9:00 p.m. on Thursday. It was renewed for a third season on March 6, 2010. As part of a reorganization of its 2010 midseason line up to capture more market for American Idol, the Fox network shifted Fringe to 9:00 p.m. on Fridays. This timeslot, commonly considered the "Friday night death slot" for several previous Fox shows due to cancellation shortly following the move to that slot, left critics considering the show's fate. While The


id: fringe-tv-series-20260505-12
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_(TV_series)-12.md
category: reference
title: Fringe (TV series)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_(TV_series)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:37.281312+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: fringe-tv-series-20260505-0
summary:
Fringe has truly hit a creative stride and has distinguished itself as one of television's most original programs. The series' ingenious producers, amazingly talented cast and crew, as well as some of the most passionate and loyal fans on the planet, made this fourth-season pickup possible. When we moved the show to Fridays, we asked the fans to follow and they did. We're thrilled to bring it back for another full season and keep it part of the Fox family. Reilly further added that the renewal was also prompted by the high risk of trying to replace Fringe with another show with unknown viewership metrics; he commented that they "have a far better shot of sticking with a show that has an audience that [they] think [they] can grow". Prior to the onset of the fourth season, Reilly reiterated that they do not expect any significant growth in Fringe's viewership within that season: "It's a pretty complex show. If Fringe can do exactly what Fringe did last year, we're going to be very happy. They're right in the pocket creatively once again." Wyman stated in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that the Fox network had been "supportive throughout this


id: fringe-tv-series-20260505-13
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_(TV_series)-13.md
category: reference
title: Fringe (TV series)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_(TV_series)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:37.281312+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: fringe-tv-series-20260505-0
summary:
=== Syndication === With 13 episodes in its final season, Fringe has a total of 100 episodes, a critical number for syndication deals for Warner Bros., and considered part of the reason for the show's final renewal. The show premiered in syndication on the Science Network on November 20, 2012. === Home video releases === The first season of Fringe was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on September 8, 2009, in region 1. In addition to all the episodes that had been aired, extras include three commentary tracks, unaired scenes, gag reels and behind the scenes features. A "Fringe Pattern Analysis" feature is included on the Blu-ray version as an exclusive. The sets were released on September 28, 2009, in region 2 and on September 30, 2009, in region 4. The second season features four commentary tracks, a gag reel, deleted scenes, behind the scenes videos, and the episode "Unearthed", an episode, produced for the first season, which aired out of schedule during the second season. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray on September 14, 2010, in region 1, on September 27, 2010, in region 2, and on November 10, 2010, in region 4. The third season features


id: the-hum-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum-0.md
category: reference
title: The Hum
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:38.404890+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-hum-20260505-0
summary:
The Hum is a persistent and invasive low-frequency humming, rumbling, or droning noise audible to many, but not all, people in an area. Hums have been reported in many countries, including Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. They are sometimes named according to the locality where the problem has been particularly publicized, such as the "Taos Hum" in New Mexico and the "Windsor Hum" in Ontario. The Hum does not appear to be a single phenomenon. Different causes have been attributed, including local mechanical sources, often from industrial plants, as well as manifestations of tinnitus or other biological auditory effects. == Description == A 1973 report cites a university study of fifty cases of people complaining about a "low throbbing background noise" that others were unable to hear. The sound, always peaking between 30 and 40 Hz (hertz), was found to only be heard during cool weather with a light breeze, and often early in the morning. These noises were often confined to a 10-kilometre (6 mi) wide area. For some who are capable of hearing it, The Hum can be a disturbing phenomenon, which has been linked to at least three suicides in the United Kingdom.


id: the-hum-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum-1.md
category: reference
title: The Hum
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:38.404890+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-hum-20260505-0
summary:
=== Mechanical devices === Although some form of mechanical source is an obvious candidate, given the common description of the hum as sounding like a diesel engine, the majority of reported hums have not been traced to a specific mechanical source. In the case of Kokomo, Indiana, a city with heavy industry, the origin of the hum was thought to have been traced to two sources. The first was a 36 Hz tone from a cooling tower at the local DaimlerChrysler casting plant and the second was a 10 Hz tone from an air compressor intake at the Haynes International plant. After those devices were corrected, however, reports of the hum persisted. Three hums have been linked to mechanical sources. The West Seattle Hum was traced to a vacuum pump used by CalPortland to offload cargo from ships. After CalPortland replaced the silencers on the machine, reports of the hum ceased. Likewise, the Wellington Hum is thought to have been due to the diesel generator on a visiting ship. A 35 Hz hum in Windsor, Ontario, is thought to have originated from a steelworks on the industrial zone of Zug Island near Detroit, with reports of the noise ceasing after


id: the-hum-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum-2.md
category: reference
title: The Hum
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:38.404890+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-hum-20260505-0
summary:
== In popular culture == The Taos Hum has been featured on the TV show Unsolved Mysteries, and in LiveScience's "Top Ten Unexplained Phenomena", where it took tenth place. BBC Radio 4 featured an investigation of the Hum phenomena in their Punt PI fact-based comedy programme. In October 2022, the Norwegian state broadcaster NRK covered the Hum in its Oppdatert podcast. In a 1998 episode of The X-Files titled "Drive", Agent Mulder speculates that extremely low frequency (ELF) radio waves "may be behind the so-called Taos Hum". In a 2018 episode (Season 13 episode 21) of the police procedural series Criminal Minds, the main antagonist of the episode was made to commit violent acts as a result of mania caused by the Taos Hum. The story editors described the episode as having "an X-Files feel". Jordan Tannahill's 2021 novel The Listeners tells the story of a group of people tormented by a continuous humming noise that seemingly only they can hear. It was the inspiration for an opera of the same name that debuted in 2022. The book was adapted into a BBC series of the same name by the BBC in 2024. In a 2022 episode of the animated


id: infrared-sauna-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrared_sauna-0.md
category: reference
title: Infrared sauna
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrared_sauna
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:39.501424+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: infrared-sauna-20260505-0
summary:
An infrared sauna uses infrared heaters to emit infrared light experienced as radiant heat that is absorbed by the surface of the skin. Infrared saunas are popular in alternative therapies, where they are claimed to help with a number of medical issues including autism, cancer, and COVID-19, but these claims are not supported by credible scientific evidence. Traditional saunas differ from infrared saunas in that they heat the body primarily by conduction and convection from the heated air and by radiation of the heated surfaces in the sauna room whereas infrared saunas primarily use radiation. Infrared saunas are also used in Infrared Therapy and Waon Therapy; while there is a small amount of preliminary evidence that these therapies correlate with a number of benefits, including reduced blood pressure and increased left ventricular function, there are several problems with linking this evidence to alleged health benefits. == History == John Harvey Kellogg invented the use of radiant heat saunas with his incandescent electric light bath in 1891. He claimed that it stimulated healing in the body and in 1893 displayed his invention at the Chicago World's Fair. In 1896 the Radiant Heat Bath was patented by Kellogg and described in the


id: kambo-drug-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kambo_(drug)-0.md
category: reference
title: Kambo (drug)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kambo_(drug)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:40.758126+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: kambo-drug-20260505-0
summary:
Kambo, also known as sapo (from Portuguese: sapo, lit. 'toad') or vacina-do-sapo, is substance derived from the natural secretions of an amphibian belonging to the Phyllomedusa family. Commonly the dried skin secretions of the giant leaf frog, known as the kambô in Portuguese, a species of frog, are used for ritualistic purposes with a strong religious and spiritual components. Less commonly it is used as a transdermal medicine, however, evidence for its effectiveness is limited. Kambo is usually used in a group setting, called a kambo circle or kambo ceremony. The effects on humans usually include tachycardia, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. A meta-review of 50 studies in which 11 cases of acute intoxication were examined found that extreme cases have included psychosis (occasionally severe), SIADH, kidney damage (including acute renal failure), pancreas damage, liver damage including toxic hepatitis, dermatomyositis, esophageal rupture, and seizures, in some cases leading to death, although such incidents are limited in number and some evidence suggests precipitation by medical contraindications. Kambo, which originated as a folk medicine practice among some indigenous peoples in the Amazon basin, is also administered as a complementary medicine and alternative medicine treatment in the West, often as a pseudoscientific cleanse or


id: kambo-drug-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kambo_(drug)-1.md
category: reference
title: Kambo (drug)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kambo_(drug)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:40.758126+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: kambo-drug-20260505-0
summary:
=== Medical claims === Non-indigenous users and practitioners of kambo claim that the alternative medicine helps with a wide variety of issues and conditions. These claims include treating addiction, depression, and chronic pain, reducing fevers, increasing fertility, boosting energy and physical strength, and improving mental clarity. It is also claimed that kambo removes negative energy. There is currently no scientific evidence to support positive health effect claims.. There is no solid medical evidence on how the frog toxins work, whether they are useful for treating anything, and whether they can be used safely: no clinical trials have tested them on humans, as of November 2019. Reports of adverse effects are numerous, including for use with experienced guidance. Kym Jenkins of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, in a Sydney Morning Herald article, said "people with mental illness are a more vulnerable group anyway for a variety of reasons. If you're feeling very anxious or very depressed, you're automatically more vulnerable, and you could be more susceptible to people advertising or marketing a quick fix. I do have concerns that people can be preyed upon when they are more vulnerable." The Australian Medical Association (AMA) supports the TGA's


id: kambo-drug-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kambo_(drug)-2.md
category: reference
title: Kambo (drug)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kambo_(drug)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:40.758126+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: kambo-drug-20260505-0
summary:
The frog secretes a range of small chemical compounds of a type called peptides, which have several different effects. Peptides found in the frog secretions include the opioid peptides dermorphin and deltorphin, the vasodilator sauvagine, and dermaseptin, which exhibits antimicrobial properties in vitro. Various other substances such as phyllomedusin, phyllokinin, caerulein, and adrenoregulin are also present. There is active medical research into the peptides found in the skin secretions of Phyllomedusa bicolor, focusing on discovering their biological effects. There have been some preclinical trials in mice and rats, but no phase-1 tests or clinical trials of safety in humans, as of November 2019. Most of the kambo-related bioactive peptides so far characterized have displayed potential applications in medicine, such as phyllocaeruleins with hypotensive properties, tachykinins and phyllokinins as vasodilators, dermorphins and deltorphins with opiate-like properties, and adenoregulins with antibiotic properties. In a clinical trial of a randomized, placebo-controlled study in postoperative pain, dermorphin administered via the intrathecal route was "impressively superior" over the placebo and the reference compound morphine." Due to the numerous biological activities of these substances and the similarities with the amino acid sequences related to mammalian neuropeptides and hormones, many have aroused the interest from a medical


id: melanie-s-marvelous-measles-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanie's_Marvelous_Measles-0.md
category: reference
title: Melanie's Marvelous Measles
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanie's_Marvelous_Measles
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:45.381716+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: melanie-s-marvelous-measles-20260505-0
summary:
Melanie's Marvelous Measles is a self-published children's book written by Australian author and anti-vaccine activist Stephanie Messenger. Through its story, the book claims, contrary to scientific data, that contracting measles is beneficial to health, and that vaccines are ineffective. The book was first published in 2012, but came to attention in 2015 following a measles outbreak that began at Disneyland during December of the previous year. Many commentators have criticised the book because of the dangers associated with contracting measles, and because its title is reminiscent of George's Marvellous Medicine, by Roald Dahl, who was a prominent advocate of vaccination in his later years, following the death of his daughter Olivia from measles in 1962. The book has also received attention for the numerous negative, often sarcastic, reviews it has received on Amazon.com. == Premise and plot == The book contends that contracting measles is beneficial for children, with the book's product description describing the disease as "quite benign" and "beneficial to the body". Melanie's Marvelous Measles was written to educate children on the benefits of having measles and how you can heal from them naturally and successfully. Often today, we are being bombarded with messages from vested interests to


id: melanie-s-marvelous-measles-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanie's_Marvelous_Measles-1.md
category: reference
title: Melanie's Marvelous Measles
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanie's_Marvelous_Measles
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:45.381716+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: melanie-s-marvelous-measles-20260505-0
summary:
== Reception == Although the book was first published in 2012, it received considerable attention after the Disneyland measles outbreak began in December 2014, which led to many people looking for the book in order to criticise it. The book has been criticised because measles is responsible for thousands of deaths every year. Most reviews have been negative: for example, the president of the Australian Medical Association, Steve Hambleton, said: "Last time I saw a kid with measles with the rash they were carried into the surgery and the child looked like a rag doll. The mother was terrified. It's still fatal. About one in 10,000 children will die because of encephalitis". "Even in 'industrialised countries', measles can cause encephalitis, seizures, blindness, heart and nervous system disorders, and (rarely) death". Dr. David Gorski, a breast cancer surgeon who writes frequently against alternative medicine and the anti-vaccine movement, writes: "I'm sure children with whooping cough who are coughing so hard that they can't catch their breath for hours on end, with haemophilus influenzae type B who develop pneumonia or meningitis, with polio who develop paralysis, or with measles who develop pneumonia or subacute sclerosing panencephalitis will feel happy to 'embrace childhood


id: melanie-s-marvelous-measles-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanie's_Marvelous_Measles-2.md
category: reference
title: Melanie's Marvelous Measles
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanie's_Marvelous_Measles
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:45.381716+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: melanie-s-marvelous-measles-20260505-0
summary:
=== Amazon reviews === The book has received numerous negative reviews on Amazon.com; as of February 2015, the book had over 1,000 one-star ratings on this website. Melanie's Marvelous Measles was written in 2012, but because of measles outbreaks across America in 2015, attention has been refocused on combating the anti-vaccine message. "So, the Internet is doing what the Internet does best: trolling the hell out of Messenger's deeply flawed book through Amazon comments". Amazon has chosen to use a disclaimer on the book description, "noting that it is 'provided by the publisher/author of this title and presents the subjective opinions of the publisher/author, which may not be substantiated'". By January 2013, Yahoo! reported that "of the 83 reviews of the book, 71 Amazon users gave it one star, and posted negative feedback." "The Amazon reader reviews are reassuringly vicious, pointing out that a similar book about 'Peter's Pleasant Polio' probably wouldn't get published". "Certainly, reviewers of the book on the Amazon website don't agree with Messenger's interpretation of history. Many people have left comments on the website, telling their own stories of spending time in hospitals as a child in an oxygen tent, and of siblings who died from


id: nature-therapy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_therapy-0.md
category: reference
title: Nature therapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_therapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:46.523814+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: nature-therapy-20260505-0
summary:
Nature therapy, sometimes referred to as ecotherapy, grounding, or earthing, is a practice that describes a broad group of techniques or treatments using nature to improve mental or physical health. Various types of nature therapy include forest therapy, forest bathing, shinrin-yoku, and Sami Lok. Spending time in nature has various physiological benefits such as relaxation and stress reduction. Additionally, it can enhance cardiovascular health and reduce risks of high blood pressure. Recent studies also emphasized its role in supporting mental well-being by improving attention, emotional balance, and overall mood stability. These effects are usually linked to the body's natural stress recovery process, in which contact with nature decreases cortisol levels and heart rate. == History == Scientists in the 1950s looked into the reasons humans chose to spend time in nature. There is relatively recent history of the term Shinrin-yoku (森林浴) or 'forest bathing' gaining momentum as a term and concept within American culture; the term 'forest bathing' and Shrinrin-yoku was first popularized in Japan by the former head of the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, Tomohide Akiyama, in 1982 to encourage more people to visit the forests. This initiative was created to promote relaxation and reduce stress


id: nature-therapy-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_therapy-1.md
category: reference
title: Nature therapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_therapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:46.523814+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: nature-therapy-20260505-0
summary:
== Criticism == Recent reviews have noted that results often vary depending on study design and population, which makes it difficult to measure long-term effects of nature-based therapies with consistency. A 2012 systematic review study showed inconclusive results related to the methodology used in studies. Spending time in forests demonstrated positive health effects, but not enough to generate clinical practice guidelines or demonstrate causality. Other scholars have noted that the growing popularity of nature-based therapies sometimes leads to overgeneralized claims, where emotional or cultural meanings of nature are emphasized more than scientific evidence. Additionally, there are concerns from researchers expressing that time spent in nature as a form of regenerative therapy is highly personal and entirely unpredictable. Nature can be harmed in the process of human interaction. While there is growing interest in using nature for mental health treatment, experts warn that more randomized and controlled studies are needed to confirm these effects scientifically. Some reviews also highlight that many studies rely on self-reported feelings instead of objective measurements, which can make the results less reliable. Researchers have also noted that some nature-based studies use very small sample sizes, which limits how confidently the results can be applied to larger


id: neuralgia-inducing-cavitational-osteonecrosis-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuralgia-inducing_cavitational_osteonecrosis-0.md
category: reference
title: Neuralgia-inducing cavitational osteonecrosis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuralgia-inducing_cavitational_osteonecrosis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:47.727762+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: neuralgia-inducing-cavitational-osteonecrosis-20260505-0
summary:
Neuralgia-inducing cavitational osteonecrosis (NICO) is a diagnosis whereby a putative jawbone cavitation causes chronic facial neuralgia; this is different from osteonecrosis of the jaw. In NICO the pain is said to result from the degenerating nerve ("neuralagia"). The condition is probably rare, if it does exist. Also called Ratner's bone cavity, a neuralgia-inducing cavitational osteonecrosis was first described in dental literature by G V Black in 1920. Several decades later, oral pathologist Jerry E Bouquot took especial interest in NICO. The diagnostic criteria for NICO are imprecise, and the research offered to support it is flawed. The diagnosis is popular among holistic dentists who attempt to treat NICO by surgically removing the dead bone they say is causing the pain. It has been rejected as quackery by some dentists and maxillofacial surgeons. In its position statement, dated 1996, the American Association of Endodontists asserted that although NICO occur and are treatable in toothless areas, NICO occurrence and treatment at endodontically treated teeth is generally implausible, that the diagnosis ought to be a last resort, and that routine extraction of endodontically treated teeth is misguided. == See also == Atypical trigeminal neuralgia Health fraud Trigeminal neuralgia == Footnotes == == Further


id: orthomolecular-medicine-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthomolecular_medicine-0.md
category: reference
title: Orthomolecular medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthomolecular_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:48.897533+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: orthomolecular-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
Orthomolecular medicine is a form of alternative medicine that claims to maintain human health through nutritional supplementation. It is rejected by evidence-based medicine. The concept builds on the idea of an optimal nutritional environment in the body and suggests that diseases reflect deficiencies in this environment. Treatment for disease, according to this view, involves attempts to correct "imbalances or deficiencies based on individual biochemistry" by use of substances such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids, trace elements and fatty acids. The notions behind orthomolecular medicine are not supported by sound medical evidence, and the therapy is not effective for chronic disease prevention; even the validity of calling the orthomolecular approach a form of medicine has been questioned since the 1970s. The approach is sometimes referred to as megavitamin therapy, because its practice evolved out of, and in some cases still uses, doses of vitamins and minerals many times higher than the recommended dietary intake. Orthomolecular practitioners may also incorporate a variety of other styles of treatment into their approaches, including dietary restriction, megadoses of non-vitamin nutrients and mainstream pharmaceutical drugs. Proponents argue that non-optimal levels of certain substances can cause health issues beyond simple vitamin deficiency and see balancing these substances


id: orthomolecular-medicine-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthomolecular_medicine-1.md
category: reference
title: Orthomolecular medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthomolecular_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:48.897533+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: orthomolecular-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
== Principles == According to Abram Hoffer, "primitive" peoples do not consume processed foods and do not have "degenerative" diseases. In contrast, typical "Western" diets are said to be insufficient for long-term health, necessitating the use of megadose supplements of vitamins, dietary minerals, proteins, antioxidants, amino acids, ω-3 fatty acids, ω-6 fatty acids, medium-chain triglycerides, dietary fiber, short and long chain fatty acids, lipotropes, systemic and digestive enzymes, other digestive factors, and prohormones to ward off hypothetical metabolism anomalies at an early stage, before they cause disease. Orthomolecularists say that they provide prescriptions for optimal amounts of micronutrients after individual diagnoses based on blood tests and personal histories. Lifestyle and diet changes may also be recommended. The battery of tests ordered includes many that are not considered useful by medicine. == Prevalence == Orthomolecular medicine is practiced by few medical practitioners. A survey released in May, 2004 by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine focused on who used alternative medicine, what was used, and why it was used in the United States by adults age 18 years and over during 2003. The survey reported uses in the previous twelve months that include orthomolecular related uses: Nonvitamin, nonmineral, natural


id: orthomolecular-medicine-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthomolecular_medicine-2.md
category: reference
title: Orthomolecular medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthomolecular_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:48.897533+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: orthomolecular-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
This review and critique has carefully examined the literature produced by megavitamin proponents and by those who have attempted to replicate their basic and clinical work. It concludes in this regard that the credibility of the megavitamin proponents is low. Their credibility is further diminished by a consistent refusal over the past decade to perform controlled experiments and to report their new results in a scientifically acceptable fashion. Under these circumstances this Task Force considers the massive publicity which they promulgate via radio, the lay press and popular books, using catch phrases which are really misnomers like "megavitamin therapy" and "orthomolecular treatment", to be deplorable. In response to claims that orthomolecular medicine could cure childhood psychoses and learning disorders, the American Academy of Pediatrics labelled orthomolecular medicine a "cult" in 1976. Proponents of orthomolecular medicine counter that some vitamins and nutrients are now used in medicine as treatments for specific diseases, such as megadose niacin and fish oil for dyslipidemias, and megavitamin therapies for a group of rare inborn errors of metabolism. A review in the Annals of Internal Medicine concluded that while some therapies might be beneficial, others might be harmful or interfere with effective medical therapy. A recent


id: orthomolecular-medicine-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthomolecular_medicine-3.md
category: reference
title: Orthomolecular medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthomolecular_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:48.897533+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: orthomolecular-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
=== Use in AIDS === Several articles in the alternative-medicine literature have suggested that orthomolecular-related dietary supplementation might be helpful for patients with HIV/AIDS. A study using 250 mg and 1000 mg doses of vitamin C along with other antioxidants to treat people with AIDS did not find any benefit. A meta analysis in 2010 (updated in 2017 with different results) found that micronutrient supplementation decreased the risk of death and improved outcomes in pregnant women with HIV in Africa. A 2017 Cochrane review found no strong evidence to suggest that micronutrient supplementation prevents death or is effective at slowing the progression of disease for adults with HIV. It is important for people living with HIV to eat a healthy adequate diet. For people with HIV that have clinically demonstrated deficiencies in micronutrients or for people who are not able to consume the recommended daily quantities of minerals and vitamins, supplementation is still encouraged. Vitamin A in children with HIV appears to be safe and beneficial. Vitamin A deficiency is found in children with HIV infection who may or may not have symptoms of AIDS. Vitamin A supplementation reduces morbidity and mortality in AIDS symptomatic children, but has no effect


id: panspermia-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia-0.md
category: reference
title: Panspermia
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:50.050920+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: panspermia-20260505-0
summary:
Panspermia (from Ancient Greek πᾶν (pan) 'all' and σπέρμα (sperma) 'seed') is the hypothesis that life exists throughout the universe, distributed by cosmic dust, meteoroids, asteroids, comets, and planetoids, as well as by spacecraft carrying unintended contamination by microorganisms, known as directed panspermia. The theory argues that life did not originate on Earth, but instead evolved somewhere else and seeded life as we know it. Panspermia comes in many forms, such as radiopanspermia, lithopanspermia, and directed panspermia. Regardless of its form, the theories generally propose that microbes able to survive in outer space (such as certain types of bacteria or plant spores) can become trapped in debris ejected into space after collisions between planets and small Solar System bodies that harbor life. This debris containing the lifeforms is then transported by meteors between bodies in a planetary system, or even across planetary systems within a galaxy. In this way, panspermia studies concentrate not on how life began but on methods that may distribute it within the Universe. This point is often used as a criticism of the theory. Panspermia is a fringe theory with little support amongst mainstream scientists. Critics argue that it does not answer the question of the


id: panspermia-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia-1.md
category: reference
title: Panspermia
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:50.050920+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: panspermia-20260505-0
summary:
== History == Panspermia has a history dating back to the 5th century BCE and the natural philosopher Anaxagoras. Classicists came to agree that Anaxagoras maintained the Universe (or Cosmos) was full of life, and that life on Earth started from the fall of these extra-terrestrial seeds. Panspermia as it is known today, however, is not identical to this original theory. The name, as applied to this theory, was only first coined in 1908 by Svante Arrhenius, a Swedish scientist. Prior to this, since around the 1860s, many prominent scientists were becoming interested in the theory. More recent advocates include Sir Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe. In the 1860s, there were three scientific developments that began to bring the focus of the scientific community to the problem of the origin of life. Firstly, the Kant-Laplace Nebular theory of solar system and planetary formation was gaining favor, and implied that when the Earth first formed, the surface conditions would have been inhospitable to life as we know it. This meant that life must have arisen on Earth at a later date, without biological precursors. Secondly, Charles Darwin's famous theory of evolution implied some elusive origin, because in order for something to


id: panspermia-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia-2.md
category: reference
title: Panspermia
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:50.050920+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: panspermia-20260505-0
summary:
== Overview == === Core requirements === Panspermia requires: that organic molecules originated in space (perhaps to be distributed to Earth), that life originated from these molecules, extraterrestrially, that this extraterrestrial life was transported to Earth. The creation and distribution of organic molecules from space is now uncontroversial; it is known as pseudo-panspermia. The jump from organic materials to life originating from space, however, is hypothetical and currently untestable. === Transport vessels === Bacterial spores and plant seeds are two common proposed vessels for panspermia. According to the theory, they could be encased in a meteorite and transported to another planet from their origin, subsequently descend through the atmosphere and populate the surface with life (see lithopanspermia below). This naturally requires that these spores and seeds have formed somewhere else, maybe even in space in the case of how panspermia deals with bacteria. Understanding of planetary formation theory and meteorites has led to the idea that some rocky bodies originating from undifferentiated parent bodies could be able to generate local conditions conducive to life. Hypothetically, internal heating from radiogenic isotopes could melt ice to provide water as well as energy. In fact, some meteorites have been found to show signs


id: panspermia-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia-3.md
category: reference
title: Panspermia
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:50.050920+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: panspermia-20260505-0
summary:
Planetary ejection – For lithopanspermia to occur, microorganisms must first survive ejection from a planetary surface (assuming they do not form on meteorites, as suggested in), which involves extreme forces of acceleration and shock with associated temperature rises. Hypothetical values of shock pressures experienced by ejected rocks are obtained from Martian meteorites, which suggest pressures of approximately 5 to 55 GPa, acceleration of 3 Mm/s2, jerk of 6 million km/s3 and post-shock temperature increases of about 1 K to 1000 K. Though these conditions are extreme, some organisms appear able to survive them. Survival in transit – Once in space, the microorganisms have to make it to their next destination for lithopanspermia to be successful. The survival of microorganisms has been studied extensively using both simulated facilities and in low Earth orbit. A large number of microorganisms have been selected for exposure experiments, both human-borne microbes (significant for future crewed missions) and extremophiles (significant for determining the physiological requirements of survival in space). Bacteria in particular can exhibit a survival mechanism whereby a colony generates a biofilm that enhances its protection against UV radiation. Atmospheric entry – The final stage of lithopanspermia, is re-entry onto a viable planet via its


id: panspermia-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia-4.md
category: reference
title: Panspermia
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:50.050920+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: panspermia-20260505-0
summary:
==== Counterarguments ==== In 1972, both abiogenesis and panspermia were seen as viable theories by different experts. Given this, Crick and Orgel argued that experimental evidence required to validate one theory over the other was lacking. That being said, evidence strongly in favor of abiogenesis over panspermia exists today, whereas evidence for panspermia, particularly directed panspermia, is decidedly lacking. === Origination and distribution of organic molecules: Pseudo-panspermia === Pseudo-panspermia is the well-supported hypothesis that many of the small organic molecules used for life originated in space, and were distributed to planetary surfaces. Life then emerged on Earth, and perhaps on other planets, by the processes of abiogenesis. Evidence for pseudo-panspermia includes the discovery of organic compounds such as sugars, amino acids, and nucleobases in meteorites and other extraterrestrial bodies, and the formation of similar compounds in the laboratory under outer space conditions. A prebiotic polyester system has been explored as an example. == Hoaxes and speculations == === Orgueil meteorite === On May 14, 1864, twenty fragments from a meteorite crashed into the French city of Orgueil. A separate fragment of the Orgueil meteorite (kept in a sealed glass jar since its discovery) was found in 1965 to have a


id: meg-patterson-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meg_Patterson-0.md
category: reference
title: Meg Patterson
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meg_Patterson
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:51.328264+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: meg-patterson-20260505-0
summary:
Margaret Angus Patterson (9 November 1922 – 25 July 2002) was a Scottish surgeon and medical missionary who developed a method for treating drug addiction she called "neuro-electric therapy" (NET). While the therapy gained public attention through celebrity endorsements, it was met with skepticism by the medical community due to a lack of formal evidence. Some modern clinical trials have found that a device based on her principles is effective for reducing opioid withdrawal symptoms. == Early life and education == Margaret Angus Ingram was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1922. The daughter of Alexander Ingram, she was the youngest of five children. Patterson started medical school at 21 during World War II, and qualified as a member Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons when she was 25, the only woman in the group. == Career == Patterson went to India as a medical missionary. While in India she met George Patterson in Kalimpong and they married in 1953; the couple were committed Christians. George Patterson had become famous through his involvement with the Dalai Lama, and his reporting on the 1959 Tibetan uprising and the subsequent events in China's annexation of Tibet. For her work establishing and expanding


id: giorgio-piccardi-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_Piccardi-0.md
category: reference
title: Giorgio Piccardi
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgio_Piccardi
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:52.538115+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: giorgio-piccardi-20260505-0
summary:
Giorgio Piccardi (13 October 1895 – 22 December 1972) was an Italian physicist and chemist. He had a special interest in non-reproducible results or what he termed as fluctuating phenomena which were considered outside the area of conventional science according to scientific positivism. He considered the effect of weak electromagnetic fields, sunspot activity, and cosmic radiation as possible influences affecting chemical reactions. These effects were sometimes called as Piccardi effects. His ideas on what he called "activated water" were appropriated by Jacques Benveniste and others to suggest a scientific basis for homeopathy and this has led to his original work being considered as fringe science. == Life and work == Piccardi was born in Florence to Ludovico (d. 1944) and Marianna, née Caldini. He studied from 1913 at the Institute of Higher Studies in Florence (Ateneo Fiorentino Reale Istituto di Studi Superiori Pratici e di Perfezionamento). He studied organic chemistry under Hugo Schiff but his studies were interrupted by World War I; he served in the Alpini. He was interned in Hungary after being taken prisoner in 1917 and escaped by digging a tunnel. He was recaptured and suffered from pleurisy and was transferred back in 1919 from an Austrian


id: pre-columbian-transoceanic-contact-theories-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_transoceanic_contact_theories-0.md
category: reference
title: Pre-Columbian transoceanic contact theories
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_transoceanic_contact_theories
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:53.813777+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pre-columbian-transoceanic-contact-theories-20260505-0
summary:
Pre-Columbian transoceanic contact theories, many of which are speculative, propose that visits to the Americas, interactions with the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, or both, were made by people from elsewhere prior to Christopher Columbus's first voyage to the Caribbean in 1492. Studies between 2004 and 2009 suggest the possibility that the earliest human migrations to the Americas may have been made by boat from Beringia and travel down the Pacific coast, contemporary with and possibly predating land migrations over the Beringia land bridge, which during the glacial period joined what today are Siberia and Alaska. Apart from Norse contact and settlement, whether transoceanic travel occurred during the historic period, resulting in pre-Columbian contact between the settled American peoples and voyagers from other continents, is vigorously debated. Only a few cases of pre-Columbian contact are widely accepted by mainstream scientists and scholars. Yup'ik and Aleut peoples residing on both sides of the Bering Strait had frequent contact with each other, and multiple artifacts traded across the Bering Strait have been discovered in pre-Columbian archaeological sites in Alaska. Maritime explorations by Norse peoples from Scandinavia during the late 10th century led to the Norse colonization of Greenland and a base camp


id: pre-columbian-transoceanic-contact-theories-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_transoceanic_contact_theories-1.md
category: reference
title: Pre-Columbian transoceanic contact theories
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_transoceanic_contact_theories
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:53.813777+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pre-columbian-transoceanic-contact-theories-20260505-0
summary:
Dutch linguists and specialists in Amerindian languages Willem Adelaar and Pieter Muysken have suggested that the word for sweet potato is shared by Polynesian languages and languages of South America. Proto-Polynesian *kumala (compare Easter Island kumara, Hawaiian ʻuala, Māori kūmara; even though a proto-form is reconstructed above, apparent cognates outside Eastern Polynesian are either definitely borrowed from Eastern Polynesian languages or irregular, calling Proto-Polynesian status and age into question) may be connected with dialectal Quechua and Aymara k'umar ~ k'umara; most Quechua dialects actually use apichu instead, but comal was attested at extinct Cañari language on the coast of what is now Ecuador in 1582. Adelaar and Muysken assert that the similarity in the word for sweet potato "constitutes near proof of incidental contact between inhabitants of the Andean region and the South Pacific." The authors argue that the presence of the word for sweet potato suggests sporadic contact between Polynesia and South America, but not necessarily migrations. === Ageratum conyzoides === Ageratum conyzoides, also known as billygoat-weed, chick weed, goatweed, or whiteweed, is native to the tropical Americas, and was found in Hawaii by William Hillebrand in 1888 who considered it to have grown there before Captain Cook's arrival


id: pre-columbian-transoceanic-contact-theories-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_transoceanic_contact_theories-2.md
category: reference
title: Pre-Columbian transoceanic contact theories
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_transoceanic_contact_theories
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:53.813777+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pre-columbian-transoceanic-contact-theories-20260505-0
summary:
Researchers including Kathryn Klar and Terry Jones have proposed a theory of contact between Hawaiians and the Chumash people of Southern California between 400 and 800 CE. The sewn-plank canoes crafted by the Chumash and neighboring Tongva are unique among the indigenous peoples of North America, but similar in design to larger canoes used by Polynesians and Melanesians for deep-sea voyages. Tomolo'o, the Chumash word for such a craft, may derive from tumulaʻau/kumulaʻau, the Hawaiian term for the logs from which shipwrights carve planks to be sewn into canoes. The analogous Tongva term, tii'at, is unrelated. If it occurred, this contact left no genetic legacy in California or Hawaii. This theory has attracted limited media attention within California, but most archaeologists of the Tongva and Chumash cultures reject it on the grounds that the independent development of the sewn-plank canoe over several centuries is well-represented in the material record. ==== Clava hand-club and words for axes ==== Archaeological artefacts known as clava hand-clubs found in Araucanía and nearby areas of Argentina have a strong resemblance to the mere okewa found in New Zealand. The clava hand-clubs are also mentioned in the Spanish chronicles dating to the Conquest of Chile. According


id: pre-columbian-transoceanic-contact-theories-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_transoceanic_contact_theories-3.md
category: reference
title: Pre-Columbian transoceanic contact theories
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_transoceanic_contact_theories
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:53.813777+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pre-columbian-transoceanic-contact-theories-20260505-0
summary:
Other claims of early Chinese contact with North America have been made. In 1882, approximately 30 brass coins, perhaps strung together, were reportedly found in the area of the Cassiar Gold Rush, apparently near Dease Creek, an area which was dominated by Chinese gold miners. A contemporary account states:In the summer of 1882 a miner found on De Foe (Deorse?) creek, Cassiar district, Br. Columbia, thirty Chinese coins in the auriferous sand, twenty-five feet below the surface. They appeared to have been strung, but on taking them up the miner let them drop apart. The earth above and around them was as compact as any in the neighborhood. One of these coins I examined at the store of Chu Chong in Victoria. Neither in metal nor markings did it resemble the modern coins, but in its figures looked more like an Aztec calendar. So far as I can make out the markings, this is a Chinese chronological cycle of sixty years, invented by Emperor Huungti, 2637 BCE, and circulated in this form to make his people remember it. Grant Keddie, curator of archeology at the Royal B.C. Museum, identified these as good luck temple tokens which were minted in the


id: pre-columbian-transoceanic-contact-theories-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_transoceanic_contact_theories-4.md
category: reference
title: Pre-Columbian transoceanic contact theories
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_transoceanic_contact_theories
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:53.813777+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pre-columbian-transoceanic-contact-theories-20260505-0
summary:
Grafton Elliot Smith claimed that certain motifs present in the carvings on the Mayan stelae at Copán represented the Asian elephant, and wrote a book on the topic entitled Elephants and Ethnologists in 1924. Contemporary archaeologists suggested that the depictions were almost certainly based on the (indigenous) tapir, with the result that Smith's suggestions have generally been dismissed by subsequent research. Some objects depicted in carvings from Karnataka, dating from the 12th century, that resemble ears of maize (Zea mays—a crop native to the New World), were interpreted by Carl Johannessen and Ann Parker in 1989 as evidence of pre-Columbian contact. These suggestions were dismissed by multiple Indian researchers based on several lines of evidence. The object has been claimed by some to instead represent a "Muktaphala", an imaginary fruit bedecked with pearls. Ethnobotanist and Indologist Shakti M. Gupta concurs with Johannessen and Parker that the objects in question are maize ears: Different varieties of the corn cob [Zea mays Linn.] are extensively sculpted [...] on the Hindu and Jain temples of Karnataka. [...] The straight rows of the corn grains can easily be identified. [...] Temples where the corn cobs are found are dated 12-13th century A.D. [...] By


id: pre-columbian-transoceanic-contact-theories-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_transoceanic_contact_theories-5.md
category: reference
title: Pre-Columbian transoceanic contact theories
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_transoceanic_contact_theories
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:53.813777+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pre-columbian-transoceanic-contact-theories-20260505-0
summary:
In 1996, Mark McMenamin proposed that Phoenician sailors discovered the New World c. 350 BC. The Phoenician state of Carthage minted gold staters in 350 BC bearing a pattern in the reverse exergue of the coins, which McMenamin initially interpreted as a map of the Mediterranean with the Americas shown to the west across the Atlantic. McMenamin later demonstrated that these coins found in America were modern forgeries. === Claims of ancient Judaic contact === The Bat Creek inscription and Los Lunas Decalogue Stone have led some to suggest the possibility that Jewish seafarers may have traveled to America after they fled from the Roman Empire at the time of the Jewish–Roman Wars in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE. However, American archaeologists Robert C. Mainfort Jr. and Mary L. Kwas argued in American Antiquity (2004) that the Bat Creek inscription was copied from an illustration in an 1870 Masonic reference book and introduced by the Smithsonian field assistant who found it during excavation activities. As for the Decalogue Stone, there are mistakes which suggest that it was carved by one or more novices who either overlooked or misunderstood some details on a source Decalogue from which they copied it.


id: pre-columbian-transoceanic-contact-theories-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_transoceanic_contact_theories-6.md
category: reference
title: Pre-Columbian transoceanic contact theories
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_transoceanic_contact_theories
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:53.813777+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pre-columbian-transoceanic-contact-theories-20260505-0
summary:
A small terracotta sculpture of a head, with a beard and European-like features, was found in 1933 in the Toluca Valley, 72 kilometres (45 mi) southwest of Mexico City, in a burial offering under three intact floors of a pre-colonial building dated to between 1476 and 1510. The artifact has been studied by Roman art authority Bernard Andreae, director emeritus of the German Institute of Archaeology in Rome, Italy, and Austrian anthropologist Robert von Heine-Geldern, both of whom stated that the style of the artifact was compatible with small Roman sculptures of the 2nd century. If genuine and if not placed there after 1492 (the pottery found with it dates to between 1476 and 1510), the find provides evidence for at least a one-time contact between the Old and New Worlds. According to Arizona State University's Michael E. Smith, a leading Mesoamerican scholar named John Paddock used to tell his classes in the years before he died that the artifact was planted as a joke by Hugo Moedano, a student who originally worked on the site. Despite speaking with individuals who knew the original discoverer (García Payón), and Moedano, Smith says he has been unable to confirm or reject this


id: pre-columbian-transoceanic-contact-theories-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_transoceanic_contact_theories-7.md
category: reference
title: Pre-Columbian transoceanic contact theories
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_transoceanic_contact_theories
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:53.813777+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pre-columbian-transoceanic-contact-theories-20260505-0
summary:
Some have conjectured that Columbus was able to persuade the Catholic Monarchs of Castile and Aragon to support his planned voyage only because they were aware of some recent earlier voyage across the Atlantic. Some suggest that Columbus himself visited Canada or Greenland before 1492, because, according to Bartolomé de las Casas, he wrote he had sailed 100 leagues past an island that he called Thule in 1477. Whether Columbus actually did this and what island he visited, if any, is uncertain. Columbus is thought to have visited Bristol in 1476. Bristol was also the port from which John Cabot sailed in 1497, crewed mostly by Bristol sailors. In a letter of late 1497 or early 1498, the English merchant John Day wrote to Columbus about Cabot's discoveries, saying that land found by Cabot was "discovered in the past by the men from Bristol who found 'Brasil' as your lordship knows". There may be records of expeditions from Bristol to find the "isle of Brazil" in 1480 and 1481. Trade between Bristol and Iceland is well documented from the mid-15th century. Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés records several such legends in his Historia general de las Indias of 1526,


id: pre-columbian-transoceanic-contact-theories-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_transoceanic_contact_theories-8.md
category: reference
title: Pre-Columbian transoceanic contact theories
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_transoceanic_contact_theories
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:53.813777+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pre-columbian-transoceanic-contact-theories-20260505-0
summary:
Traces of coca and nicotine which are found in some Egyptian mummies have led to speculation that Ancient Egyptians may have had contact with the New World. The initial discovery was made by a German toxicologist Svetlana Balabanova after examining the mummy of a priestess named Henut Taui. Follow-up tests on the hair shaft, which were performed in order to rule out the possibility of contamination, revealed the same results. A television show reported that examinations of numerous Sudanese mummies which were also undertaken by Balabanova mirrored what was found in the mummy of Henut Taui. Balabanova suggested that the tobacco may be accounted for since it may have also been known in China and Europe, as indicated by analyses run on human remains from those respective regions. Balabanova proposed that such plants native to the general area may have developed independently, but have since gone extinct. Other explanations include fraud, though curator Alfred Grimm of the Egyptian Museum in Munich disputes this. Skeptical of Balabanova's findings, Rosalie David, Keeper of Egyptology at the Manchester Museum, had similar tests performed on samples which were taken from the Manchester mummy collection and she reported that two of the tissue samples and


id: pre-columbian-transoceanic-contact-theories-20260505-9
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_transoceanic_contact_theories-9.md
category: reference
title: Pre-Columbian transoceanic contact theories
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_transoceanic_contact_theories
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:53.813777+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pre-columbian-transoceanic-contact-theories-20260505-0
summary:
Both Mela and Pliny listed this incident as evidence supporting the notion that all lands of the world, including northern parts of Europe and Asia, are surrounded by Oceanus, and that it is theoretically possible to sail from India to Europe through a northern passage. Since Metellus Celer died just after his consulship, before he ever got to Transalpine Gaul (in the area of present-day southern France), the authors accepting the historicity of the incident either date it to 62 BCE, when Celer was governing Cisalpine Gaul (in the area of present-day northern Italy), or interpret texts of Mela and Pliny as garbled accounts of Celer's encounter with some Indians at an earlier date, when he served as Pompey's legate in Asia. Richard Hennig suggested that the castaways mentioned by Mela and Pliny were possibly American Indians. Other interpretations of the incident were also proposed. Bengtson (1954), McLaughlin (2016) and Lerner (2020) argued that Celer might have encountered actual merchants from India, who reached Europe from Phasis on the Black Sea coast. Other authors interpret supposed Indians as misidentified speakers of Finno-Ugric languages originating from the areas east of the Bothnian Bay or Baltic Veneti. An article in the Journal


id: pre-columbian-transoceanic-contact-theories-20260505-10
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_transoceanic_contact_theories-10.md
category: reference
title: Pre-Columbian transoceanic contact theories
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_transoceanic_contact_theories
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:53.813777+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pre-columbian-transoceanic-contact-theories-20260505-0
summary:
=== Claims of pre-Columbian contact with Christian voyagers === During the period of Spanish colonization of the Americas, several indigenous myths and works of art led a number of Spanish chroniclers and authors to suggest that Christian preachers may have visited Mesoamerica well before the Age of Discovery. Bernal Díaz del Castillo, for example, was intrigued by the presence of cross symbols in Maya hieroglyphs, which according to him suggested that other Christians may have arrived in ancient Mexico before the Spanish conquistadors. Fray Diego Durán, for his part, linked the legend of the Pre-Columbian god Quetzalcoatl (whom he describes as being chaste, penitent, and a miracle-worker) to the Biblical accounts of Christian apostles. Bartolomé de las Casas describes Quetzalcoatl as being fair-skinned, tall, and bearded (therefore suggesting an Old World origin), while Fray Juan de Torquemada credits him with bringing agriculture to the Americas. Modern scholarship has cast serious doubts on several of these claims, since agriculture was practiced in the Americas well before the emergence of Christianity in the Old World, and Maya crosses have been found to have a very different symbolism from that present in Christian religious traditions. According to Pre-Columbian myth, Quetzalcoatl departed Mexico in


id: quantum-mind-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mind-0.md
category: reference
title: Quantum mind
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mind
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:55.019769+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: quantum-mind-20260505-0
summary:
The quantum mind or quantum consciousness is a group of hypotheses proposing that local physical laws and interactions from classical mechanics or connections between neurons alone cannot explain consciousness. These hypotheses posit instead that quantum-mechanical phenomena, such as entanglement and superposition that cause nonlocalized quantum effects, interacting in smaller features of the brain than cells, may play an important part in the brain's function and could explain critical aspects of consciousness. These scientific hypotheses are as yet unvalidated, and they can overlap with quantum mysticism. == History == Eugene Wigner developed the idea that quantum mechanics has something to do with the workings of the mind. He proposed that the wave function collapses due to its interaction with consciousness. Freeman Dyson argued that "mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent inherent in every electron". Other contemporary physicists and philosophers considered these arguments unconvincing. Victor Stenger characterized quantum consciousness as a "myth" having "no scientific basis" that "should take its place along with gods, unicorns and dragons". David Chalmers argues against quantum consciousness. He instead discusses how quantum mechanics may relate to dualistic consciousness. Chalmers is skeptical that any new physics can resolve the hard


id: quantum-mind-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mind-1.md
category: reference
title: Quantum mind
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mind
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:55.019769+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: quantum-mind-20260505-0
summary:
Theoretical physicist Roger Penrose and anaesthesiologist Stuart Hameroff collaborated to produce the theory known as "orchestrated objective reduction" (Orch-OR). Penrose and Hameroff initially developed their ideas separately and later collaborated to produce Orch-OR in the early 1990s. They reviewed and updated their theory in 2013. Penrose's argument stemmed from Gödel's incompleteness theorems. In his first book on consciousness, The Emperor's New Mind (1989), he argued that while a formal system cannot prove its own consistency, Gödel's unprovable results are provable by human mathematicians. Penrose took this to mean that human mathematicians are not formal proof systems and not running a computable algorithm. According to Bringsjord and Xiao, this line of reasoning is based on fallacious equivocation on the meaning of computation. In the same book, Penrose wrote: "One might speculate, however, that somewhere deep in the brain, cells are to be found of single quantum sensitivity. If this proves to be the case, then quantum mechanics will be significantly involved in brain activity." Penrose determined that wave function collapse was the only possible physical basis for a non-computable process. Dissatisfied with its randomness, he proposed a new form of wave function collapse that occurs in isolation and called it objective


id: quantum-mind-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mind-2.md
category: reference
title: Quantum mind
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mind
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:55.019769+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: quantum-mind-20260505-0
summary:
A lot of what the brain does you could do on a computer. I'm not saying that all the brain's action is completely different from what you do on a computer. I am claiming that the actions of consciousness are something different. I'm not saying that consciousness is beyond physics, either—although I'm saying that it's beyond the physics we know now.... My claim is that there has to be something in physics that we don't yet understand, which is very important, and which is of a noncomputational character. It's not specific to our brains; it's out there, in the physical world. But it usually plays a totally insignificant role. It would have to be in the bridge between quantum and classical levels of behavior—that is, where quantum measurement comes in. === Umezawa, Vitiello, Freeman === Hiroomi Umezawa and collaborators proposed a quantum field theory of memory storage. Giuseppe Vitiello and Walter Freeman proposed a dialog model of the mind. This dialog takes place between the classical and the quantum parts of the brain. Their quantum field theory models of brain dynamics are fundamentally different from the Penrose–Hameroff theory. ==== Quantum brain dynamics ==== As described by Harald Atmanspacher, "Since quantum


id: quantum-mind-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mind-3.md
category: reference
title: Quantum mind
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mind
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:55.019769+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: quantum-mind-20260505-0
summary:
=== Catecholaminergic neuron electron transport (CNET) === CNET is a hypothesized neural signaling mechanism in catecholaminergic neurons that would use quantum mechanical electron transport. The hypothesis is based in part on the observation by many independent researchers that electron tunneling occurs in ferritin, an iron storage protein that is prevalent in those neurons, at room temperature and ambient conditions. The hypothesized function of this mechanism is to assist in action selection, but the mechanism itself would be capable of integrating millions of cognitive and sensory neural signals using a physical mechanism associated with strong electron-electron interactions. Each tunneling event would involve a collapse of an electron wave function, but the collapse would be incidental to the physical effect created by strong electron-electron interactions. CNET predicted a number of physical properties of these neurons that have been subsequently observed experimentally, such as electron tunneling in substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) tissue and the presence of disordered arrays of ferritin in SNc tissue. The hypothesis also predicted that disordered ferritin arrays like those found in SNc tissue should be capable of supporting long-range electron transport and providing a switching or routing function, both of which have also been subsequently observed. Another prediction


id: quantum-mind-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mind-4.md
category: reference
title: Quantum mind
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mind
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:55.019769+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: quantum-mind-20260505-0
summary:
=== Conceptual problems === The idea that a quantum effect is necessary for consciousness to function is still in the realm of philosophy. Penrose proposes that it is necessary, but other theories of consciousness do not indicate that it is needed. For example, Daniel Dennett proposed a theory called multiple drafts model, which doesn't indicate that quantum effects are needed, in his 1991 book Consciousness Explained. A philosophical argument on either side is not a scientific proof, although philosophical analysis can indicate key differences in the types of models and show what type of experimental differences might be observed. But since there is no clear consensus among philosophers, there is no conceptual support that a quantum mind theory is needed. A possible conceptual approach is to use quantum mechanics as an analogy to understand a different field of study like consciousness, without expecting that the laws of quantum physics will apply. An example of this approach is the idea of Schrödinger's cat. Erwin Schrödinger described how one could, in principle, create entanglement of a large-scale system by making it dependent on an elementary particle in a superposition. He proposed a scenario with a cat in a locked steel chamber, wherein


id: quantum-mind-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mind-5.md
category: reference
title: Quantum mind
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mind
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:55.019769+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: quantum-mind-20260505-0
summary:
The problem with trying to use quantum mechanics in the action of the brain is that if it were a matter of quantum nerve signals, these nerve signals would disturb the rest of the material in the brain, to the extent that the quantum coherence would get lost very quickly. You couldn't even attempt to build a quantum computer out of ordinary nerve signals, because they're just too big and in an environment that's too disorganized. Ordinary nerve signals have to be treated classically. But if you go down to the level of the microtubules, then there's an extremely good chance that you can get quantum-level activity inside them. For my picture, I need this quantum-level activity in the microtubules; the activity has to be a large-scale thing that goes not just from one microtubule to the next but from one nerve cell to the next, across large areas of the brain. We need some kind of coherent activity of a quantum nature which is weakly coupled to the computational activity that Hameroff argues is taking place along the microtubules. There are various avenues of attack. One is directly on the physics, on quantum theory, and there are certain experiments


id: ruggero-santilli-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruggero_Santilli-0.md
category: reference
title: Ruggero Santilli
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruggero_Santilli
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:56.218529+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ruggero-santilli-20260505-0
summary:
Ruggero Maria Santilli (born September 8, 1935) is an Italo-American nuclear physicist. Mainstream scientists dismiss his theories as fringe science. == Biography == Ruggero Maria Santilli was born September 8, 1935) in Capracotta. He studied physics at the University of Naples and earned his PhD in physics from the University of Turin, graduating in 1965. He held various academic positions in Italy until 1967, when he took a position at University of Miami; a year later he moved to Boston University, and subsequently held visiting scientist positions at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. In September 1981, Santilli established a one-man organization, the Institute for Basic Research in Boston; he told a reporter from St. Petersburg Times in 2007 that he left Harvard because scientists there viewed his work as "heresy". In 1982 Austrian-British philosopher Karl Popper wrote that Santilli's calls for tests on the validity of quantum mechanics within nuclear and hadronic structures, represented a return to scientific sanity. In 1985 he published a book, Il Grande Grido: Ethical Probe on Einstein's Followers in the U.S.A, an Insider's View, in which he said that in many institutions there is an effective conspiracy to suppress or not investigate novel


id: ruggero-santilli-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruggero_Santilli-1.md
category: reference
title: Ruggero Santilli
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruggero_Santilli
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:37:56.218529+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ruggero-santilli-20260505-0
summary:
== Selected publications == Santilli, Ruggero (1978). Foundations of Theoretical Mechanics: The inverse problem in Newtonian mechanics (PDF). New York: Springer-Verlag. OCLC 9020170. Santilli, Ruggero (1983). Foundations of Theoretical Mechanics: Birkhoffian Generalization of Hamiltonian Mechanics (PDF). Berlin: Springer-Verlag. ISBN 978-0-387-09482-3. Santilli, Ruggero (1984). Il Grande Grido: Ethical Probe on Einstein's Followers in the U.S.A.: An Insider's View. Louisville: Alpha Pub. ISBN 978-0-931753-00-8. Santilli, Ruggero Maria (1997). "Relativistic hadronic mechanics: Nonunitary, axiom-preserving completion of relativistic quantum mechanics". Foundations of Physics. 27 (5): 625–729. Bibcode:1997FoPh...27..625S. doi:10.1007/BF02550172. S2CID 121113126. Santilli, Ruggero (2001). Foundations of Hadronic Chemistry: with Applications to New Clean Energies and Fuels. Berlin: Springer. ISBN 978-1-4020-0087-4. Santilli, R. M.; Aringazin, A. K. (2004). "Structure and Combustion of Magnegases". Hadronic Journal. 27 (2004): 299–330. arXiv:physics/0112066. Bibcode:2001physics..12066S. Santilli, Ruggero (2006). Isodual Theory of Antimatter with Applications to Antigravity, Grand Unification and Cosmology (PDF). Fundamental Theories of Physics. Vol. 151. Springer. Bibcode:2006itaa.book.....S. doi:10.1007/1-4020-4518-2 (inactive 31 July 2025). ISBN 1-4020-4518-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link) == References == == External links == "Video:From trash to gas". CNN. September 22, 2010.


