# kb

id: 2012-phenomenon-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_phenomenon-3.md
category: reference
title: 2012 phenomenon
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_phenomenon
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:15:10.848554+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: 2012-phenomenon-20260505-0
summary:
=== Galactic alignment === There is no significant astronomical event tied to the Long Count's start date. Its supposed end date was tied to astronomical phenomena by esoteric, fringe, and New Age literature that placed great significance on astrology, especially astrological interpretations associated with the phenomenon of axial precession. Chief among these ideas is the astrological concept of a "galactic alignment". ==== Precession ==== In the Solar System, the planets and the Sun lie roughly within the same flat plane, known as the plane of the ecliptic. From our perspective on Earth, the ecliptic is the path taken by the Sun across the sky over the course of the year. The twelve constellations that line the ecliptic are known as the zodiacal constellations, and, annually, the Sun passes through all of them in turn. Additionally, over time, the Sun's annual cycle appears to recede very slowly backward by one degree every 72 years, or by one constellation approximately every 2,160 years. This backward movement, called "precession", is due to a slight wobble in the Earth's axis as it spins, and can be compared to the way a spinning top wobbles as it slows down. Over the course of 25,800 years,


id: 2012-phenomenon-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_phenomenon-4.md
category: reference
title: 2012 phenomenon
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_phenomenon
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:15:10.848554+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: 2012-phenomenon-20260505-0
summary:
"Timewave zero" is a numerological formula that purports to calculate the ebb and flow of "novelty", defined as increase over time in the universe's interconnectedness, or organized complexity. Terence McKenna claimed that the universe has a teleological attractor at the end of time that increases interconnectedness. He believed this which would eventually reach a singularity of infinite complexity in 2012, at which point anything and everything imaginable would occur simultaneously. He conceived this idea over several years in the early to mid-1970s whilst using psilocybin mushrooms and DMT. The scientific community considers novelty theory to be pseudoscience. McKenna expressed "novelty" in a computer program which produces a waveform known as "timewave zero" or the "timewave". Based on McKenna's interpretation of the King Wen sequence of the I Ching, an ancient Chinese book on divination, the graph purports to show great periods of novelty corresponding with major shifts in humanity's biological and sociocultural evolution. He believed that the events of any given time are resonantly related to the events of other times, and chose the atomic bombing of Hiroshima as the basis for calculating his end date of November 2012. When he later discovered this date's proximity to the end of


id: 2012-phenomenon-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_phenomenon-5.md
category: reference
title: 2012 phenomenon
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_phenomenon
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:15:10.848554+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: 2012-phenomenon-20260505-0
summary:
=== Geomagnetic reversal === Another idea tied to 2012 involved a geomagnetic reversal (often referred to as a pole shift by proponents), possibly triggered by a massive solar flare, that would release an energy equal to 100 billion atomic bombs. This belief was supposedly supported by observations that the Earth's magnetic field was weakening, which could precede a reversal of the north and south magnetic poles, and the arrival of the next solar maximum, which was expected sometime around 2012. Most scientific estimates say that geomagnetic reversals take between 1,000 and 10,000 years to complete, and do not start on any particular date. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted that the solar maximum would peak in late 2013 or 2014, and that it would be fairly weak, with a below-average number of sunspots. There was no scientific evidence linking a solar maximum to a geomagnetic reversal, which is driven by forces entirely within the Earth. A solar maximum does affect satellite and cellular phone communications. David Morrison attributed the rise of the solar storm idea to physicist and science popularizer Michio Kaku, who claimed in an interview with Fox News that a solar peak in 2012 could be


id: 2012-phenomenon-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_phenomenon-6.md
category: reference
title: 2012 phenomenon
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_phenomenon
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:15:10.848554+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: 2012-phenomenon-20260505-0
summary:
Beginning in 2000, the small French village of Bugarach, population 189, began receiving visits from "esoterics"—mystic believers who had concluded that the local mountain, Pic de Bugarach, was the ideal location to weather the transformative events of 2012. In 2011, the local mayor, Jean-Pierre Delord, began voicing fears to the international press that the small town would be overwhelmed by an influx of thousands of visitors in 2012, even suggesting he might call in the army. "We've seen a huge rise in visitors", Delord told The Independent in March 2012. "Already this year more than 20,000 people have climbed right to the top, and last year we had 10,000 hikers, which was a significant rise on the previous 12 months. They think Pic de Bugarach is 'un garage à ovnis' [a garage for UFOs]. The villagers are exasperated: the exaggerated importance of something which they see as completely removed from reality is bewildering. After 21 December, this will surely return to normal." In December 2012, the French government placed 100 police and firefighters around both Bugarach and Pic de Bugarach, limiting access to potential visitors. Ultimately, only about 1,000 visitors appeared at the height of the "event". Two raves were


id: 2012-phenomenon-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_phenomenon-7.md
category: reference
title: 2012 phenomenon
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_phenomenon
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:15:10.848554+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: 2012-phenomenon-20260505-0
summary:
On the final day of bʼakʼtun 13, residents of Yucatán and other regions formerly dominated by the ancient Maya celebrated what they saw as the dawn of a new, better era. According to official figures from Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), about 50,000 people visited Mexican archaeological sites on 21 December 2012. Of those, 10,000 visited Chichén Itzá in Yucatán, 9,900 visited Tulum in Quintana Roo, and 8,000 visited Palenque in Chiapas. An additional 10,000 people visited Teotihuacan near Mexico City, which is not a Maya site. The main ceremony in Chichén Itzá was held at dawn in the plaza of the Temple of Kukulkán, one of the principal symbols of Maya culture. The archaeological site was opened two hours early to receive thousands of tourists, mostly foreigners who came to participate in events scheduled for the end of bʼakʼtun 13. The fire ceremony at Tikal was held at dawn in the main plaza of the Temple of the Great Jaguar. The ceremony was led by Guatemalan and foreign priests. The President of Guatemala, Otto Pérez, and of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, participated in the event as special guests. During the ceremony the priests asked for unity,


id: 2012-phenomenon-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_phenomenon-8.md
category: reference
title: 2012 phenomenon
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_phenomenon
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:15:10.848554+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: 2012-phenomenon-20260505-0
summary:
== Cultural influence == The 2012 phenomenon was discussed or referenced by several media outlets. Several TV documentaries, as well as some contemporary fictional references to the year 2012, referred to 21 December as the day of a cataclysmic event. The TV series The X-Files cited 22 December 2012 as the date for an alien colonization of the Earth, and mentioned the Mayan calendar "stopping" on this date. The History Channel aired a handful of special series on doomsday that included analysis of 2012 theories, such as Decoding the Past (2005–2007), 2012, End of Days (2006), Last Days on Earth (2006), Seven Signs of the Apocalypse (2009), and Nostradamus 2012 (2008). The Discovery Channel also aired 2012 Apocalypse in 2009, suggesting that massive solar storms, magnetic pole reversal, earthquakes, supervolcanoes, and other drastic natural events could occur in 2012. In 2012, the National Geographic Channel launched a show called Doomsday Preppers, a documentary series about survivalists preparing for various cataclysms, including the 2012 doomsday. Hundreds of books were published on the topic. The bestselling book of 2009, Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol, featured a coded mock email number (2456282.5) that decoded to the Julian date for 21 December 2012. In


id: 2015-indian-science-congress-ancient-aircraft-controversy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Indian_Science_Congress_ancient_aircraft_controversy-0.md
category: reference
title: 2015 Indian Science Congress ancient aircraft controversy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Indian_Science_Congress_ancient_aircraft_controversy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:15:12.052830+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: 2015-indian-science-congress-ancient-aircraft-controversy-20260505-0
summary:
The 2015 Indian Science Congress ancient aircraft controversy refers to protests that occurred during the 102nd Indian Science Congress in Mumbai on 4 January 2015 when a paper claiming to prove that aircraft were invented in the Vedic age was allowed to be presented. == Overview == In December 2014, it was announced that Anand J. Bodas and his copresenter Ameya Jadhav, who claim that aircraft more advanced than today's versions existed in ancient India, would be allowed to speak at the Indian Science Congress and present a paper on aviation in the Vedic age. During an interview, he said that such aircraft were huge and could fly to other planets. He also said that those planes could fly backwards, left, or right, contrary to modern aircraft that can fly only forward. Bodas, who was a principal at a pilot training school in Kerala, and Jadhav, currently a lecturer at the Swami Vivekanand International School and Junior College in Mumbai, cited a text called Vaimanika Prakaranam (also called Vaimānika Shāstra) as evidence. Scientists from the Indian Institute of Science studied the text in 1974, concluding that "craft is a decided impossibility" and that the Vaimānika Shāstra was written no earlier


id: abortion-breast-cancer-hypothesis-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion–breast_cancer_hypothesis-0.md
category: reference
title: Abortion–breast cancer hypothesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion–breast_cancer_hypothesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:15:13.301340+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: abortion-breast-cancer-hypothesis-20260505-0
summary:
The abortion–breast cancer hypothesis posits that having an induced abortion can increase the risk of getting breast cancer. This hypothesis is at odds with mainstream scientific opinion and is rejected by major medical professional organizations; despite this, it continues to be widely propagated as pseudoscience, typically in service of an anti-abortion agenda. In early pregnancy, hormone levels increase, leading to breast growth. The hypothesis proposes that if this process is altered by an abortion, then more immature cells could be left behind, and that these immature cells could increase the risk of breast cancer over time. The abortion–breast cancer hypothesis has been the subject of extensive scientific inquiry, and the scientific community has concluded that abortion does not cause breast cancer; and that breast cancer should not be a concern for women who are having a miscarriage or considering having an abortion. This consensus is supported by major medical bodies, including the World Health Organization, the U.S. National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the German Cancer Research Center, and the Canadian Cancer Society. Some anti-abortion activists have continued to advance a discredited causal link between


id: abortion-breast-cancer-hypothesis-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion–breast_cancer_hypothesis-1.md
category: reference
title: Abortion–breast cancer hypothesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion–breast_cancer_hypothesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:15:13.301340+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: abortion-breast-cancer-hypothesis-20260505-0
summary:
In early pregnancy, levels of estrogen, progesterone, and estradiol increase, leading to breast growth in preparation for lactation. Proponents speculate that if this process is interrupted by an abortion or miscarriage—before full maturity (differentiation) in the third trimester—then more immature cells could be left than there were prior to the pregnancy. These immature cells could then be exposed to carcinogens and hormones over time, resulting in a greater potential risk of breast cancer. This mechanism was first proposed and explored in rat studies conducted in the 1980s. Breast tissue contains many lobes (segments) and these contain lobules which are groups of breast cells. There are four types of lobules: Type 1 has 11 ductules (immature) Type 2 has 47 ductules (immature) Type 3 has 80 ductules (mature, fewer hormone receptors) Type 4 are fully matured (cancer resistant) and contain breast milk During early pregnancy, type 1 lobules quickly become type 2 lobules because of changes in estrogen and progesterone levels. Maturing into type 3 and then reaching full differentiation as type 4 lobules requires an increase of human placental lactogen (hPL) which occurs in the last few months of pregnancy. According to the abortion–breast cancer hypothesis, if an abortion were


id: abortion-breast-cancer-hypothesis-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion–breast_cancer_hypothesis-2.md
category: reference
title: Abortion–breast cancer hypothesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion–breast_cancer_hypothesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:15:13.301340+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: abortion-breast-cancer-hypothesis-20260505-0
summary:
== Epidemiological evidence == The results of prospective cohort studies on the relationship between abortion and breast cancer have been consistently negative. Such studies are considered more reliable than retrospective studies and case-control studies. The positive association between abortion and breast cancer risk observed in case-control studies may be accounted for by recall bias. In 1996, Brind et al. published a meta-analysis of 23 studies which reported a positive association existed between induced abortion and breast cancer risk. The authors estimated the relative risk of breast cancer among women who had had an induced abortion to be 1.3, compared to women who had not had an abortion. It was criticized by other researchers for multiple reasons, including allegations that it failed to account for publication bias (positive studies tend to be more likely to be published). The meta-analysis was also criticized because the studies it included were almost all case-control studies, which are susceptible to recall bias, and for which it is difficult to select an appropriate control group. In 1997, Wingo et al. reviewed 32 studies on the abortion-breast cancer relationship and concluded that the results of studies on this subject were too inconsistent to allow for definitive conclusions,


id: abortion-breast-cancer-hypothesis-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion–breast_cancer_hypothesis-3.md
category: reference
title: Abortion–breast cancer hypothesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion–breast_cancer_hypothesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:15:13.301340+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: abortion-breast-cancer-hypothesis-20260505-0
summary:
[T]he possible relationship between abortion and breast cancer has been examined in over thirty published studies since 1957. Some studies have reported statistically significant evidence of an increased risk of breast cancer in women who have had abortions, while others have merely suggested an increased risk. Other studies have found no increase in risk among women who have had an interrupted pregnancy. This alteration, which suggested that there was scientific uncertainty on the ABC issue, prompted an editorial in The New York Times describing it as an "egregious distortion" and a letter to the Secretary of Health and Human Services from members of Congress. In response to the alteration the NCI convened a three-day consensus workshop entitled Early Reproductive Events and Breast Cancer on 24–26 February 2003. The workshop concluded that induced abortion does not increase a woman's risk of breast cancer, and that the evidence for this had been well established. Afterwards, the director of epidemiology research for the American Cancer Society stated, "[t]his issue has been resolved scientifically ... This is essentially a political debate." Brind was the only attendee at the workshop to file a dissenting opinion as a minority report criticizing the conclusions. He contends the


id: access-consciousness-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Access_Consciousness-0.md
category: reference
title: Access Consciousness
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Access_Consciousness
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:15:14.508126+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: access-consciousness-20260505-0
summary:
Access Consciousness is a pseudoscientific New Age movement founded by Gary Douglas in 1990 in Santa Barbara, California, initially called Access Energy Transformation. After a failed real estate business and subsequent bankruptcy in 1993, Douglas claimed to begin channeling spirits, including Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin, from whom he learned about "Access Bars" which are points on the head purported to help with energy, health, and wealth. As of 2024, the practice has since evolved into a global movement, offering a range of self-help and energy healing techniques. Access Consciousness promotes a mix of energy therapy, elements of phrenology, and prosperity gospel principles, with practitioners claiming to "run the bars" to manipulate energy fields for various life improvements. The organization has faced significant criticism, with skeptics denouncing its practices as pseudoscientific, and allegations of abuse, cult-like behavior, and exploitation have surfaced over the years. == History == After filing for bankruptcy in 1993 due to a failed real estate venture and briefly working for the United Way, Gary Douglas founded Access Consciousness, initially named Access Energy Transformation, in Santa Barbara, California, in 1990. Douglas allegedly started channeling spirits in the early 1990s after witnessing a channeler at work in the late


id: access-consciousness-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Access_Consciousness-1.md
category: reference
title: Access Consciousness
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Access_Consciousness
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:15:14.508126+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: access-consciousness-20260505-0
summary:
=== Training and certification === To become a practitioner you need one day of training. Subsequent training to become a facilitator includes a minimum of twelve courses, in addition to regular teleconferences. Continuous training is required annually. There are over eight thousand tools to learn. The cost in 2024 for this training was AUD 30,000, with a licence renewal costing AUD 17,000. As of 2024, there were approximately 3,000 licensed facilitators. A former facilitator, Kerry Purcell, reported that she would spend AUD 60,000 on travel and fees for Access Consciousness courses. She invested AUD 150,000 in what she thought was Milasas' bottled water business but later believed it was used to pay off Milasas' personal debts, which Milasas claimed were paid off because of her positive energy. Some practitioners teach communicating with animals. == Criticisms and controversies == Critics have referred to Access Consciousness as a milder version of Scientology. Douglas is familiar with the church as he was a Scientologist himself. His first wife, Laurie Alexander, was an auditor for the church and his second wife, Mary Wernicke, was a former Scientologist. According to medical doctor David Gorski in an article called Access Consciousness: Phrenology fused with energy medicine,


id: acquired-homosexuality-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acquired_homosexuality-0.md
category: reference
title: Acquired homosexuality
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acquired_homosexuality
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:15:15.703997+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: acquired-homosexuality-20260505-0
summary:
Acquired homosexuality is the pseudoscientific idea that homosexuality can be spread, either through sexual seduction or recruitment by homosexuals, or through exposure to media depicting homosexuality. According to this belief, any child or young person could become homosexual if exposed to it; conversely, through conversion therapy, a homosexual person could be made heterosexual. == Scientific evidence == Although there is not yet complete understanding of the causes of sexual orientation, the evidence supporting biological causes is much stronger than that supporting social factors, and there is little or no evidence supporting the theory that homosexuality can be acquired through sexual contact with homosexual adults. In contrast, there is evidence that homosexual attractions precede behavior, usually by a few years, in most cases. Bailey et al. state, "a belief in the recruitment hypothesis has often been associated with strongly negative attitudes toward homosexual people", and those who make this argument generally do not explain an empirical basis for this belief. == History == In her book Epistemology of the Closet, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick distinguishes between the minoritizing and universalizing view of sexual orientation; according to the former view, homosexuality is a property of a relatively stable minority, while according to latter


id: action-type-approach-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_type_approach-0.md
category: reference
title: Action type approach
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_type_approach
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:15:16.864893+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: action-type-approach-20260505-0
summary:
The action type approach is a series of mental exercises—variously described as "pseudoscientific", "empirically challenged", or a "neuromyth"— that purport to increase physical performance in athletes. == References ==


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: 2026-05-05T09:16:39.124240+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: acupuncture-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture-0.md
category: reference
title: Acupuncture
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:40.362060+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: acupuncture-20260505-0
summary:
Acupuncture is a form of alternative medicine and a component of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in which thin needles are inserted into the body. Acupuncture is a pseudoscience; the theories and practices of TCM are not based on scientific knowledge, and it has been characterized as quackery. There is a range of acupuncture technological variants that originated in different philosophies, and techniques vary depending on the country in which it is performed. However, it can be divided into two main foundational philosophical applications and approaches; the first being the modern standardized form called eight principles TCM and the second being an older system that is based on the ancient Daoist wuxing, better known as the five elements or phases in the West. Acupuncture is most often used to attempt pain relief, though acupuncturists say that it can also be used for a wide range of other conditions. Acupuncture is typically used in combination with other forms of treatment. The global acupuncture market was worth US$24.55 billion in 2017. The market was led by Europe with a 32.7% share, followed by Asia-Pacific with a 29.4% share and the Americas with a 25.3% share. It was estimated in 2021 that the industry


id: acupuncture-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture-1.md
category: reference
title: Acupuncture
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:40.362060+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: acupuncture-20260505-0
summary:
Acupuncture is a form of alternative medicine. It is used most commonly for pain relief, though it is also used to treat a wide range of conditions. Acupuncture is generally only used in combination with other forms of treatment. For example, the American Society of Anesthesiologists states it may be considered in the treatment of nonspecific, noninflammatory low back pain only in conjunction with conventional therapy. Acupuncture is the insertion of thin needles into the skin. According to the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (Mayo Clinic), a typical session entails lying still while approximately five to twenty needles are inserted; for the majority of cases, the needles will be left in place for ten to twenty minutes. It can be associated with the application of heat, pressure, or laser light. Classically, acupuncture is individualized and based on philosophy and intuition, and not on scientific research. There is also a non-invasive therapy developed in early 20th-century Japan using an elaborate set of instruments other than needles for the treatment of children (shōnishin or shōnihari). Clinical practice varies depending on the country. A comparison of the average number of patients treated per hour found significant differences between China (10) and


id: acupuncture-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture-2.md
category: reference
title: Acupuncture
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:40.362060+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: acupuncture-20260505-0
summary:
==== De-qi sensation ==== De-qi (Chinese: 得气; pinyin: dé qì; "arrival of qi") refers to a claimed sensation of numbness, distension, or electrical tingling at the needling site. If these sensations are not observed then inaccurate location of the acupoint, improper depth of needle insertion, inadequate manual manipulation, are blamed. If de-qi is not immediately observed upon needle insertion, various manual manipulation techniques are often applied to promote it (such as "plucking", "shaking" or "trembling"). Once de-qi is observed, techniques might be used which attempt to "influence" the de-qi; for example, by certain manipulation the de-qi can allegedly be conducted from the needling site towards more distant sites of the body. Other techniques aim at "tonifying" (Chinese: 补; pinyin: bǔ) or "sedating" (Chinese: 泄; pinyin: xiè) qi. The former techniques are used in deficiency patterns, the latter in excess patterns. De qi is more important in Chinese acupuncture, while Western and Japanese patients may not consider it a necessary part of the treatment. === Related practices === Acupressure, a non-invasive form of bodywork, uses physical pressure applied to acupressure points by the hand or elbow, or with various devices. Acupuncture is often accompanied by moxibustion, the burning of cone-shaped preparations


id: acupuncture-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture-3.md
category: reference
title: Acupuncture
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:40.362060+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: acupuncture-20260505-0
summary:
=== Sham acupuncture and research === It is difficult but not impossible to design rigorous research trials for acupuncture. Due to acupuncture's invasive nature, one of the major challenges in efficacy research is in the design of an appropriate placebo control group. For efficacy studies to determine whether acupuncture has specific effects, "sham" forms of acupuncture where the patient, practitioner, and analyst are blinded seem the most acceptable approach. Sham acupuncture uses non-penetrating needles or needling at non-acupuncture points, e.g. inserting needles on meridians not related to the specific condition being studied, or in places not associated with meridians. The under-performance of acupuncture in such trials may indicate that therapeutic effects are due entirely to non-specific effects, or that the sham treatments are not inert, or that systematic protocols yield less than optimal treatment. A 2014 review in Nature Reviews Cancer found that "contrary to the claimed mechanism of redirecting the flow of qi through meridians, researchers usually find that it generally does not matter where the needles are inserted, how often (that is, no dose-response effect is observed), or even if needles are actually inserted. In other words, "sham" or "placebo" acupuncture generally produces the same effects as "real"


id: acupuncture-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture-4.md
category: reference
title: Acupuncture
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:40.362060+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: acupuncture-20260505-0
summary:
=== Adverse events === Acupuncture is generally safe when administered by an experienced, appropriately trained practitioner using clean-needle technique and sterile single-use needles. When improperly delivered it can cause adverse effects. Accidents and infections are associated with infractions of sterile technique or neglect on the part of the practitioner. To reduce the risk of serious adverse events after acupuncture, acupuncturists should be trained sufficiently. A 2009 overview of Cochrane reviews found acupuncture is not effective for a wide range of conditions. People with serious spinal disease, such as cancer or infection, are not good candidates for acupuncture. Contraindications to acupuncture (conditions that should not be treated with acupuncture) include coagulopathy disorders (e.g. hemophilia and advanced liver disease), warfarin use, severe psychiatric disorders (e.g. psychosis), and skin infections or skin trauma (e.g. burns). Further, electroacupuncture should be avoided at the spot of implanted electrical devices (such as pacemakers). A 2011 systematic review of systematic reviews (internationally and without language restrictions) found that serious complications following acupuncture continue to be reported. Between 2000 and 2009, ninety-five cases of serious adverse events, including five deaths, were reported. Many such events are not inherent to acupuncture but are due to malpractice of acupuncturists. This


id: acupuncture-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture-5.md
category: reference
title: Acupuncture
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:40.362060+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: acupuncture-20260505-0
summary:
==== Chinese, Korean, and Japanese-language ==== A 2010 systematic review of the Chinese-language literature found numerous acupuncture-related adverse events, including pneumothorax, fainting, subarachnoid hemorrhage, and infection as the most frequent, and cardiovascular injuries, subarachnoid hemorrhage, pneumothorax, and recurrent cerebral hemorrhage as the most serious, most of which were due to improper technique. Between 1980 and 2009, the Chinese-language literature reported 479 adverse events. Prospective surveys show that mild, transient acupuncture-associated adverse events ranged from 6.71% to 15%. In a study with 190,924 patients, the prevalence of serious adverse events was roughly 0.024%. Another study showed a rate of adverse events requiring specific treatment of 2.2%, 4,963 incidences among 229,230 patients. Infections, mainly hepatitis, after acupuncture are reported often in English-language research, though are rarely reported in Chinese-language research, making it plausible that acupuncture-associated infections have been underreported in China. Infections were mostly caused by poor sterilization of acupuncture needles. Other adverse events included spinal epidural hematoma (in the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine), chylothorax, injuries of abdominal organs and tissues, injuries in the neck region, injuries to the eyes, including orbital hemorrhage, traumatic cataract, injury of the oculomotor nerve and retinal puncture, hemorrhage to the cheeks and the hypoglottis, peripheral


id: acupuncture-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture-6.md
category: reference
title: Acupuncture
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:40.362060+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: acupuncture-20260505-0
summary:
Acupuncture is a substantial part of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Early acupuncture beliefs relied on concepts that are common in TCM, such as a life force energy called qi. Qi was believed to flow from the body's primary organs (zang-fu organs) to the "superficial" body tissues of the skin, muscles, tendons, bones, and joints, through channels called meridians. Acupuncture points where needles are inserted are mainly (but not always) found at locations along the meridians. Acupuncture points not found along a meridian are called extraordinary points and those with no designated site are called A-shi points. In TCM, disease is generally perceived as a disharmony or imbalance in energies such as yin, yang, qi, xuĕ, zàng-fǔ, meridians, and of the interaction between the body and the environment. Therapy is based on which "pattern of disharmony" can be identified. For example, some diseases are believed to be caused by meridians being invaded with an excess of wind, cold, and damp. In order to determine which pattern is at hand, practitioners examine things like the color and shape of the tongue, the relative strength of pulse-points, the smell of the breath, the quality of breathing, or the sound of the voice. TCM


id: acupuncture-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture-7.md
category: reference
title: Acupuncture
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:40.362060+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: acupuncture-20260505-0
summary:
==== Alternative theories ==== The 5,000-year-old mummified body of Ötzi the Iceman was found with 15 groups of tattoos, many of which were located at points on the body where acupuncture needles are used for abdominal or lower back problems. Evidence from the body suggests Ötzi had these conditions. This has been cited as evidence that practices similar to acupuncture may have been practised elsewhere in Eurasia during the early Bronze Age; however, The Oxford Handbook of the History of Medicine calls this theory "speculative". It is considered unlikely that acupuncture was practised before 2000 BC. Acupuncture may have been practised during the Neolithic era, near the end of the Stone Age, using sharpened stones called Bian shi. Many Chinese texts from later eras refer to sharp stones called "plen", which means "stone probe", that may have been used for acupuncture purposes. The ancient Chinese medical text, Huangdi Neijing, indicates that sharp stones were believed at-the-time to cure illnesses at or near the body's surface, perhaps because of the short depth a stone could penetrate. However, it is more likely that stones were used for other medical purposes, such as puncturing a growth to drain its pus. The Mawangdui texts,


id: acupuncture-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture-8.md
category: reference
title: Acupuncture
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:40.362060+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: acupuncture-20260505-0
summary:
==== Establishment and growth ==== In the first half of the 1st century AD, acupuncturists began promoting the belief that acupuncture's effectiveness was influenced by the time of day or night, the lunar cycle, and the season. The 'science of the yin-yang cycles' (運氣學 yùn qì xué) was a set of beliefs that curing diseases relied on the alignment of both heavenly (tian) and earthly (di) forces that were attuned to cycles like that of the sun and moon. There were several different belief systems that relied on a number of celestial and earthly bodies or elements that rotated and only became aligned at certain times. According to Needham and Lu, these "arbitrary predictions" were depicted by acupuncturists in complex charts and through a set of special terminology. Acupuncture needles during this period were much thicker than most modern ones and often resulted in infection. Infection is caused by a lack of sterilization, but at that time it was believed to be caused by use of the wrong needle, or needling in the wrong place, or at the wrong time. Later, many needles were heated in boiling water, or in a flame. Sometimes needles were used while they were still


id: acupuncture-20260505-9
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture-9.md
category: reference
title: Acupuncture
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:40.362060+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: acupuncture-20260505-0
summary:
Korea is believed to be the first country in Asia that acupuncture spread to outside of China. Within Korea there is a legend that acupuncture was developed by emperor Dangun, though it is more likely to have been brought into Korea from a Chinese colonial prefecture in 514 AD. Acupuncture use was commonplace in Korea by the 6th century. It spread to Vietnam in the 8th and 9th centuries. As Vietnam began trading with Japan and China around the 9th century, it was influenced by their acupuncture practices as well. China and Korea sent "medical missionaries" that spread traditional Chinese medicine to Japan, starting around 219 AD. In 553, several Korean and Chinese citizens were appointed to re-organize medical education in Japan and they incorporated acupuncture as part of that system. Japan later sent students back to China and established acupuncture as one of five divisions of the Chinese State Medical Administration System. Acupuncture began to spread to Europe in the second half of the 17th century. Around this time, Willem ten Rhijne, a physician working for the Dutch East India Company, met Japanese acupuncture practitioners and later encouraged Europeans to further investigate it. He published the first in-depth description


id: acupuncture-20260505-10
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture-10.md
category: reference
title: Acupuncture
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:40.362060+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: acupuncture-20260505-0
summary:
== Adoption == Acupuncture is most heavily practiced in China and is popular in the US, Australia, and Europe. In Switzerland, acupuncture has become the most frequently used alternative medicine since 2004. In the United Kingdom, a total of 4 million acupuncture treatments were administered in 2009. Acupuncture is used in most pain clinics and hospices in the UK. An estimated 1 in 10 adults in Australia used acupuncture in 2004. In Japan, it is estimated that 25 percent of the population will try acupuncture at some point, though in most cases it is not covered by public health insurance. Users of acupuncture in Japan are more likely to be elderly and to have a limited education. Approximately half of users surveyed indicated a likelihood to seek such remedies in the future, while 37% did not. Less than one percent of the US population reported having used acupuncture in the early 1990s. By the early 2010s, more than 14 million Americans reported having used acupuncture as part of their health care. In the US, acupuncture is increasingly (as of 2014) used at academic medical centers, and is usually offered through CAM centers or anesthesia and pain management services. Examples include


id: adrenal-fatigue-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrenal_fatigue-0.md
category: reference
title: Adrenal fatigue
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrenal_fatigue
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:41.642836+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: adrenal-fatigue-20260505-0
summary:
Adrenal fatigue is a pseudoscientific term used by alternative medicine providers to suggest that the adrenal glands are exhausted and unable to produce adequate quantities of hormones, primarily cortisol, due to chronic stress or infections. There is no scientific basis for the existence of adrenal fatigue, and the term should not be confused with a number of actual forms of adrenal dysfunction such as adrenal insufficiency or Addison's disease. == Definition == Neither the condition nor the symptoms have any stable or recognized definition. == History == The term "adrenal fatigue" was invented in 1998 by chiropractor James Wilson and applied to a collection of mostly non-specific symptoms. == Lack of evidence == A systematic review found no evidence for the condition, supporting the consensus among mainstream endocrinologists that it is a myth. There is no evidence supporting the concept of adrenal fatigue, and it is not a valid diagnosis recognized by the scientific or medical communities. == Tests == Blood or salivary testing is sometimes offered, but there is no evidence that adrenal fatigue exists, or that it can be tested for. == Diagnosis == Adrenal fatigue is not an accepted medical diagnosis. == Dietary supplements == The concept


id: african-traditional-medicine-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_traditional_medicine-0.md
category: reference
title: African traditional medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_traditional_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:42.803926+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: african-traditional-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
African traditional medicine is a range of traditional medicine disciplines involving indigenous herbalism and African spirituality, typically including diviners, midwives, and herbalists. Practitioners of traditional African medicine claim, largely without evidence, to be able to cure a variety of diverse conditions including cancer, psychiatric disorders, high blood pressure, cholera, most venereal diseases, epilepsy, asthma, eczema, fever, anxiety, depression, benign prostatic hyperplasia, urinary tract infections, gout, and healing of wounds and burns and Ebola. Diagnosis is reached through spiritual means and a treatment is prescribed, usually consisting of a herbal remedy that is considered to have not only healing abilities but also symbolic and spiritual significance. Traditional African medicine, with its belief that illness is not derived from chance occurrences, but through spiritual or social imbalance, differs greatly from modern scientific medicine, which is technically and analytically based. In the 21st century, modern pharmaceuticals and medical procedures remain inaccessible to large numbers of African people due to their relatively high cost and concentration of health facilities in urban centres. Traditional medicine was the dominant medical system for millions of people in Africa prior the arrival of the Europeans, who introduced evidence-based medicine, which was a noticeable turning point in the history


id: african-traditional-medicine-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_traditional_medicine-1.md
category: reference
title: African traditional medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_traditional_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:42.803926+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: african-traditional-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
The use of "bleed-cupping" (also called "wet cupping"), followed by herbal ointment and herbal drugs to treat Migraines, coughs, abscesses, and pleurisy. Some cultures rub hot herbal ointment across the patient's eyelids to treat headaches. A steaming mixture of herbs is both consumed and inhaled in the treatment of Malaria. Fevers are often treated using a steam bath. Vomiting induced by emetics is used to treat alcoholism. The fat of a boa constrictor is used to treat gout and rheumatism, and is thought to relieve chest pain when applied topically. Animals are also sometimes used to transfer the illness to afterward or for the manufacture of medicines for zootherapy. For example, the bones of baboons are used to treat arthritis. The terpenoids of the blister beetle (Mylabris sp.) are rubbed into the skin as a treatment for skin diseases. Consensus between traders of the components of the medication used by practitioners of traditional African medicine regarding what should be used to treat different illnesses varies considerably, even within a small area such as the Faraday Street market in Johannesburg, South Africa. However, approximately 60%-80% of the people in Africa rely on traditional remedies to treat themselves for various diseases. A


id: african-traditional-medicine-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_traditional_medicine-2.md
category: reference
title: African traditional medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_traditional_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:42.803926+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: african-traditional-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
Cannabis sativa (iNtsango). Various parts of the plant are used to treat asthma, bronchitis, headache, epilepsy, pains, colds, influenza, labour pains, hypertension, diabetes, malaria, blackwater fever, blood-poisoning, anthrax, dysentery, tetanus, menstrual cramps and rabies. Carduus tenuiflorus (uMhlakavuthwa). The patient is given an emetic and instructed to vomit onto the plant. The belief is that the plant will "suck out the cause of the illness." Datura stramonium (uQhwangu-qhwangu). The leaves are used to treat pain and swelling (including after a circumcision), boils and abscesses, measles, asthma and headaches, tetanus, foot ailments and respiratory conditions. Emex australis (iNkunzane). A decoction of the root is used to treat constipation, biliousness and other stomach complaints and to stimulate appetite. Galenia secunda (uMvenyathi). The roots are mixed with Emex australis, boiled and used to treat kidney pains in adults and colic in babies. Lantana camara (iQunube). The roots are boiled and the liquid consumed for lower back or abdominal pain, or used as an enema to treat gonococcal infections and urinary tract infections. It is also used to treat coughs, colds, jaundice, rheumatism and as a contraceptive. Opuntia ficus-indica (iTolofiya). A poultice of the cooked leaves is used to treat sores between toes and the


id: african-traditional-medicine-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_traditional_medicine-3.md
category: reference
title: African traditional medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_traditional_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:42.803926+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: african-traditional-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
=== Learning the trade === Some healers learn the trade through personal experience while being treated as a patient who decide to become healers upon recovery. Others become traditional practitioners through a "spiritual calling" and, therefore, their diagnoses and treatments are decided through belief in supernatural intervention. Another route is to receive the knowledge and skills passed down informally from a close family member such as a father or uncle, or even a mother or aunt in the case of midwives. Apprenticeship to an established practitioner, who formally teaches the trade over a long period of time and is paid for their tutoring, is another route to becoming a healer. === Importance === In Africa, traditional healers and remedies made from indigenous plants play a crucial role in the health of millions since as many as 85% of African routinely use these services for primary health care in Sub-Saharan Africa. The relative ratios of traditional practitioners and university trained doctors in relation to the whole population in African countries underscores this importance. Across Sub-Saharan Africa, from Ghana to Eswatini there are, on average almost, 100 traditional practitioner for every university trained doctor. This equates to one traditional healer for every


id: african-traditional-medicine-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_traditional_medicine-4.md
category: reference
title: African traditional medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_traditional_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:42.803926+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: african-traditional-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
=== Criticism === During the HIV/AIDS epidemic traditional healers' methods were criticised by practitioners of modern medicine, and in particular the use of certain herbal treatments for HIV/AIDS. According to Edward Mills, herbal remedies are used as a therapy for HIV-symptoms such as "dermatological disorders, nausea, depression, insomnia, and weakness." While some of these remedies have been beneficial, the herbal treatments hypoxis and sutherlandia "may put the patients at risk for antiretroviral treatment failure, viral resistance, or drug toxicity" since they interact with antiretroviral treatments and prevent the expression of CYP3A4 and P-glycoprotein. This results in the inhibition of drug metabolism and transport. Peltzer et al. also found that an important issue with herbal medicines used in traditional medicine is that when a patient decides to see a doctor in addition to a traditional healer, they do not always mention that he or she is taking an herbal medicine. Herbal medicines can interact with the modern medicine prescribed by the doctor to treat HIV and negatively impact the patient. Peltzer et al. mentions that a "IGM-1 seem to be effective in symptom improvement, but generally no significant effect on antiviral or immunity enhancement among reviewed herbs was seen" for the


id: african-traditional-medicine-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_traditional_medicine-5.md
category: reference
title: African traditional medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_traditional_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:42.803926+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: african-traditional-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
=== Safety === A small proportion of ethnoveterinary medicine plants in South Africa have been researched for toxic effects. The possible adverse effects of South African traditional medicines are not well documented; there has been limited research into mutagenic properties and heavy metal contamination. Serious adverse effects, even death, can result from misidentification or misuse of healing plants. For example, various aloe plants are widely used in traditional African medicine, but some varieties, such as Aloe globuligemma, are toxic and can cause death. The potential for traditional African medicine and pharmacokinetic interactions is unknown, especially interactions between traditional treatments and antiretroviral drugs for HIV/AIDS. Herbal treatments are frequently used in Africa as a primary treatment for HIV/AIDS and for HIV-related issues. Collaboration with traditional healers has been recommended to determine what herbal treatments are used for HIV and to educate people supplying alternative treatments against unsafe practices. Given the demands of the local population on the use of traditional African medicine, it has been proposed that South African medical schools should inform medical students about traditional, supplementary and alternative medicine and the possible conflicts and interactions with modern medicine. Use of traditional African medicines as antivirals instead of using specific


id: aktip-therapeutic-institute-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AKTIP_(therapeutic_institute)-0.md
category: reference
title: AKTIP (therapeutic institute)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AKTIP_(therapeutic_institute)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:44.036677+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: aktip-therapeutic-institute-20260505-0
summary:
AKTIP – Konzultační a terapeutický institut Praha (lit. 'Consultation and Therapeutic Institute Prague') was a private institute in Prague run by the public business company Progressive consulting, offering services in the field of psychosomatic care. The head of the institute was Czech psychiatrist Jarmila Klímová. Controversy about the methods of the institute emerged when the documentary Infiltrace: Obchod se zdravím (Infiltration: Health Business) was broadcast by Czech television on May 21, 2018. The documentary revealed that the company uses unethical techniques to the detriment of its patients for its financial gain, including pseudoscience, manipulation, and incitement of fear of cancer and anxiety. AKTIP offers examinations and healing by instrumentation and homeopathic preparations of doubtful effectiveness for various somatic diseases, including thyroid disease. Although it has physicians on staff, this institution is not a legitimate provider of health services. It is not a medical facility. == Erratic Boulder award in the category of teams 2016 == AKTIP is the holder of the Silver Erratic Boulder award in the category of teams for 2016. "An eventual client meets here imaginary care in a wide range of disciplines. His complex problems will be treated by a graphologist, an expert in oriental diagnostics and


id: alternative-cancer-treatments-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_cancer_treatments-0.md
category: reference
title: Alternative cancer treatments
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_cancer_treatments
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:45.218242+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: alternative-cancer-treatments-20260505-0
summary:
Alternative cancer treatment describes any cancer treatment or practice that is not part of the conventional standard of cancer care. These include special diets and exercises, chemicals, herbs, devices, and manual procedures. Most alternative cancer treatments do not have high-quality evidence supporting their use and many have been described as fundamentally pseudoscientific. Concerns have been raised about the safety of some purported treatments, and some have been found unsafe in clinical trials. Despite this, many untested and disproven treatments are used around the world. Alternative cancer treatments are typically contrasted with experimental cancer treatments – science-based treatment methods – and complementary treatments, which are non-invasive practices used in combination with conventional treatment. All approved chemotherapy medications were considered experimental treatments before completing safety and efficacy testing. Since the late 19th century, medical researchers have established modern cancer care through the development of chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted therapies, and refined surgical techniques. As of 2019, only 32.9% of cancer patients in the United States died within five years of their diagnosis. Despite their effectiveness, many conventional treatments are accompanied by a wide range of side effects, including pain, fatigue, and nausea. Some side effects can even be life-threatening. Many supporters of


id: alternative-cancer-treatments-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_cancer_treatments-1.md
category: reference
title: Alternative cancer treatments
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_cancer_treatments
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:45.218242+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: alternative-cancer-treatments-20260505-0
summary:
== People who choose alternative treatments == People drawn to alternative treatments tend to believe that evidence-based medicine is invasive or ineffective, while still hoping that their health could be improved. They are loyal to their alternative healthcare providers and believe that "treatment should concentrate on the whole person". Among people who (correctly or incorrectly) believe their condition is untreatable, "desperation drives them into the hands of anyone with a promise and a smile." Con artists have long exploited patients' perceived lack of options to extract payments for ineffectual and even harmful treatments. No evidence suggests that the use of alternative treatments improves survival. In 2017, one retrospective, observational study suggested that people who chose alternative medicine instead of conventional treatments were more than twice as likely to die within five years of diagnosis. Breast cancer patients choosing alternative medicine were 5.68 times more likely to die within five years of diagnosis. Although they are more likely to die than non-users, some users of alternative treatments feel a greater sense of control over their destinies and report less anxiety and depression. They are more likely to engage in benefit finding, which is the psychological process of adapting to a traumatic


id: alternative-cancer-treatments-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_cancer_treatments-2.md
category: reference
title: Alternative cancer treatments
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_cancer_treatments
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:45.218242+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: alternative-cancer-treatments-20260505-0
summary:
=== Mind-body connection === This idea says that cancer progression is related to a person's mental and emotional state. Treatments based on this idea are mind–body interventions. Proponents say that cancer forms because the person is unhappy or stressed, or that a positive attitude can cure cancer after it has formed. A typical claim is that stress, anger, fear, or sadness depresses the immune system, whereas love, forgiveness, confidence, and happiness cause the immune system to improve, and that this improved immune system will destroy the cancer. This belief that generally boosting the immune system's activity will kill the cancer cells is not supported by any scientific research. In fact, many cancers require the support of an active immune system (especially through inflammation) to establish the tumor microenvironment necessary for a tumor to grow. === Toxin theory of cancer === In this idea, the body's metabolic processes are overwhelmed by normal byproducts. These byproducts, called "toxins", are said to build up in the cells and cause cancer and other diseases through a process sometimes called autointoxication or autotoxemia. Treatments following this approach are usually aimed at detoxification or body cleansing, such as enemas. === Low activity by the immune system


id: alternative-medicine-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine-0.md
category: reference
title: Alternative medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:46.424743+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: alternative-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
Alternative medicine refers to practices that aim to achieve the healing effects of medicine, but that by definition lack biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or supporting evidence of effectiveness. Such practices are not part of evidence-based medicine. Unlike modern medicine, which employs the scientific method to test plausible therapies by way of responsible and ethical clinical trials, producing repeatable evidence of either effect or of no effect, alternative therapies reside outside of mainstream medicine and do not originate from using the scientific method, but instead rely on testimonials, anecdotes, religion, tradition, superstition, belief in supernatural "energies", pseudoscience, errors in reasoning, propaganda, fraud, or other unscientific sources. Frequently used terms for relevant practices are New Age medicine, pseudo-medicine, unorthodox medicine, holistic medicine, fringe medicine, and unconventional medicine, with little distinction from quackery. Some alternative practices are based on theories that contradict the established science of how the human body works; others appeal to the supernatural or superstitions to explain their effect or lack thereof. In others, the practice has plausibility but lacks a positive risk–benefit outcome probability. Research into alternative therapies often fails to follow proper research protocols (such as placebo-controlled trials, blind experiments and calculation of prior probability), providing invalid results.


id: alternative-medicine-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine-1.md
category: reference
title: Alternative medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:46.424743+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: alternative-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
Complementary medicine (CM) or integrative medicine (IM) is when alternative medicine is used together with mainstream medical treatment in a belief that it improves the effect of treatments. Several medical organizations differentiate between complementary and alternative medicine including the UK National Health Service (NHS), Cancer Research UK, and the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the latter of which states that "Complementary medicine is used in addition to standard treatments" whereas "Alternative medicine is used instead of standard treatments." For example, acupuncture (piercing the body with needles to influence the flow of energy) might be believed to increase the effectiveness or "complement" science-based medicine when used at the same time. Significant drug interactions caused by alternative therapies may make treatments less effective, notably in cancer therapy. Some mainstream academic medical centers have integrative or functional medicine departments, including the Cleveland Clinic, the Mayo Clinic, Stanford University, UCLA, UC San Francisco and Northwestern University. In contrast, other medical practitioners are unconvinced by these practices. For example, surgical oncologist, David Gorski has described integrative medicine as an attempt to bring pseudoscience into academic science-based medicine with skeptics such as Gorski and David Colquhoun referring to this with the pejorative term


id: alternative-medicine-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine-2.md
category: reference
title: Alternative medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:46.424743+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: alternative-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
Traditional medicine (TM) refers to certain practices within a culture which have existed since before the advent of medical science, Many TM practices are based on "holistic" approaches to disease and health, versus the scientific evidence-based methods in conventional medicine. The 2019 WHO report defines traditional medicine as "the sum total of the knowledge, skill and practices based on the theories, beliefs and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not, used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness." When used outside the original setting and in the absence of scientific evidence, TM practices are typically referred to as "alternative medicine". Holistic medicine is another rebranding of alternative medicine. In this case, the words balance and holism are often used alongside complementary or integrative, claiming to take into fuller account the "whole" person, in contrast to the supposed reductionism of medicine. === Challenges in defining alternative medicine === Prominent members of the science and biomedical science community say that it is not meaningful to define an alternative medicine that is separate from a conventional medicine because the expressions "conventional medicine", "alternative medicine", "complementary medicine", "integrative medicine",


id: alternative-medicine-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine-3.md
category: reference
title: Alternative medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:46.424743+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: alternative-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
Whole medical systems: Cut across more than one of the other groups; examples include traditional Chinese medicine, naturopathy, homeopathy, and ayurveda. Mind-body interventions: Explore the interconnection between the mind, body, and spirit, under the premise that they affect "bodily functions and symptoms". A connection between mind and body is conventional medical fact, and this classification does not include therapies with proven function such as cognitive behavioral therapy. "Biology"-based practices: Use substances found in nature such as herbs, foods, vitamins, and other natural substances. (As used here, "biology" does not refer to the science of biology, but is a usage newly coined by NCCIH in the primary source used for this article. "Biology-based" as coined by NCCIH may refer to chemicals from a nonbiological source, such as use of the poison lead in traditional Chinese medicine, and to other nonbiological substances.) Manipulative and body-based practices: feature manipulation or movement of body parts, such as is done in bodywork, chiropractic, and osteopathic manipulation. Energy medicine: is a domain that deals with putative and verifiable energy fields: Biofield therapies are intended to influence energy fields that are purported to surround and penetrate the body. The existence of such energy fields have been disproven.


id: alternative-medicine-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine-4.md
category: reference
title: Alternative medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:46.424743+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: alternative-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
There is a general scientific consensus that alternative therapies lack the requisite scientific validation, and their effectiveness is either unproved or disproved. Many of the claims regarding the efficacy of alternative medicines are controversial, since research on them is frequently of low quality and methodologically flawed. Selective publication bias, marked differences in product quality and standardisation, and some companies making unsubstantiated claims call into question the claims of efficacy of isolated examples where there is evidence for alternative therapies. The Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine points to confusions in the general population – a person may attribute symptomatic relief to an otherwise-ineffective therapy just because they are taking something (the placebo effect); the natural recovery from or the cyclical nature of an illness (the regression fallacy) gets misattributed to an alternative medicine being taken; a person not diagnosed with science-based medicine may never originally have had a true illness diagnosed as an alternative disease category. Edzard Ernst, the first university professor of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, characterized the evidence for many alternative techniques as weak, nonexistent, or negative and in 2011 published his estimate that about 7.4% were based on "sound evidence", although he believes that may be an overestimate.


id: alternative-medicine-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine-5.md
category: reference
title: Alternative medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:46.424743+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: alternative-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
=== Other factors === There are also reasons why a placebo treatment group may outperform a "no-treatment" group in a test which are not related to a patient's experience. These include patients reporting more favourable results than they really felt due to politeness or "experimental subordination", observer bias, and misleading wording of questions. In their 2010 systematic review of studies into placebos, Asbjørn Hróbjartsson and Peter C. Gøtzsche write that "even if there were no true effect of placebo, one would expect to record differences between placebo and no-treatment groups due to bias associated with lack of blinding." Alternative therapies may also be credited for perceived improvement through decreased use or effect of medical treatment, and therefore either decreased side effects or nocebo effects towards standard treatment. == Use and regulation == === Appeal === Practitioners of complementary medicine usually discuss and advise patients as to available alternative therapies. Patients often express interest in mind-body complementary therapies because they offer a non-drug approach to treating some health conditions. In addition to the social-cultural underpinnings of the popularity of alternative medicine, there are several psychological issues that are critical to its growth, notably psychological effects, such as the will to believe,


id: alternative-medicine-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine-6.md
category: reference
title: Alternative medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:46.424743+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: alternative-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
=== Prevalence of use === According to research published in 2015, the increasing popularity of CAM needs to be explained by moral convictions or lifestyle choices rather than by economic reasoning. In developing nations, access to essential medicines is severely restricted by lack of resources and poverty. Traditional remedies, often closely resembling or forming the basis for alternative remedies, may comprise primary healthcare or be integrated into the healthcare system. In Africa, traditional medicine is used for 80% of primary healthcare, and in developing nations as a whole over one-third of the population lack access to essential medicines. In Latin America, inequities against BIPOC communities keep them tied to their traditional practices and therefore, it is often these communities that constitute the majority of users of alternative medicine. Racist attitudes towards certain communities disable them from accessing more urbanized modes of care. In a study that assessed access to care in rural communities of Latin America, it was found that discrimination is a huge barrier to the ability of citizens to access care; more specifically, women of Indigenous and African descent, and lower-income families were especially hurt. Such exclusion exacerbates the inequities that minorities in Latin America already face. Consistently


id: alternative-medicine-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine-7.md
category: reference
title: Alternative medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:46.424743+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: alternative-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
==== In palliative care ==== Complementary therapies are often used in palliative care or by practitioners attempting to manage chronic pain in patients. Integrative medicine is considered more acceptable in the interdisciplinary approach used in palliative care than in other areas of medicine. "From its early experiences of care for the dying, palliative care took for granted the necessity of placing patient values and lifestyle habits at the core of any design and delivery of quality care at the end of life. If the patient desired complementary therapies, and as long as such treatments provided additional support and did not endanger the patient, they were considered acceptable." The non-pharmacologic interventions of complementary medicine can employ mind-body interventions designed to "reduce pain and concomitant mood disturbance and increase quality of life." === Regulation === The alternative medicine lobby has successfully pushed for alternative therapies to be subject to far less regulation than conventional medicine. Some professions of complementary/traditional/alternative medicine, such as chiropractic, have achieved full regulation in North America and other parts of the world and are regulated in a manner similar to that governing science-based medicine. In contrast, other approaches may be partially recognized and others have no regulation at


id: alternative-medicine-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine-8.md
category: reference
title: Alternative medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:46.424743+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: alternative-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
==== Side-effects ==== Conventional treatments are subjected to testing for undesired side-effects, whereas alternative therapies, in general, are not subjected to such testing at all. Any treatment – whether conventional or alternative – that has a biological or psychological effect on a patient may also have potential to possess dangerous biological or psychological side-effects. Attempts to refute this fact with regard to alternative therapies sometimes use the appeal to nature fallacy, i.e., "That which is natural cannot be harmful." Specific groups of patients such as patients with impaired hepatic or renal function are more susceptible to side effects of alternative remedies. An exception to the normal thinking regarding side-effects is homeopathy. Since 1938, the FDA has regulated homeopathic products in "several significantly different ways from other drugs." Homeopathic preparations, termed "remedies", are extremely dilute, often far beyond the point where a single molecule of the original active (and possibly toxic) ingredient is likely to remain. They are, thus, considered safe on that count, but "their products are exempt from good manufacturing practice requirements related to expiration dating and from finished product testing for identity and strength", and their alcohol concentration may be much higher than allowed in conventional drugs. ====


id: alternative-medicine-20260505-9
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine-9.md
category: reference
title: Alternative medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:46.424743+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: alternative-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is not as well researched as conventional medicine, which undergoes intense research before release to the public. Practitioners of science-based medicine also discard practices and treatments when they are shown ineffective, while alternative practitioners do not. Funding for research is also sparse making it difficult to do further research for effectiveness of CAM. Most funding for CAM is funded by government agencies. Proposed research for CAM are rejected by most private funding agencies because the results of research are not reliable. The research for CAM has to meet certain standards from research ethics committees, which most CAM researchers find almost impossible to meet. Even with the little research done on it, CAM has not been proven to be effective. Studies that have been done will be cited by CAM practitioners in an attempt to claim a basis in science. These studies tend to have a variety of problems, such as small samples, various biases, poor research design, lack of controls, negative results, etc. Even those with positive results can be better explained as resulting in false positives due to bias and noisy data. Alternative medicine may lead to a false understanding of the body and


id: alternative-medicine-20260505-10
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine-10.md
category: reference
title: Alternative medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:46.424743+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: alternative-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
Alternative therapies typically lack any scientific validation, and their effectiveness either is unproven or has been disproved. It is usually based on religion, tradition, superstition, belief in supernatural energies, pseudoscience, errors in reasoning, propaganda, or fraud. Methods may incorporate or base themselves on traditional medicine, folk knowledge, spiritual beliefs, ignorance or misunderstanding of scientific principles, errors in reasoning, or newly conceived approaches claiming to heal. Research on alternative medicine is frequently of low quality and methodologically flawed. Treatments are not part of the conventional, science-based healthcare system. Where alternative therapies have replaced conventional science-based medicine, even with the safest alternative medicines, failure to use or delay in using conventional science-based medicine has caused deaths. Many alternative medical treatments are not patentable, which may lead to less research funding from the private sector. In addition, in most countries, alternative therapies (in contrast to pharmaceuticals) can be marketed without any proof of efficacy – also a disincentive for manufacturers to fund scientific research. English evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, in his 2003 book A Devil's Chaplain, defined alternative medicine as a "set of practices that cannot be tested, refuse to be tested, or consistently fail tests." Dawkins argued that if a technique is


id: alternative-medicine-20260505-11
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine-11.md
category: reference
title: Alternative medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:46.424743+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: alternative-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
== Bibliography == Bivins, R. (2007). Alternative Medicine? A History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-921887-5. Board of Science and Education, British Medical Association (1993). Complementary Medicine: New Approaches to Good Practice. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-286166-5. Callahan, D., ed. (2004). The Role of Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Accommodating Pluralism. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. ISBN 978-1-58901-464-0. Cohen, Michael H. (1998). Complementary & Alternative Medicine: Legal Boundaries and Regulatory Perspectives. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-5689-1. Committee on the Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine by the American Public for the Board on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, Institute of Medicine (2005). Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the United States. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press. ISBN 978-0-309-09270-8. Gevitz, N. (1997) [1993]. "Chapter 28: Unorthodox Medical Theories". In Bynum, W.F.; Porter, R.S. (eds.). Companion Encyclopedia of the History of Medicine. Vol. 1. New York & London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-16419-1. Hahnemann, S. (1833). The Homœopathic Medical Doctrine, or "Organon of the Healing Art". Translated by Devrient, C.H. Annotated by Stratten, S. Dublin: W.F. Wakeman. Kasper, Dennis L; Fauci, Anthony S.; Hauser, Stephen L.; Longo, Dan L.; Jameson, J. Larry; Loscalzo, Joseph (2015). Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine (19th ed.). New York: McGraw


id: terminology-of-alternative-medicine-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminology_of_alternative_medicine-0.md
category: reference
title: Terminology of alternative medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminology_of_alternative_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:47.617551+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: terminology-of-alternative-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
Alternative medicine is a term often used to describe medical practices where are untested or untestable. Complementary medicine (CM), complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), integrated medicine or integrative medicine (IM), functional medicine, and holistic medicine are among many rebrandings of the same phenomenon. == Terms for alternative medicine == The terms alternative medicine, complementary medicine, integrative medicine, holistic medicine, natural medicine, unorthodox medicine, fringe medicine, unconventional medicine, and new age medicine are used interchangeably as having the same meaning and are almost synonymous in most contexts. There is concern that a lack of stabilized terminology for these practices may give the appearance of effectiveness. Loose terminology may also be used to suggest that a dichotomy exists when it does not, e.g., the use of the expressions "Western medicine" and "Eastern medicine" to suggest that the difference is a cultural difference between the Asiatic east and the European west, rather than that the difference is between evidence-based medicine and other forms of treatment. Some scholars adopt this "Western" and "Eastern" language. For example, in a study done on musculoskeletal pain acupuncture treatment, researchers use the term "Western Acupuncture", which is defined as the acupuncture practices that are evidence based. This term


id: terminology-of-alternative-medicine-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminology_of_alternative_medicine-1.md
category: reference
title: Terminology of alternative medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminology_of_alternative_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:47.617551+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: terminology-of-alternative-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
=== Challenges in defining alternative medicine === Terminology has shifted over time, reflecting the preferred branding of practitioners. For example, the United States National Institutes of Health department studying alternative medicine, currently named the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), was established as the Office of Alternative Medicine (OAM) and was renamed the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) before obtaining its current name. Therapies are often framed as "natural" or "holistic", in apparent opposition to conventional medicine which is "artificial" and "narrow in scope", statements which are intentionally misleading. Prominent members of the science and biomedical science community say that it is not meaningful to define an alternative medicine that is separate from a conventional medicine, because the expressions "conventional medicine", "alternative medicine", "complementary medicine", "integrative medicine", and "holistic medicine" do not refer to any medicine at all. Others say that alternative medicine cannot be precisely defined because of the diversity of theories and practices it includes, and because the boundaries between alternative and conventional medicine overlap, are porous, and change. The systems and practices it refers to are diffuse, and its boundaries poorly defined. Healthcare practices categorized as alternative may differ in their historical


id: terminology-of-alternative-medicine-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminology_of_alternative_medicine-2.md
category: reference
title: Terminology of alternative medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminology_of_alternative_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:47.617551+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: terminology-of-alternative-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
=== Different types of definitions === Some definitions seek to specify alternative medicine in terms of its social and political marginality to mainstream healthcare. This can refer to the lack of support that alternative therapies receive from medical scientists regarding access to research funding, sympathetic coverage in the medical press, or inclusion in the standard medical curriculum. In 1993, the British Medical Association (BMA) stated that it referred to "...those forms of treatment which are not widely used by the conventional healthcare professions, and the skills of which are not taught as part of the undergraduate curriculum of conventional medical and paramedical healthcare courses". In a US context, a definition coined in 1993 by the Harvard-based physician David M. Eisenberg described alternative medicine as "interventions neither taught widely in medical schools nor generally available in US hospitals". In a definition published in 2000 by the World Health Organization (WHO), CAM was defined as a broad set of health care practices that are not part of that country's own tradition and are not integrated into the dominant health care system. A widely used descriptive definition devised by the US NCCIH calls it "a group of diverse medical and health care systems,


id: terminology-of-alternative-medicine-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminology_of_alternative_medicine-3.md
category: reference
title: Terminology of alternative medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminology_of_alternative_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:47.617551+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: terminology-of-alternative-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
==== Australia ==== The public information website maintained by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of the Commonwealth of Australia uses the acronym "CAM" for a wide range of health care practices, therapies, procedures and devices not within the domain of conventional medicine. In the Australian context this is stated to include acupuncture; aromatherapy; chiropractic; homeopathy; massage; meditation and relaxation therapies; naturopathy; osteopathy; reflexology, traditional Chinese medicine; and the use of vitamin supplements. ==== Denmark ==== The Danish National Board of Health's Council for Alternative Medicine (Sundhedsstyrelsens Råd for Alternativ Behandling (SRAB)), an independent institution under the National Board of Health (Danish: Sundhedsstyrelsen), uses the term "alternative medicine" for: Treatments performed by therapists that are not authorized healthcare professionals. Treatments performed by authorized healthcare professionals, but those based on methods otherwise used mainly outside the healthcare system. People without a healthcare authorisation are [also] allowed to perform the treatments. == Other terms == === Allopathic medicine === Allopathic medicine or allopathy is a pejorative term used by proponents of alternative medicine to refer to modern scientific systems of medicine, such as the use of pharmacologically active agents or physical interventions to treat or suppress symptoms or pathophysiologic processes


id: amen-clinics-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amen_Clinics-0.md
category: reference
title: Amen Clinics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amen_Clinics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:48.760251+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: amen-clinics-20260505-0
summary:
Amen Clinics is a chain of brain health clinics focused on the treatment of brain activity functions and psychiatric disorders. It was founded in 1989 by Daniel Amen an American medical doctor and psychiatrist. They use brain SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography) imaging to diagnose brain activity patterns in their patients. Amen's marketing of SPECT scans has been condemned by scientists and doctors as lacking scientific validity and as being unethical, especially since the way SPECT is used in his clinics exposes people to harmful radiation with no clear benefit. == Operations == Amen Clinics were founded in 1989. Since 1991, the clinics have performed brain SPECT scans, purportedly to diagnose brain conditions that manifest as psychiatric health issues by evaluating the brain activity amount and location in the brain. The effectiveness of SPECT scans in treating psychiatric conditions has been the subject of scientific debate. John Seibyl of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging has stated that it is settled that SPECT is of no value for diagnosing psychological disorders. In 2008, Tufts professor and writer Daniel Carlat published an article on Amen's use of SPECT imaging. After visiting Amen's clinics, Carlat called Amen's interpretations 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: 2026-05-05T09:16:49.995978+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: 2026-05-05T09:16:49.995978+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: 2026-05-05T09:16:49.995978+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: 2026-05-05T09:16:49.995978+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: 2026-05-05T09:16:49.995978+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: ancient-astronauts-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_astronauts-0.md
category: reference
title: Ancient astronauts
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_astronauts
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:51.153763+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ancient-astronauts-20260505-0
summary:
Ancient astronauts (or ancient aliens) refers to a pseudoscientific set of beliefs, also called paleocontact, that hold that intelligent extraterrestrial beings (alien astronauts) visited Earth and made contact with humans in antiquity and prehistoric times. Proponents of the theory suggest that this contact influenced the development of modern cultures, technologies, religions, and human biology. A common position is that deities from most (if not all) religions are extraterrestrial in origin, and that advanced technologies brought to Earth by ancient astronauts were interpreted as evidence of divine status by early humans. The idea that ancient astronauts existed and visited Earth is not taken seriously by academics and archaeologists, who identify such claims as pseudoarchaeological or unscientific. It has received no credible attention in peer-reviewed studies. When proponents of the idea present evidence in favor of their beliefs, it is often distorted or fabricated. Some authors and scholars also argue that ancient astronaut theories have racist undertones or implications, diminishing the accomplishments and capabilities of indigenous cultures. Well-known proponents of these beliefs in the latter half of the 20th century who have written numerous books or appear regularly in mass media include Robert Charroux, Jacques Bergier, Jean Sendy, Erich von Däniken, Alexander


id: ancient-astronauts-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_astronauts-1.md
category: reference
title: Ancient astronauts
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_astronauts
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:51.153763+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ancient-astronauts-20260505-0
summary:
Carl Sagan co-authored a widely popular book Intelligent Life in the Universe, with Soviet astrophysicist Iosif Shklovsky and published in 1966. In his 1979 book Broca's Brain, Sagan suggested that he and Shklovsky might have inspired the wave of 1970s ancient astronaut books, expressing disapproval of "von Däniken and other uncritical writers" who seemingly built on these ideas not as guarded speculations but as "valid evidence of extraterrestrial contact." Sagan pointed out that while many legends, artifacts, and purported out-of-place artifacts were cited in support of ancient astronaut hypotheses, "very few require more than passing mention" and could be easily explained with more conventional hypotheses. Sagan also reiterated his earlier conclusion that extraterrestrial visits to Earth were possible but unproven and improbable. === Erich von Däniken === Erich von Däniken was a leading proponent of this hypothesis in the late 1960s and early 1970s, gaining a large audience through the 1968 publication of his best-selling book Chariots of the Gods? and its sequels. According to von Däniken, certain artifacts require a more sophisticated technological ability in their construction than that which was available to the ancient cultures who constructed them. Von Däniken maintains that these artifacts were constructed either directly


id: ancient-astronauts-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_astronauts-2.md
category: reference
title: Ancient astronauts
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_astronauts
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:51.153763+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ancient-astronauts-20260505-0
summary:
Zecharia Sitchin's series The Earth Chronicles, beginning with The 12th Planet, revolves around Sitchin's unique interpretation of ancient Sumerian and Middle Eastern texts, megalithic sites, and artifacts from around the world. He hypothesizes that the gods of old Mesopotamia were astronauts from the planet "Nibiru", which Sitchin states the Sumerians believed to be a remote "12th planet" (counting the Sun, Moon, and Pluto as planets) associated with the god Marduk. According to Sitchin, Nibiru continues to orbit the Sun on a 3,600-year elongated orbit. Modern astronomy has found no evidence to support Sitchin's ideas. Sitchin argues that there are Sumerian texts that tell the story that 50 Anunnaki, inhabitants of a planet named Nibiru, came to Earth approximately 400,000 years ago with the intent of mining raw materials, especially gold, for transport back to Nibiru. With their small numbers they soon grew tired of the task and set out to genetically engineer laborers to work the mines. After much trial and error they eventually created Homo sapiens sapiens: the "Adapa" (model man) or Adam of later mythology. Sitchin contended the Anunnaki were active in human affairs until their culture was destroyed by global catastrophes caused by the abrupt end of


id: ancient-astronauts-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_astronauts-3.md
category: reference
title: Ancient astronauts
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_astronauts
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:51.153763+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ancient-astronauts-20260505-0
summary:
When human beings began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humans were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose... The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. Many Christians consider these groups to be the different families of Adam and Eve's children. Another interpretation is that the Nephilim are the children of the "sons of God" and "daughters of humans", although scholars are uncertain. The King James Version translates "Nephilim" as "giants" (or Gibborim). Ancient Astronaut proponents argue that Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit in order "to be godlike", and this was the first step in human evolution. The first part of the apocryphal Book of Enoch expands and interprets Genesis 6:1: that the "sons of God" were a group of 200 "angels" called "Watchers", who descended to Earth to breed with humans. Their offspring are the Nephilim, "giants" who "consumed all the acquisitions of men". When humans could no longer sustain the Nephilim, they turned against humanity. The Watchers also


id: ancient-astronauts-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_astronauts-4.md
category: reference
title: Ancient astronauts
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_astronauts
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:51.153763+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ancient-astronauts-20260505-0
summary:
==== The Book of Invasions ==== Childress and others have written that the passage in the Book of Invasions describing the arrival of the Tuatha Dé Danann in Ireland, records "the arrival of aliens in spacecraft with cloaking devices" at Slieve Anierin. The text states "so that they were the Tuatha De Danand who came to Ireland. In this wise they came, in dark clouds. They landed on the mountains of Conmaicne Rein in Connacht and they brought a darkness over the sun for three days and three nights". === Ancient artwork === ==== Worldwide petroglyphic evidence ==== Ancient astronaut proponents believe Hopi cave drawings of Kachinas (spirit beings) found in the desert link the origins of the Hopi and Zuni tribes with "star people". They point to similar etchings elsewhere as evidence that extraterrestrials visited many different ancient civilizations. Other artistic support for the ancient astronaut hypothesis has been sought in Palaeolithic cave paintings. Wondjina in Australia and in the Rock Drawings in Valcamonica, in Italy (seen above) are said to bear a resemblance to present day astronauts. Supporters of the ancient astronaut hypothesis sometimes argue that similarities such as dome shaped heads, interpreted as beings wearing space helmets,


id: ancient-astronauts-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_astronauts-5.md
category: reference
title: Ancient astronauts
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_astronauts
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:51.153763+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ancient-astronauts-20260505-0
summary:
==== Moai ==== The Moai statues of Easter Island were moved miles from the Rano Raraku quarry to their current locations, and archaeologists have wondered how massive statues such as these could have been transported. The folklore of the native Rapa Nui people says that chiefs and priests used mana to make the statues of the island walk. In 1982, Czech engineer Pavel Pavel and a group of sixteen people used a replica concrete moai to test a method that could have transported the statues. They tied ropes to it and in two groups pulled and twisted it back and forth, making it move forward in a walking motion. They called it the "refrigerator method" and demonstrated that the massive statues could be easily moved by a small group of people. === Religious and cultural practices === A number of ancient cultures, such as the ancient Egyptians and some Native Americans, artificially lengthened the skulls of their children. Some ancient astronaut proponents propose that this was done to emulate extraterrestrial visitors, whom they saw as gods. ==== Akhenaten ==== Among the ancient rulers depicted with elongated skulls are pharaoh Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti. The depiction of Akhenaten and his


id: anthroposophic-medicine-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthroposophic_medicine-0.md
category: reference
title: Anthroposophic medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthroposophic_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:53.536351+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: anthroposophic-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
Anthroposophic medicine (or anthroposophical medicine) is a form of alternative medicine based on pseudoscientific and occult notions. Devised in the 1920s by Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925) in conjunction with Ita Wegman (1876–1943), anthroposophical medicine draws on Steiner's spiritual philosophy, which he called anthroposophy. Practitioners employ a variety of treatment techniques based upon anthroposophic precepts, including massage, exercise, counselling, and administration of substances. Many drug preparations used in anthroposophic medicine are ultra-diluted, similar to those used in homeopathy. Homeopathic remedies are not medically effective and are generally considered harmless, except when used as a substitute for a scientifically proven and effective prevention and cure. In certain European countries, people with cancer are sometimes prescribed remedies made from specially harvested mistletoe, although no evidence of clinical benefit exists. Some anthroposophic doctors oppose childhood vaccination, and this has led to preventable outbreaks of disease. Anthroposophic medicine departs from fundamental biological, physical, and chemical principles in several respects. For example, Steiner said that the heart is not a pump, but that the blood, in a sense, pumps itself. Anthroposophic medicine also proposes that patients' past lives may influence their illness and that the course of an illness is subject to karmic destiny. Professor of complementary


id: anthroposophic-medicine-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthroposophic_medicine-1.md
category: reference
title: Anthroposophic medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthroposophic_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:53.536351+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: anthroposophic-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
Anthroposophic nursing Counselling Eurythmy – claimed to affect "inner life functions" leading to a "re-integration of body, soul, and spirit". External applications Rhythmic massages === Plant-derived treatments === To select an anthroposophic substance for a particular illness, practitioners consider the source of the substances used. The character of a mineral, plant, or animal is hypothesised to have been formed by the substances most active within it, in the belief that this character may also influence what those substances accomplish when given to treat another organism. This is related to the doctrine of signatures. Willow, for example, is considered to have an unusual character: ... plants that grow near water are usually heavy, with big, dark green leaves that wilt and break easily. An exception is ... the white willow, a tree that always grows near water and loves light. However, unlike other "watery" plants, the willow has fine, almost dry leaves and looks very light ... Its branches are unbelievably tough. They are elastic and cannot be broken. They bend easily and form "joints" rather than break. These few signatures can give us the clue to what salix can be used for therapeutically: arthritis, deformation of joints, swollen joints ...


id: anthroposophic-medicine-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthroposophic_medicine-2.md
category: reference
title: Anthroposophic medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthroposophic_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:53.536351+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: anthroposophic-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
The risks arising from using anthroposophical medicine as a substitute for evidence-based medicine are exemplified by several cases of low vaccination levels in Waldorf schools, since some anthroposophical doctors oppose immunization. A 1999 study of children in Sweden showed that in Waldorf schools, only 18% had received MMR vaccination, compared to a level of 93% in other schools nationally. A 2003 report of a widespread measles outbreak around Coburg, Germany, identified a Waldorf school as the origin. At the time, the town's mayor had condemned homeopathic doctors who had discouraged vaccination, saying, "Their stronghold is the Waldorf School, which actively encourages people not to have their children vaccinated. Now we have an epidemic." Paul Offit wrote that Steiner believed vaccination "interferes with karmic development and the cycles of reincarnation", and that adherence to this belief led to a 2008 pertussis outbreak in a Californian Waldorf school, causing its temporary closure. == See also == Alternative cancer treatments Herbalism Holistic health == References == == Further reading == === Books and journal articles === Ernst, Edzard (2004). "Anthroposophical medicine: A systematic review of randomised clinical trials". Wiener klinische Wochenschrift. 116 (4): 128–30. doi:10.1007/bf03040749. PMID 15038403. S2CID 7435250. Kienle, GS; Kiene, H


id: anti-gravity-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-gravity-0.md
category: reference
title: Anti-gravity
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-gravity
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:54.702608+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: anti-gravity-20260505-0
summary:
Anti-gravity is the concept of a force that would exactly oppose the force of gravity. Under the known laws of physics, anti-gravity is not possible. Experimental measurements rule out repulsion between antihydrogen and the mass of the Earth. Anti-gravity does not refer to either the lack of weight under gravity experienced in free fall or orbit, or to balancing the force of gravity with some other force, such as electromagnetism, aerodynamic lift, or ion-propelled "lifters", which fly in the air by moving air with electromagnetic fields. Historically, anti-gravity was considered a possibilty after the discovery of antimatter. Once the nature of antimatter was more clearly established, it was clear that gravity works the same for both matter and antimatter. Anti-gravity is a recurring concept in science fiction. == Theoretical probability == Under the laws of general relativity, anti-gravity is impossible except under contrived circumstances. Under that theory, and particle physics, gravity is mass-energy, a quantity believed to always be positive. It is always attractive and never repulsive. During the close of the twentieth century NASA provided funding for the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Program (BPP) from 1996 through 2002. This program studied a number of "far out" designs for space propulsion


id: anti-gravity-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-gravity-1.md
category: reference
title: Anti-gravity
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-gravity
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:54.702608+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: anti-gravity-20260505-0
summary:
In 1921, while still in high school, Thomas Townsend Brown found that a high-voltage Coolidge tube seemed to change mass depending on its orientation on a balance scale. Through the 1920s Brown developed this into devices that combined high voltages with materials with high dielectric constants (essentially large capacitors); he called such a device a "gravitator". Brown made the claim to observers and in the media that his experiments were showing anti-gravity effects. Brown would continue his work and produced a series of high-voltage devices in the following years in attempts to sell his ideas to aircraft companies and the military. He coined the names Biefeld–Brown effect and electrogravitics in conjunction with his devices. Brown tested his asymmetrical capacitor devices in a vacuum, supposedly showing it was not a more down-to-earth electrohydrodynamic effect generated by high voltage ion flow in air. Electrogravitics is a popular topic in ufology, anti-gravity, free energy, with government conspiracy theorists and related websites, in books and publications with claims that the technology became highly classified in the early 1960s and that it is used to power UFOs and the B-2 bomber. There is also research and videos on the internet purported to show lifter-style capacitor


id: anti-gravity-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-gravity-2.md
category: reference
title: Anti-gravity
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-gravity
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:54.702608+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: anti-gravity-20260505-0
summary:
== In fiction == The existence of anti-gravity is a common theme in science fiction. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction lists Francis Godwin's posthumously published 1638 novel The Man in the Moone, where a "semi-magical" stone has the power to make gravity stronger or weaker, as the earliest variation of the theme. The first story to use anti-gravity for the purpose of space travel, as well as the first to treat the subject from a scientific rather than supernatural angle, was George Tucker's 1827 novel A Voyage to the Moon. === Apergy === Apergy is a term invented by Percy Greg for a imaginary anti-gravitational force used in his 1880 sword and planet novel Across the Zodiac. The term was later adopted by other fiction authors such as John Jacob Astor IV in his 1894 science fiction novel A Journey in Other Worlds. == See also == == References == == Further reading == Bly, Robert W. (2005). "Antigravity". The Science in Science Fiction: 83 SF Predictions That Became Scientific Reality. Consulting Editor: James Gunn. BenBella Books. pp. 21–26. ISBN 978-1-932100-48-8. Cady, W. M. (15 September 1952). "Thomas Townsend Brown: Electro-Gravity Device" (File 24–185). Pasadena, CA: Office of Naval Research.


id: anti-sunscreen-movement-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Sunscreen_Movement-0.md
category: reference
title: Anti-Sunscreen Movement
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Sunscreen_Movement
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:55.931142+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: anti-sunscreen-movement-20260505-0
summary:
The anti-sunscreen movement is a loosely organized online trend that promotes skepticism about the safety and effectiveness of sunscreen. Adherents commonly claim that commercial sunscreens are toxic, that avoiding sunscreen is healthier for vitamin D status, that dietary changes (such as avoiding so-called "seed oils") can prevent sunburn, or that homemade products offer adequate protection. These claims have been amplified on TikTok, Instagram and other platforms, and have been criticized by dermatologists and public-health organizations as misinforming the public about the prevention of skin cancer. == Background == Sunscreens are over-the-counter drugs in the United States that reduce exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, a known human carcinogen. Dermatology organizations recommend daily use of a broad-spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher, applied in sufficient quantity and reapplied regularly when outdoors. Concerns about ingredient absorption were heightened by U.S. FDA–sponsored randomized trials in 2019 and 2020 showing that several organic (chemical) UV filters can be detected in blood after maximal-use application. Regulators and investigators emphasized that absorption does not imply harm and that further toxicology data are needed, while continuing to recommend sun protection. In 2021, several aerosol sunscreens were voluntarily recalled in the U.S. after testing found


id: applied-kinesiology-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applied_kinesiology-0.md
category: reference
title: Applied kinesiology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applied_kinesiology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:57.083838+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: applied-kinesiology-20260505-0
summary:
Applied kinesiology (AK), also known as muscle testing, is a pseudoscience-based technique in alternative medicine claimed to be able to diagnose illness or choose treatment by testing muscles for strength and weakness. According to their guidelines on allergy diagnostic testing, the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology stated there is "no evidence of diagnostic validity" of applied kinesiology. Another study indicated that the use of applied kinesiology to evaluate nutrient status is "no more useful than random guessing." The American Cancer Society has said that "scientific evidence does not support the claim that applied kinesiology can diagnose or treat cancer or other illness". == History and current use == George J. Goodheart, a chiropractor, originated applied kinesiology in 1964 and began teaching it to other chiropractors. An organization of Goodheart Study Group Leaders began meeting in 1973, selected the name "The International College of Applied Kinesiology" (ICAK) in 1974, adopted bylaws in 1975, elected officers in 1975, and "certified" its charter members (called "diplomates") in 1976. ICAK now considers 1976 to be the date it was founded and 1973 to be the date that its first chairman took office. AK grew in popularity among Mormon alternative medicine culture. In


id: applied-kinesiology-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applied_kinesiology-1.md
category: reference
title: Applied kinesiology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applied_kinesiology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:57.083838+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: applied-kinesiology-20260505-0
summary:
== Scientific research == In 2015 the Australian Government's Department of Health published the results of a review of alternative therapies that sought to determine if any were suitable for being covered by health insurance; applied kinesiology was one of 17 therapies evaluated for which no clear evidence of effectiveness was found. According to the American Cancer Society, "available scientific evidence does not support the claim that applied kinesiology can diagnose or treat cancer or other illness". A review of several scientific studies of AK-specific procedures and diagnostic tests concluded: "When AK is disentangled from standard orthopedic muscle testing, the few studies evaluating unique AK procedures either refute or cannot support the validity of AK procedures as diagnostic tests. The evidence to date does not support the use of manual muscle testing for the diagnosis of organic disease or pre/subclinical conditions." Another concluded that "There is little or no scientific rationale for these methods. Results are not reproducible when subject to rigorous testing and do not correlate with clinical evidence of allergy." A double-blind study was conducted by the ALTA Foundation for Sports Medicine Research in Santa Monica, California, and published in the June 1988 Journal of the American Dietetic


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: 2026-05-05T09:16:58.343233+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: 2026-05-05T09:16:58.343233+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: 2026-05-05T09:16:58.343233+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: 2026-05-05T09:16:58.343233+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: artificial-intelligence-in-spirituality-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence_in_spirituality-0.md
category: reference
title: Artificial intelligence in spirituality
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_intelligence_in_spirituality
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:16:59.492126+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: artificial-intelligence-in-spirituality-20260505-0
summary:
Some users of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, especially chatbots, may develop beliefs that AI has or can attain supernatural or spiritual powers. AI models such as ChatGPT are turned to for fortune telling, mysticism and remote viewing. Recent and sudden advances in large language models have led to folk myths about their origin or capabilities, as well as their deification or worship by some users. Tucker Carlson has made similar claims, including directly to Sam Altman. Pope Leo XIV advised priests against using LLM models when it came to the creation of sermons. == See also == AI slop Cargo cult Chatbot psychosis Quantum mysticism Artificial intimacy Roko's basilisk Superintelligence TempleOS Theta Noir Way of the Future == References ==


id: aryan-race-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_race-0.md
category: reference
title: Aryan race
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_race
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:00.861442+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: aryan-race-20260505-0
summary:
The Aryan race is a pseudoscientific historical race concept that emerged in the late-19th century to describe people who descend from the Proto-Indo-Europeans as a racial grouping. The terminology derives from the historical usage of Aryan, used by modern Indo-Iranians as an epithet of "noble". Anthropological, historical, and archaeological evidence does not support the validity of the racial concept. The concept derives from the notion that the original speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language were distinct progenitors of a superior specimen of humankind, and that their descendants up to the present day constitute either a distinctive race or a sub-race of the Caucasian race, alongside the Semitic race and the Hamitic race. This taxonomic approach to categorizing human population groups is now considered to be misguided and biologically meaningless due to the close genetic similarity and complex interrelationships between these groups. The term was adopted by various racist and antisemitic writers during the 19th century, including Arthur de Gobineau, Richard Wagner, and Houston Stewart Chamberlain, whose scientific racism influenced later Nazi racial ideology. By the 1930s, the concept had been associated with both Nazism and Nordicism, and used to support the white supremacist ideology of Aryanism that portrayed the Aryan race


id: aryan-race-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_race-1.md
category: reference
title: Aryan race
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_race
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:00.861442+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: aryan-race-20260505-0
summary:
The term "Aryan" was originally used as an ethnocultural self-designative identity and epithet of "noble" by Indo-Iranians and the authors of the oldest known religious texts of Rig Veda and Avesta within the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European language family—Sanskrit and Iranian, who lived in ancient India and Iran. Although the Sanskrit ā́rya- and Iranian *arya- descended from a form *ā̆rya-, it was only attested to the Indo-Iranian tribes. Benjamin W. Fortson states that there may have been no term for self-designation of Proto-Indo-Europeans, and no such morphemes has survived. J. P. Mallory et al. states although the term "Aryan" takes on an ethnic meaning attesting to Indo-Iranians, there is no grounds for ascribing this semantic use to the Proto-Indo-European reconstruction of lexicon *h₂eryós i.e. there is no evidence that the speakers of proto-language referred to themselves as "Aryans". However, in the 19th century, it was proposed that ā́rya- was not only the tribal self-designation of Indo-Iranians, but self-designation of Proto-Indo-Europeans themselves, a theory rejected by modern scholarships. "Aryan" then came to be used by scholars of the 19th century to refer to Indo-Europeans. The now-discredited and chronologically reconstructed North European hypothesis was endorsed by such scholars who situated the PIE


id: aryan-race-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_race-2.md
category: reference
title: Aryan race
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_race
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:00.861442+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: aryan-race-20260505-0
summary:
Max Müller popularized the term Aryan in his writings on comparative linguistics, and is often identified as the first writer to mention an Aryan race in English. He began the racial interpretation of the Vedic passages based upon his editing of the Rigveda from 1849 to 1874. He postulated a small Aryan clan living on a high elevation in central Asia, speaking a proto-language ancestral to later Indo-European languages, which later branched off in two directions: one moved towards Europe and the other migrated to Iran, eventually splitting again with one group invading north-western India and conquering the dark-skinned dasas of Scythian origin who lived there. The northern Aryans of Europe became energetic and combative, and they invented the idea of a nation, while the southern Aryans of Iran and India were passive and meditative and focussed on religion and philosophy. Though he occasionally used the term "Aryan race" afterward, Müller later objected to the mixing of the linguistic and racial categories, and was "deeply saddened by the fact that these classifications later came to be expressed in racist terms". In his 1888 lecture at Oxford, he stated, "[the] science of Language and the science of Man cannot be kept


id: aryan-race-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_race-3.md
category: reference
title: Aryan race
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_race
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:00.861442+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: aryan-race-20260505-0
summary:
A definition of Aryan that included all non-Jewish Europeans was deemed unacceptable, and the Expert Committee on Questions of Population and Racial Policy of 1933 brought together important Nazi intellectuals Alfred Ploetz, Fritz Thyssen, and Ernst Rüdin to plan the course of Nazi racial policy, defining an Aryan as one who was "tribally related to the German blood and descendant of a Volk". The term "Volksdeutsche" was used by Nazis to indicate "ethnic Germans" who did not hold German Reich citizenship; Volksdeutsche further consist of "racial groups"—minorities within a state—who are descendants of a Volk domiciled in Europe in a closed tribal settlement and are closely related to German racial community. The Nazi concept of "Volksgemeinschaft" racially unified ethnic Germans, including those living outside the German Reich, propounding only the members of the racial community be considered Aryan. Members of the SS deemed Aryans not to be of a single ethnic group, and did not have to be exclusively German, but could be selected from populations across Europe to create "master race". Nazi Party established the organization NSDAP/AO to disseminate Nazi propaganda among the ethnic German minorities considered Volksdeutsche in central and eastern Europe. Nazi racial theories considered the "purest


id: aryan-race-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_race-4.md
category: reference
title: Aryan race
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryan_race
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:00.861442+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: aryan-race-20260505-0
summary:
Indo-European history, real and feigned, plays a significant role in various neo-pagan movements. === Russian neo-paganism === The Russian Slavophile movements borrowed various discrete ideas of a presumed "prestigious Aryan origin" of Europeans from Nazi Germany. Although Russian Orthodoxy was the primary religious influence on Russian nationalists, the primacy of Christianity was treated skeptically by these groups, who later began searching for an ancient text to rationalize a "return to the origins". Various writers in the newspaper Zhar-Ptitsa showed interest in a purported manuscript—the Book of Veles—which supposedly dated to the first century BCE. F. A. Izenbek, a White Army officer, alleged the discovery of this manuscript during the Russian Civil War. However one of Izenbek's friends, Iurii Miroliubov, had forged the manuscript, and used the term "Vedism" to describe Russian neo-paganism; he later appropriated the Indian religious scripture, the Vedas, to aggrandize the manuscript. Nationalistic white Russian émigrés and neo-Pagans consider the manuscript to be an authentic historical source of Slavic antiquity, who claim a direct link between "ancient Aryans" and themselves as Slavs. However, the manuscript is declared literary forgery by scholars. Alexey Dobrovolsky, a Russian neo-Nazi, is considered the founding Nazi ideologue of Slavic Neopaganism. === Goddess


id: astral-projection-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astral_projection-0.md
category: reference
title: Astral projection
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astral_projection
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:02.127693+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: astral-projection-20260505-0
summary:
In esotericism, astral projection (also known as astral travel, soul journey, soul wandering, spiritual journey, spiritual travel) is an intentional out-of-body experience (OBE) in which a subtle body, known as the astral body or body of light which consciousness functions separately through from the physical body, travels throughout the astral plane. The idea of astral travel is ancient and occurs in multiple cultures. The term "astral projection" was coined and promoted by 19th-century Theosophists. It is sometimes associated with dreams and forms of meditation. Some individuals have reported perceptions similar to descriptions of astral projection that were induced through various hallucinogenic and hypnotic means (including self-hypnosis). There is no scientific evidence that there is a consciousness whose embodied functions are separate from normal neural activity, or that one can consciously leave the body and make observations of the physical universe. As a result, astral projection has been characterized as pseudoscience. == Accounts == === Ancient Egyptian === Similar concepts of soul travel appear in various other religious traditions. For example, ancient Egyptian teachings present the soul (ba) as having the ability to hover outside the physical body via the ka, or subtle body. === Amazon === The yaskomo of the


id: astral-projection-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astral_projection-1.md
category: reference
title: Astral projection
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astral_projection
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:02.127693+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: astral-projection-20260505-0
summary:
=== Judaic and Christian === Carrington, Muldoon, Peterson, and Williams say that the subtle body is attached to the physical body by means of a psychic silver cord. Ecclesiastes 12:6 is often cited in this respect: "Remember him—before the silver cord is severed, and the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, and the wheel broken at the well". Rabbi Nosson Scherman, however, contends that the context points to this being merely a metaphor, comparing the body to a machine, with the silver cord referring to the spine. James Hankins argues that 2 Corinthians 12:2, "I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows", refers to the astral planes. === Western esotericism === According to the classical, medieval, renaissance Hermeticism, Neoplatonism, and later Theosophist and Rosicrucian thought, the 'astral body' is an intermediate body of light linking the rational soul to the physical body while the astral plane is an intermediate world of light between Heaven and Earth, composed of the spheres of the planets and stars. These astral spheres were


id: astral-projection-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astral_projection-2.md
category: reference
title: Astral projection
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astral_projection
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:02.127693+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: astral-projection-20260505-0
summary:
== Notable practitioners == Emanuel Swedenborg was one of the first practitioners to write extensively about the out-of-body experience, in his Spiritual Diary (1747–1765). In her book, My Religion, Helen Keller tells of her beliefs in Swedenborgianism and how she once traveled astrally to Athens: I have been far away all this time, and I haven't left the room...It was clear to me that it was because I was a spirit that I had so vividly 'seen' and felt a place a thousand miles away. Space was nothing to spirit! In occult traditions, practices range from inducing trance states to the mental construction of a second body, called the "body of light" by Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), through visualization and controlled breathing, followed by the transfer of consciousness to the secondary body by a mental act of will. There are many 20th-century publications on astral projection, although only a few writers continue to be cited. These include Edgar Cayce (1877–1945), Hereward Carrington (1880–1958), Oliver Fox (1885–1949), Sylvan Muldoon (1903–1969), and Robert Monroe (1915–1995). Robert Monroe's accounts of journeys to other realms (1971–1994) popularized the term "OBE" and were translated into a large number of languages. Though his books themselves only placed


id: astrological-sign-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrological_sign-0.md
category: reference
title: Astrological sign
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrological_sign
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:03.283862+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: astrological-sign-20260505-0
summary:
In Western astrology, astrological signs are the zodiac, twelve 30-degree sectors that are crossed by the Sun's 360-degree orbital path as viewed from Earth in its sky. The signs enumerate from the first day of spring, known as the First Point of Aries, which is the vernal equinox. The astrological signs are Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces. The Western zodiac originated in Babylonian astrology, and was later influenced by the Hellenistic culture. Each sign was named after a constellation the sun annually moved through while crossing the sky. This observation is emphasized in the simplified and popular sun sign astrology. Over the centuries, Western astrology's zodiacal divisions have shifted out of alignment with the constellations they were named after by axial precession of the Earth while Hindu astrology measurements correct for this shifting. Astrology (i.e. a system of omina based on celestial appearances) was developed in Chinese and Tibetan cultures as well but these astrologies are not based upon the zodiac but deal with the whole sky. Astrology is a pseudoscience. Scientific investigations of the theoretical basis and experimental verification of claims have shown it to have no scientific validity or explanatory


id: astrological-sign-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrological_sign-1.md
category: reference
title: Astrological sign
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrological_sign
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:03.283862+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: astrological-sign-20260505-0
summary:
===== Planets ===== Polarity can also be extended to planets, referring to the orientation of their symbolic energy as either masculine (active, expressive, outward-directed) or feminine (receptive, inward-directed, containing). This classification complements the traditional division of the zodiac signs and provides an additional interpretative layer in astrological analysis. Masculine polarity planets are generally associated with projection, initiative, and outward activity. These include the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Mercury, and Eris. Although Mercury is traditionally considered neutral, most modern approaches emphasize its masculine quality due to its volatility, speed, adaptability, and primarily centrifugal communicative function. Feminine polarity planets are associated with receptivity, consolidation, containment, and inner processes. These include the Moon, Venus, Ceres, Saturn, Neptune, and Pluto. In this framework, all main-belt asteroids are generally considered to have feminine polarity, reflecting their symbolic association with internal processes, cycles, and forms of containment or gestation. It is also noteworthy that planetary polarity does not necessarily correspond to mythological gender. Some planets with masculine names, such as Saturn, Neptune, and Pluto, are classified as feminine in polarity, whereas Eris, despite having a feminine name, is considered masculine in polarity due to its outward-activating, and catalytic nature. ==== The three modalities ==== The modality


id: astrological-sign-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrological_sign-2.md
category: reference
title: Astrological sign
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrological_sign
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:03.283862+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: astrological-sign-20260505-0
summary:
In addition to essential dignity, the traditional astrologer considers Accidental dignity of planets. This is placement by house in the chart under examination. Accidental dignity is the planet's "ability to act". So we might have, for example, Moon in Cancer, dignified by rulership, is placed in the 12th house it would have little scope to express its good nature. The twelfth is a cadent house as are the third, sixth and ninth and planets in these houses are considered weak or afflicted. On the other hand, Moon in the first, fourth, seventh, or 10th would be more able to act as these are Angular houses. Planets in Succedent houses of the chart (second, fifth, eighth, eleventh) are generally considered to be of medium ability to act. Besides Accidental Dignity, there are a range of Accidental Debilities, such as retrogradation, Under the Sun's Beams, Combust, and so forth. ==== Additional classifications ==== Each sign can be divided into three 10° sectors known as decans or decanates, though these have fallen into disuse. The first decanate is said to be most emphatically of its own nature and is ruled by the sign ruler. The next decanate is sub-ruled by the planet ruling


id: astrological-sign-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrological_sign-3.md
category: reference
title: Astrological sign
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrological_sign
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:03.283862+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: astrological-sign-20260505-0
summary:
子 Rat (Yang, 1st Trine, Fixed Element Water): Rat years include 1900, 1912, 1924, 1936, 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020, 2032. The Rat also corresponds to a particular month in the year. The hours of the Rat are 11pm – 1am. 丑 Ox (Yin, 2nd Trine, Fixed Element Earth: Ox years include 1901, 1913, 1925, 1937, 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009, 2021, 2033. The Ox also corresponds to a particular month in the year. The hours of the Ox are 1am – 3am. 寅 Tiger (Yang, 3rd Trine, Fixed Element Wood): Tiger years include 1902, 1914, 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022, 2034. The Tiger also corresponds to a particular month in the year. The hours of the Tiger are 3am – 5am. 卯 Rabbit (Yin, 4th Trine, Fixed Element Wood): Rabbit Years include 1903, 1915, 1927, 1939, 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023, 2035. The Rabbit also corresponds to a particular month in the year. The hours of the Rabbit are 5am – 7am. 辰 Dragon (Yang, 1st Trine, Fixed Element Earth): Dragon years include 1904, 1916, 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, 2024, 2036. The Dragon also corresponds to


id: astrology-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrology-0.md
category: reference
title: Astrology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:04.565712+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: astrology-20260505-0
summary:
Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Different cultures have employed forms of astrology since at least the 2nd millennium BCE, these practices having originated in calendrical systems used to predict seasonal shifts and to interpret celestial cycles as signs of divine communications. Most, if not all, cultures have attached importance to what they observed in the sky, and some—such as the Hindus, Chinese, and the Maya—developed elaborate systems for predicting terrestrial events from celestial observations. Western astrology, one of the oldest astrological systems still in use, can trace its roots to 19th–17th century BCE Mesopotamia, from where it spread to Ancient Greece, Rome, the Islamic world, and eventually Central and Western Europe. Contemporary Western astrology is often associated with systems of horoscopes that purport to explain aspects of a person's personality and predict significant events in their lives based on the positions of celestial objects; the majority of professional astrologers rely on such systems. Throughout its history, astrology has had its detractors, competitors and skeptics who opposed it for moral, religious,


id: astrology-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrology-1.md
category: reference
title: Astrology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:04.565712+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: astrology-20260505-0
summary:
Astrology, in its broadest sense, is the search for meaning in the sky. Early evidence for humans making conscious attempts to measure, record, and predict seasonal changes by reference to astronomical cycles, appears as markings on bones and cave walls, which show that lunar cycles were being noted as early as 25,000 years ago. This was a first step towards recording the Moon's influence upon tides and rivers, and towards organising a communal calendar. Farmers addressed agricultural needs with increasing knowledge of the constellations that appear in the different seasons—and used the rising of particular star-groups to herald annual floods or seasonal activities. By the 3rd millennium BCE, civilisations had sophisticated awareness of celestial cycles, and may have oriented temples in alignment with heliacal risings of the stars. Scattered evidence suggests that the oldest known astrological references are copies of texts made in the ancient world. The Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa is thought to have been compiled in Babylon around 1700 BCE. A scroll documenting an early use of electional astrology is doubtfully ascribed to the reign of the Sumerian ruler Gudea of Lagash (c. 2144 – 2124 BCE). This describes how the gods revealed to him in a dream


id: astrology-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrology-2.md
category: reference
title: Astrology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:04.565712+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: astrology-20260505-0
summary:
In 525 BCE, Egypt was conquered by the Persians. The 1st century BCE Egyptian Dendera Zodiac shares two signs – the Balance and the Scorpion – with Mesopotamian astrology. With the occupation by Alexander the Great in 332 BCE, Egypt became Hellenistic. The city of Alexandria was founded by Alexander after the conquest, becoming the place where Babylonian astrology was mixed with Egyptian Decanic astrology to create Horoscopic astrology. This contained the Babylonian zodiac with its system of planetary exaltations, the triplicities of the signs and the importance of eclipses. It used the Egyptian concept of dividing the zodiac into thirty-six decans of ten degrees each, with an emphasis on the rising decan, and the Greek system of planetary Gods, sign rulership and four elements. 2nd century BCE texts predict positions of planets in zodiac signs at the time of the rising of certain decans, particularly Sothis. The astrologer and astronomer Ptolemy lived in Alexandria. Ptolemy's work the Tetrabiblos formed the basis of Western astrology, and, "...enjoyed almost the authority of a Bible among the astrological writers of a thousand years or more." === Greece and Rome === The conquest of Asia by Alexander the Great exposed the Greeks to


id: astrology-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrology-3.md
category: reference
title: Astrology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:04.565712+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: astrology-20260505-0
summary:
In the seventh century, Isidore of Seville argued in his Etymologiae that astronomy described the movements of the heavens, while astrology had two parts: one was scientific, describing the movements of the Sun, the Moon and the stars, while the other, making predictions, was theologically erroneous. The first astrological book published in Europe was the Liber Planetis et Mundi Climatibus ("Book of the Planets and Regions of the World"), which appeared between 1010 and 1027 AD, and may have been authored by Gerbert of Aurillac. Ptolemy's second century AD Tetrabiblos was translated into Latin by Plato of Tivoli in 1138. The Dominican theologian Thomas Aquinas followed Aristotle in proposing that the stars ruled the imperfect 'sublunary' body, while attempting to reconcile astrology with Christianity by stating that God ruled the soul. The thirteenth century mathematician Campanus of Novara is said to have devised a system of astrological houses that divides the prime vertical into 'houses' of equal 30° arcs, though the system was used earlier in the East. The thirteenth century astronomer Guido Bonatti wrote a textbook, the Liber Astronomicus, a copy of which King Henry VII of England owned at the end of the fifteenth century. In Paradiso, the


id: astrology-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrology-4.md
category: reference
title: Astrology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:04.565712+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: astrology-20260505-0
summary:
During the Enlightenment, intellectual sympathy for astrology fell away, leaving only a popular following supported by cheap almanacs. One English almanac compiler, Richard Saunders, followed the spirit of the age by printing a derisive Discourse on the Invalidity of Astrology, while in France Pierre Bayle's Dictionnaire of 1697 stated that the subject was puerile. The Anglo-Irish satirist Jonathan Swift ridiculed the Whig political astrologer John Partridge. In the second half of the 17th century, the Society of Astrologers (1647–1684), a trade, educational, and social organization, sought to unite London's often fractious astrologers in the task of revitalizing astrology. Following the template of the popular "Feasts of Mathematicians" they endeavored to defend their art in the face of growing religious criticism. The Society hosted banquets, exchanged "instruments and manuscripts", proposed research projects, and funded the publication of sermons that depicted astrology as a legitimate biblical pursuit for Christians. They commissioned sermons that argued Astrology was divine, Hebraic, and scripturally supported by Bible passages about the Magi and the sons of Seth. According to historian Michelle Pfeffer, "The society's public relations campaign ultimately failed." Modern historians have mostly neglected the Society of Astrologers in favor of the still extant Royal Society (1660),


id: astrology-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrology-5.md
category: reference
title: Astrology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:04.565712+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: astrology-20260505-0
summary:
Chinese astrology has a close relation with Chinese philosophy (theory of the three harmonies: heaven, earth and man) and uses concepts such as yin and yang, the Five phases, the 10 Celestial stems, the 12 Earthly Branches, and shichen (時辰 a form of timekeeping used for religious purposes). The early use of Chinese astrology was mainly confined to political astrology, the observation of unusual phenomena, identification of portents and the selection of auspicious days for events and decisions. The constellations of the Zodiac of western Asia and Europe were not used; instead the sky is divided into Three Enclosures (三垣 sān yuán), and Twenty-Eight Mansions (二十八宿 èrshíbā xiù) in twelve Ci (十二次). The Chinese zodiac of twelve animal signs is said to represent twelve different types of personality. It is based on cycles of years, lunar months, and two-hour periods of the day (the shichen). The zodiac traditionally begins with the sign of the Rat, and the cycle proceeds through 11 other animal signs: the Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. Complex systems of predicting fate and destiny based on one's birthday, birth season, and birth hours, such as ziping and Zi Wei Dou


id: astrology-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrology-6.md
category: reference
title: Astrology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:04.565712+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: astrology-20260505-0
summary:
The scientific community rejects astrology as having no explanatory power for describing the universe, and considers it a pseudoscience. Scientific testing of astrology has been conducted, and no evidence has been found to support any of the premises or purported effects outlined in astrological traditions. There is no proposed mechanism of action by which the positions and motions of stars and planets could affect people and events on Earth that does not contradict basic and well understood aspects of biology and physics. Those who have faith in astrology have been characterised by scientists including Bart J. Bok as doing so "...in spite of the fact that there is no verified scientific basis for their beliefs, and indeed that there is strong evidence to the contrary". Confirmation bias is a form of cognitive bias, a psychological factor that contributes to belief in astrology. Astrology believers tend to selectively remember predictions that turn out to be true, and do not remember those that turn out false. Another, separate, form of confirmation bias also plays a role, where believers often fail to distinguish between messages that demonstrate special ability and those that do not. Thus there are two distinct forms of confirmation bias


id: astrology-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrology-7.md
category: reference
title: Astrology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:04.565712+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: astrology-20260505-0
summary:
=== Effectiveness === Astrology has not demonstrated its effectiveness in controlled studies and has no scientific validity. Where it has made falsifiable predictions under controlled conditions, they have been falsified. One famous experiment included 28 astrologers who were asked to match over a hundred natal charts to psychological profiles generated by the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) questionnaire. The double-blind experimental protocol used in this study was agreed upon by a group of physicists and a group of astrologers nominated by the National Council for Geocosmic Research, who advised the experimenters, helped ensure that the test was fair and helped draw the central proposition of natal astrology to be tested. They also chose 26 out of the 28 astrologers for the tests (two more volunteered afterwards). The study, published in Nature in 1985, found that predictions based on natal astrology were no better than chance, and that the testing "...clearly refutes the astrological hypothesis." In 1955, the astrologer and psychologist Michel Gauquelin stated that though he had failed to find evidence that supported indicators like zodiacal signs and planetary aspects in astrology, he did find positive correlations between the diurnal positions of some planets and success in professions that astrology traditionally


id: astrology-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrology-8.md
category: reference
title: Astrology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:04.565712+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: astrology-20260505-0
summary:
=== Reception in the social sciences === The general consensus of astronomers and other natural scientists is that astrology is a pseudoscience which carries no predictive capability, with many philosophers of science considering it a "paradigm or prime example of pseudoscience." Some scholars in the social sciences have cautioned against categorizing astrology, especially ancient astrology, as "just" a pseudoscience or projecting the distinction backwards into the past. Thagard, while demarcating it as a pseudoscience, notes that astrology "should be judged as not pseudoscientific in classical or Renaissance times...Only when the historical and social aspects of science are neglected does it become plausible that pseudoscience is an unchanging category." Historians of science such as Tamsyn Barton, Roger Beck, Francesca Rochberg, and Wouter J. Hanegraaff argue that such a wholesale description is anachronistic when applied to historical contexts, stressing that astrology was not pseudoscience before the 18th century and the importance of the discipline to the development of medieval science. R. J. Hakinson writes in the context of Hellenistic astrology that "the belief in the possibility of [astrology] was, at least some of the time, the result of careful reflection on the nature and structure of the universe." Nicholas Campion, both an


id: astrology-20260505-9
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrology-9.md
category: reference
title: Astrology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:04.565712+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: astrology-20260505-0
summary:
In India, there is a long-established and widespread belief in astrology. It is commonly used for daily life, particularly in matters concerning marriage and career, and makes extensive use of electional, horary and karmic astrology, a vertent who believes in reincarnation and in the idea they can read a person's karma in a Natal chart by studying in particular Lunar nodes and retrograde planets. Indian politics have also been influenced by astrology. It is still considered a branch of the Vedanga. In 2001, Indian scientists and politicians debated and critiqued a proposal to use state money to fund research into astrology, resulting in permission for Indian universities to offer courses in Vedic astrology. In February 2011, the Bombay High Court reaffirmed astrology's standing in India when it dismissed a case that challenged its status as a science. In Japan, strong belief in astrology has led to dramatic changes in the fertility rate and the number of abortions in the years of Fire Horse. Adherents believe that women born in hinoeuma years are unmarriageable and bring bad luck to their father or husband. In 1966, the number of babies born in Japan dropped by over 25% as parents tried to avoid


id: the-atlantic-paranormal-society-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Atlantic_Paranormal_Society-0.md
category: reference
title: The Atlantic Paranormal Society
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Atlantic_Paranormal_Society
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:05.811936+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-atlantic-paranormal-society-20260505-0
summary:
The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS) is an organization that investigates reported paranormal activity. Based in Warwick, Rhode Island, TAPS was founded in 1990 by Jason Hawes as Rhode Island Paranormal Society (RIPS). In 1995, Grant Wilson joined, and the team was renamed The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS). In 2004, the organization itself became the subject of Ghost Hunters, a popular weekly American paranormal reality television series on the Syfy channel. The show ran for eleven seasons on Syfy in the US. The show aired in the UK nine months after the US premier on Living It. == History and objectives == In 1990, Hawes began the "Rhode Island Paranormal Society", after having a personal experience with spirits. After RIPS began investigating cases throughout the New England area, Jason met up with Grant Wilson in 1995 and they formed "The Atlantic Paranormal Society" together. Wilson had also had a personal experience. Neither man talks about it in public. The group was originally run out of Jason's basement, and at that time consisted only of Jason and Grant. They pioneered investigative techniques that many other paranormal investigators use. In 2003 they were approached by Pilgrim Films and taped ten episodes of "Ghost


id: the-atlantic-paranormal-society-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Atlantic_Paranormal_Society-1.md
category: reference
title: The Atlantic Paranormal Society
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Atlantic_Paranormal_Society
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:05.811936+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-atlantic-paranormal-society-20260505-0
summary:
== Non-profit status issues == In 2006, a website called "SAPS" ("Skeptical Analysis of the Paranormal Society") conducted an investigation into the status and legitimacy of the TAPS non-profit status. In several places on their website it stated that they were non-profit and did investigations free of charge, however did accept donations and held a raffle to win various branded merchandise. The site claimed that repeated attempts to clarify the subject was met with negative responses. It broadened its investigation by searching for its status both federally and at the state level and found no evidence that they were a registered non-profit organization. They also found that the raffle was in violation of the state's gambling laws as it allowed those that could be under the age of 18 to participate. In February 2007, TAPS issued a statement regarding the status. It stated that they, "...by no means meant to give the appearance that we had non-profit status. By this, we meant that we do not make any profit at all from investigating. We couldn't simply say 'TAPS makes no money whatsoever' because TAPS does gather meager funds from the occasional donation and membership dues. The money that comes in


id: attachment-therapy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_therapy-0.md
category: reference
title: Attachment therapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_therapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:08.228014+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: attachment-therapy-20260505-0
summary:
Attachment therapy (also called "the Evergreen model", "holding time", "rage-reduction", "compression therapy", "rebirthing", "corrective attachment therapy", "coercive restraint therapy", and "holding therapy") is a pseudoscientific mental health intervention intended to treat attachment disorders in children. During the height of its popularity, the practice was found primarily in the United States; much of it was centered in about a dozen locations in Evergreen, Colorado, where Foster Cline, one of its founders, established a clinic in the 1970s. The practice has resulted in adverse outcomes for children, including at least six documented child fatalities. Since the 1990s, there have been a number of prosecutions for deaths or serious maltreatment of children at the hands of "holding therapists" or parents following their instructions. Two of the most well-known cases are those of Candace Newmaker in 2000 and the Gravelles in 2003. Following the associated publicity, some advocates of attachment therapy began to alter views and practices to be less potentially dangerous to children. This change may have been hastened by the publication of a task force report on the subject in January 2006, commissioned by the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC), which was largely critical of attachment therapy. In


id: attachment-therapy-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_therapy-1.md
category: reference
title: Attachment therapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_therapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:08.228014+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: attachment-therapy-20260505-0
summary:
Like Welsh [sic] (1984, 1989), The Center induces rage by physically restraining the child and forcing eye contact with the therapist (the child must lie across the laps of two therapists, looking up at one of them). In a workshop handout prepared by two therapists at The Center, the following sequence of events is described: (1) therapist 'forces control' by holding (which produces child 'rage'); (2) rage leads to child 'capitulation' to the therapist, as indicated by the child breaking down emotionally ('sobbing'); (3) the therapist takes advantage of the child's capitulation by showing nurturance and warmth; (4) this new trust allows the child to accept 'control' by the therapist and eventually the parent. According to The Center's treatment protocol, if the child 'shuts down' (i.e., refuses to comply), he or she may be threatened with detainment for the day at the clinic or forced placement in a temporary foster home; this is explained to the child as a consequence of not choosing to be a 'family boy or girl.' If the child is actually placed in foster care, the child is then required to 'earn the way back to therapy' and a chance to resume living with the adoptive


id: attachment-therapy-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_therapy-2.md
category: reference
title: Attachment therapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_therapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:08.228014+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: attachment-therapy-20260505-0
summary:
=== Parenting techniques === Therapists often instruct parents to follow programs of treatment at home, for example obedience-training techniques such as "strong sitting" (frequent periods of required silence and immobility) and withholding or limiting food. Earlier authors sometimes referred to this as "German Shepherd training". In some programs children undergoing the two-week intensive stay with "therapeutic foster parents" for the duration or beyond and the adoptive parents are trained in their techniques. According to the APSAC Task Force, because it is believed children with bonding problems resist bonding, fight against it and seek to control others to avoid bonding, the child's character flaws must be broken before bonding can occur. According to proponents, their idea of attachment parenting may include keeping the child at home with no social contacts, home schooling, hard labor or meaningless repetitive chores throughout the day, motionless sitting for prolonged periods of time, and control of all food and water intake and bathroom needs. Children described as attachment-disordered are expected by attachment therapists to comply with parental commands "fast and snappy and right the first time", and to always be "fun to be around" for their parents. Deviation from this standard, such as not finishing chores


id: attachment-therapy-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_therapy-3.md
category: reference
title: Attachment therapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_therapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:08.228014+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: attachment-therapy-20260505-0
summary:
== Theoretical principles == Like a number of other alternative mental health treatments for children, attachment therapy is based on some assumptions that differ strongly from the theoretical foundations of other attachment-based therapies. In contrast to traditional attachment theory, the theory of attachment described by attachment therapy proponents is that young children who experience adversity (including maltreatment, loss, separations, adoption, frequent changes in child care, colic or even frequent ear infections) become enraged at a very deep and primitive level. This results in a lack of ability to bond, attach, or to be genuinely affectionate to others. Suppressed or unconscious rage is theorized to prevent the child from forming bonds with caregivers and leads to behavior problems when the rage erupts into unchecked aggression. Such children are said to fail to develop a conscience, to not trust others, to seek control rather than closeness, to resist the authority of caregivers, and to engage in endless power struggles. They are seen as highly manipulative and as trying to avoid true attachments while simultaneously striving to control those around them through manipulation and superficial sociability. Such children are said to be at risk of becoming psychopaths who will go on to engage


id: attachment-therapy-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_therapy-4.md
category: reference
title: Attachment therapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_therapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:08.228014+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: attachment-therapy-20260505-0
summary:
=== Diagnosis lists and questionnaires === Both the APSAC Task Force and Prior and Glaser describe the proliferation of alternative "lists" and diagnoses, particularly on the Internet, by proponents of holding therapy, that are not in accord with either DSM or ICD classifications and which are partly based on the unsubstantiated views of Zaslow and Menta and Cline. According to the Task Force, "These types of lists are so nonspecific that high rates of false-positive diagnoses are virtually certain. Posting these types of lists on internet sites that also serve as marketing tools may lead many parents or others to conclude inaccurately that their children have attachment disorders." Prior and Glaser describe the lists as "wildly inclusive" and state that many of the behaviors in the lists are likely to be the consequences of neglect and abuse rather than located within the attachment paradigm. Descriptions of children are frequently highly pejorative and "demonizing". Examples given from lists of attachment disorder symptoms found on the internet include lying, avoiding eye contact except when lying, persistent nonsense questions or incessant chatter, fascination with fire, blood, gore and evil, food related issues (such as gorging or hoarding), cruelty to animals and lack of


id: attachment-therapy-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_therapy-5.md
category: reference
title: Attachment therapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_therapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:08.228014+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: attachment-therapy-20260505-0
summary:
Within mainstream practice, disorders of attachment are classified in DSM-5 and ICD-10 as reactive attachment disorder (generally known as RAD), and Disinhibited social engagement disorder. Both classification systems warn against automatic diagnosis based on abuse or neglect. Many symptoms are present in a variety of other more common and more easily treatable disorders. There is as yet no other accepted definition of attachment disorders. According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) practice parameter published in 2005, the question of whether attachment disorders can be reliably diagnosed in older children and adults has not been resolved. Attachment behaviors used for the diagnosis of RAD change markedly with development and defining analogous behaviors in older children is difficult. There are no substantially validated measures of attachment in middle childhood or early adolescence. == Prevalence == Holding therapy prospered during the 1980s and 1990s as a consequence of both the influx of older adopted orphans from Eastern European and third world countries and the inclusion of reactive attachment disorder in the 1980 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders which attachment therapists adopted as an alternative name for their existing unvalidated diagnosis of attachment disorder. According to the APSAC


id: attachment-therapy-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_therapy-6.md
category: reference
title: Attachment therapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_therapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:08.228014+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: attachment-therapy-20260505-0
summary:
== Developments == The APSAC Task Force stated that proponents of holding therapy correctly point out that most critics have never actually observed any of the treatments they criticize or visited any of the centers where the controversial therapies are practiced. Proponents argue that their therapies present no physical risk if undertaken properly and that critics' concerns are based on unrepresentative occurrences and misapplications of techniques, or misunderstanding by parents. Holding is described as gentle or nurturing and it is maintained that intense, cathartic approaches are necessary to help children with attachment disorders. Their evidence for this is primarily clinical experience and testimonials. According to the APSAC Task Force, there are controversies within the holding therapy community about coercive practices. There has been a move away from coercive and confrontational models towards attunement and emotional regulation amongst some leaders in the field, notably Hughes, Kelly and Popper. A number of therapies are quite different from those that have led to the abuse and deaths of children in much publicized court cases. The Task Force, however, points out that all the therapies, including those using frankly coercive practices, present themselves as humane, respectful and nurturing; therefore caution is advised. Some practitioners


id: attachment-therapy-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_therapy-7.md
category: reference
title: Attachment therapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_therapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:08.228014+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: attachment-therapy-20260505-0
summary:
== History == Matthew Speltz of the University of Washington School of Medicine states that the roots of holding therapy are traceable to psychologist Robert Zaslow and his "Z-process" in the 1970s. Zaslow attempted to force attachment in autistic children by creating rage while holding them against their will. He believed this would lead to a breakdown in their defense mechanisms, making them more receptive to others. Zaslow thought attachment arose when an infant experienced feelings of pain, fear and rage, and then made eye contact with the carer who relieved those feelings. If an infant did not experience this cycle of events by having his fear and rage relieved, the infant would not form an attachment and would not make eye contact with other people. Zaslow believed that creating pain and rage and combining them with eye contact would cause attachment to occur, long after the normal age for such developments. Holding therapies derive from these "rage-reduction" techniques applied by Zaslow. The holding is not used for safety purposes but is initiated for the purpose of provoking strong negative emotions such as fear and anger. The child's release typically depends upon his or her compliance with the therapist's clinical


id: attachment-therapy-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_therapy-8.md
category: reference
title: Attachment therapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_therapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:08.228014+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: attachment-therapy-20260505-0
summary:
They also considered the lack of available and suitable interventions from mainstream professionals as essential to the popularization of holding therapy as an attachment therapy. In 2003, an issue of Attachment & Human Development was devoted to the subject of attachment therapy with articles by well-known experts in the field of attachment. Attachment researchers and authors condemned holding therapy as empirically unfounded, theoretically flawed and clinically unethical. It has also been described as potentially abusive and a pseudoscientific intervention, not based on attachment theory or research, that has resulted in tragic outcomes for children including at least six documented child fatalities. In 2006, the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC) Task Force reported on the subjects of attachment therapy, reactive attachment disorder, and attachment problems and laid down guidelines for the future diagnosis and treatment of attachment disorders. The APSAC Task Force was largely critical of Attachment Therapy's theoretical base, practices, claims to an evidence base, non-specific symptoms lists published on the internet, claims that traditional treatments do not work and dire predictions for the future of children who do not receive attachment therapy. "Although focused primarily on specific attachment therapy techniques, the controversy also extends to


id: attachment-therapy-20260505-9
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_therapy-9.md
category: reference
title: Attachment therapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_therapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:08.228014+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: attachment-therapy-20260505-0
summary:
== Claims == According to the APSAC Task Force, proponents of holding therapy commonly assert that their therapies alone are effective for attachment-disordered children and that traditional treatments are ineffective or harmful. The APSAC Task Force expressed concern over claims by therapies to be "evidence-based", or the only evidence-based therapy, when the Task Force found no credible evidence base for any such therapy so advertised. Nor did it accept more recent claims to evidence base in its November 2006 Reply. Two approaches on which published studies have been undertaken are holding therapy and dyadic developmental psychotherapy. Each of these non-randomized studies concluded that the treatment method studied was effective. Both the APSAC Task Force and Prior and Glaser cite and criticize the one published study on holding therapy undertaken by Myeroff et al., which "purports to be an evaluation of holding therapy". This study covers the "across the lap" approach, described as "not restraint" by Howe and Fearnley but "being held whilst unable to gain release." Prior and Glaser state that although the Myeroff study claims it is based on attachment theory, the theoretical basis for the treatment is in fact Zaslow. Dyadic developmental psychotherapy was developed by psychologist Daniel


id: attachment-therapy-20260505-10
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_therapy-10.md
category: reference
title: Attachment therapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_therapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:08.228014+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: attachment-therapy-20260505-0
summary:
Andrea Swenson, 1990; a 13-year-old adopted girl undergoing attachment therapy at The Attachment Center, Evergreen, Colorado. She was placed with "therapeutic foster parents". When the insurance company refused to continue to pay for her treatment, the adoptive parents were asked to allow the foster parents to adopt Andrea so that a fresh claim could be made. Andrea, having asked her foster parents what would happen if she took an overdose of drugs or slit her wrist, and been told she would die, took an overdose of aspirin. She was violently ill during the night and was incoherent, breathing heavily and still vomiting in the morning. Nevertheless, the foster parents went bowling, leaving her alone. A visitor found her dead in the hallway. The suit was settled out of court. Lucas Ciambrone, 1995; a seven-year-old adopted boy who was starved, beaten, bitten and forced to sleep in a stripped bathroom at his parents home in Sarasota, Florida. At the post-mortem he was found to have 200 bruises and five old broken ribs. The adoptive mother was convicted as the abuser and the adoptive father of being aware but doing nothing to prevent it or seek help. Foster Cline gave evidence for


id: attachment-therapy-20260505-11
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_therapy-11.md
category: reference
title: Attachment therapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_therapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:08.228014+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: attachment-therapy-20260505-0
summary:
== Further reading == Fairlove, Abigail (26 December 2012). "Importance of Strong Sitting for Reactive Attachment Disorder Treatment". Rad Children- Information on Children with Reactive Attachment Disorder ( RAD ). Abigail Fairlove. Archived from the original on 2 May 2014. Retrieved 2 May 2014. Mercer J, Sarner L, Rosa L (2003), Attachment Therapy on Trial: The Torture and Death of Candace Newmaker, Praeger, ISBN 978-0-275-97675-0 O'Connor TG, Nilsen WJ (2005), "Models versus Metaphors in Translating Attachment Theory to the Clinic and Community", in Berlin LJ, Ziv Y, Amaya-Jackson L, Greenberg MT (eds.), Enhancing Early Attachments: Theory, Research, Intervention and Policy, Duke series in child development and public policy, Guilford Press, ISBN 978-1-59385-470-6 Prior V, Glaser D (2006), Understanding Attachment and Attachment Disorders: Theory, Evidence and Practice, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Series, London: Jessica Kingsley, ISBN 978-1-84310-245-8, OCLC 70663735 Zeanah, Charles H.; Chesher, Tessa; Boris, Neil W.; Walter, Heather J.; Bukstein, Oscar G.; Bellonci, Christopher; Benson, R. Scott; Bussing, Regina; Chrisman, Allan; Hamilton, John; Hayek, Munya; Keable, Helene; Rockhill, Carol; Siegel, Matthew; Stock, Saundra (November 2016). "Practice Parameter for the Assessment and Treatment of Children and Adolescents With Reactive Attachment Disorder and Disinhibited Social Engagement Disorder". Journal of the American


id: attunement-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attunement-0.md
category: reference
title: Attunement
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attunement
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:09.472799+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: attunement-20260505-0
summary:
Attunement was the early term adopted by practitioners of the pseudoscientific discipline of energy medicine, originally developed by Lloyd Arthur Meeker (1907–1954) and his colleagues. Meeker taught and practiced Attunement as a central feature of his spiritual teaching and ministry, Emissaries of Divine Light. Attunement is taught as a personal spiritual practice and as a healing modality offered through the hands. Emissaries of Divine Light believe that Attunement is a pivotal factor in the conscious evolution of humanity. Like qigong, reiki, and therapeutic touch, attunement is a putative practice as defined by the United States National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), lacking published scientific study of its effectiveness. Attunement practitioners and clients rely on personal and anecdotal experience to promote it. == History == === Beginnings === Lloyd Arthur Meeker shared the first Attunement with Rudolph Plagge in Wichita, Kansas, in 1929, and developed the teaching and practice of Attunement with colleagues until his death in 1954. From September 14 to 16, 1932, Meeker had a spiritual awakening experience that he described as a “heavenly ordination.” He marked that experience as the initiation of Emissaries of Divine Light. That same year he instituted a series of energy medicine


id: attunement-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attunement-1.md
category: reference
title: Attunement
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attunement
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:09.472799+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: attunement-20260505-0
summary:
=== Development === As Emissaries of Divine Light grew in the 1960s, '70s and '80s, so did the teaching and practice of Attunement. Martin Cecil emphasized in his teaching of Attunement that the basis of it was a spiritual practice. While many of the early Attunement practitioners were chiropractors, lay people became increasingly active in the practice. Building on the early work of Lloyd Arthur Meeker, Attunement evolved to include groups of people practicing it together. In 1993, a World Blessing time was established for practitioners to share a time of collective Attunement and healing prayer. In the '80s and '90s, the teaching and practice of long-distance Attunement was developed further. Following Martin Cecil's death in 1988, his son, Michael Cecil, become the Spiritual Leader of the Emissaries. In 1996, Emissaries of Divine Light formed an Attunement Guild, which established standards for the teaching and certification of Attunement practitioners. A group of Attunement practitioners, including Chris Jorgensen and Andrew Shier, formed the International Association of Attunement Practitioners (IAAP) in 1999. IAAP developed and taught the practice of Attunement separate from the organization of Emissaries of Divine Light. Roger de Winton continued his Attunement trainings through Attunement Intensives offered at Sunrise


id: auditing-scientology-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditing_(Scientology)-0.md
category: reference
title: Auditing (Scientology)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditing_(Scientology)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:10.624540+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: auditing-scientology-20260505-0
summary:
Auditing, also called processing, is a central practice in Scientology in which a trained "auditor" asks structured questions intended to help a participant identify and address past experiences and emotional difficulties. Most auditing uses an E-meter, a device the Church of Scientology describes as a spiritual tool for detecting areas of mental or spiritual trauma, though courts and scientists have found it to have no medical or scientific validity. Auditing is presented as the primary method for advancing up Scientology's Bridge to Total Freedom, a graded series of levels involving procedures and rundowns, using concepts such as the reactive mind, engrams, and past‑life incidents and implants. Scholars and critics have variously described auditing as a form of psychological conditioning, hypnosis, or pseudotherapy, and have raised concerns about its methods, the misuse of confidential session records, and its space‑opera cosmology. There have been legal, regulatory, and ethical controversies related to its unproven medical claims, misuse of private information, the use of child labor, and the death of some participants. == Terminology == L. Ron Hubbard assigned special meanings to many ordinary English words when he wrote about Scientology, and Scientologese has become a language in itself. These are some very basic


id: auditing-scientology-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditing_(Scientology)-1.md
category: reference
title: Auditing (Scientology)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditing_(Scientology)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:10.624540+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: auditing-scientology-20260505-0
summary:
=== Preclear === The "preclear" or "PC" is the person who is being audited—the client, formerly called the "patient". At most levels of auditing, there are two people present: the auditor is the one asking questions, and the preclear is the one answering them. In some of the upper levels, a person audits oneself, being both auditor and preclear at the same time. The term was created back when the ultimate goal of auditing was to create a person who had been cleared, ergo the person being audited was pre-Clear. However, even after Hubbard created the upper levels, the term preclear was still used even if the person had surpassed the state of Clear. The term has continued to represent the role in auditing rather than the level the person has attained. During an auditing session, the auditor writes down the questions and the preclear's answers, and the papers are stored in the client's PC folder (preclear folder). === E-meter === Most auditing sessions involve a device called the Hubbard Electropsychometer or E-meter. It consists of two handheld electrodes connected to a galvanometer. It measures changes in electrical resistance in the body (galvanic skin response). Scientology teaches that changes in


id: auditing-scientology-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditing_(Scientology)-2.md
category: reference
title: Auditing (Scientology)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditing_(Scientology)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:10.624540+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: auditing-scientology-20260505-0
summary:
== Rundowns == Hubbard defines a rundown as "a series of steps which are auditing actions and processes designed to handle a specific aspect of a case and which have a known end phenomena". Hubbard devised dozens of rundowns. The main rundowns are the levels of the Bridge to Total Freedom, which are the codified sequential steps to attain Scientology's concept of spiritual freedom. One of the earliest rundowns on the Bridge, which most Scientologists are expected to do, is the Purification Rundown. The "purif" is a sauna-and-sweat detoxification program requiring a high intake of vitamins, allegedly designed to remove toxins from the body that would inhibit one's recall needed for future auditing. Some of the basic levels of the Bridge include rundowns said to alleviate issues with communication, problems, and upsets. The Clear Certainty Rundown is the step where the Church of Scientology verifies that the preclear has correctly attained the State of Clear. There are specialty rundowns such as the three very high-priced "L's Rundowns" available only at Flag which are promoted as executive boosters and promise the ability to be stably exterior—outside of your body. The Super Power Rundown is intended to increase one's perceptions; Hubbard said


id: auditing-scientology-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditing_(Scientology)-3.md
category: reference
title: Auditing (Scientology)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditing_(Scientology)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:10.624540+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: auditing-scientology-20260505-0
summary:
=== Incidents and implants === "Incidents" are events that happened to a person which continue to have a grip on their mind or spirit, and negatively affects them. It could be an accident or traumatic event that includes pain and subconscious commands, whether from this life or in a past life. Auditing procedures locate incidents in the person and relieve or erase them from the person's mind. "Implants" are an element of some incidents involving externally-imposed memories that contain commands and fictitious events. Hubbard alleges that the person will believe the implanted incident actually existed, and the commands in the implant make the person act strangely. A contemporary analogy would be the installing of a hypnotic command. However, the implants Hubbard presents in his lectures and writings are characterized by past-life incidents set in technologically advanced, space opera scenarios. Typically, these implants involve electronic fields entrapping and zapping a thetan (the being), installing commands, and showing cinema-like moving pictures to install false memories. Such incidents are alleged to have occurred millions or trillions of years ago. However, Hubbard believed that implantation is being performed in contemporary times by psychiatrists and priests. Methods of trapping and implanting a thetan might include


id: auditing-scientology-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditing_(Scientology)-4.md
category: reference
title: Auditing (Scientology)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auditing_(Scientology)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:10.624540+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: auditing-scientology-20260505-0
summary:
=== Claimed benefits === L. Ron Hubbard claimed benefits from auditing including improved IQ, improved ability to communicate, enhanced memory and alleviation of issues such as psychosis, dyslexia and attention deficit disorder. Some people have alleged that auditing amounts to medical treatment without a license, and in the 1950s, some auditors were arrested on the charge. The Church of Scientology disputes that it is practicing medicine, and it has successfully established in United States courts of law that auditing addresses only spiritual relief. According to the Church, the psychotherapist treats mental health and the Church treats the spiritual being. Hubbard clarified the difference between the two: If we processed a specific type of aberration, we of course would be in the field of mental healing, and so forth. But long ago we actually discovered that we must not process specific aberrations, which takes us out of the field of mental healing. It is quite fatal to do this because in the first place it's an evaluation for the case. In the second place, it's a negative type process; you're condemning the individual for hitting girls. Doesn't validate the individual at all. Do you follow? And if carried on very long,


id: aura-paranormal-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aura_(paranormal)-0.md
category: reference
title: Aura (paranormal)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aura_(paranormal)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:11.877987+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: aura-paranormal-20260505-0
summary:
According to spiritual beliefs, an aura or energy field is a colored emanation said to enclose a human body or any animal or object. In some esoteric positions, the aura is described as a subtle body. Psychics and holistic medicine practitioners often claim to have the ability to see the size, color and type of vibration of an aura. In spiritual alternative medicine, the human aura is seen as part of a hidden anatomy that reflects the state of being and health of a client, often understood to even comprise centers of vital force called chakras. Such claims are not supported by scientific evidence and are thus considered pseudoscience. When tested under scientific controlled experiments, the ability to see auras has not been proven to exist. == Etymology == In Latin and Ancient Greek, aura means wind, breeze or breath. It was used in Middle English to mean "gentle breeze". By the end of the 19th century, the word was used in some spiritualist circles to describe a speculated subtle emanation around the body. == History == The concept of auras was first popularized by Charles Webster Leadbeater, a former priest of the Church of England and a member of


id: aura-paranormal-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aura_(paranormal)-1.md
category: reference
title: Aura (paranormal)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aura_(paranormal)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:11.877987+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: aura-paranormal-20260505-0
summary:
Tests of psychic abilities to observe alleged aura emanations have repeatedly been met with failure. One test involved placing people in a dark room and asking the psychic to state how many auras she could observe. Only chance results were obtained. Recognition of auras has occasionally been tested on television. One test involved an aura reader standing on one side of a room with an opaque partition separating her from a number of slots which might contain either actual people or mannequins. The aura reader failed to identify the slots containing people, incorrectly stating that all contained people. In another televised test another aura reader was placed before a partition where five people were standing. He claimed that he could see their auras from behind the partition. As each person moved out, the reader was asked to identify where that person was standing behind the slot. He identified two out of five correctly. Attempts to prove the existence of auras scientifically have repeatedly met with failure; for example people are unable to see auras in complete darkness, and auras have never been successfully used to identify people when their identifying features are otherwise obscured in controlled tests. A 1999 study


id: auriculotherapy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auriculotherapy-0.md
category: reference
title: Auriculotherapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auriculotherapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:13.094510+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: auriculotherapy-20260505-0
summary:
Auriculotherapy (also auricular therapy, ear acupuncture, and auriculoacupuncture) is a form of alternative medicine based on the idea that the ear is a micro system and an external organ, which reflects the entire body, represented on the auricle, the outer portion of the ear. Conditions affecting the person's physical, mental, or emotional health are assumed to be treatable by stimulating the surface of the ear exclusively. Similar mappings are used by several modalities, including the practices of reflexology and iridology. These mappings are not based on or supported by any medical or scientific evidence, and are therefore considered to be pseudoscience. == History and development == French neurologist Paul Nogier invented auriculotherapy in 1957. Nogier developed a phrenological method of projection of a fetal Homunculus on the ear and published what he called the "Vascular Autonomic Signal" which measured a change in the amplitude of the pulse. That mechanism would only produce a signal upon the introduction of new information to the electromagnetic field of the patient. Nogier cited a 'principle of matching resonance' which he could use the vascular autonomic signal to detect the active points of the auricular microsystem. Nogier's Auricular acupuncture was introduced to China in 1958.


id: australo-melanesian-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australo-Melanesian-0.md
category: reference
title: Australo-Melanesian
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australo-Melanesian
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:14.315236+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: australo-melanesian-20260505-0
summary:
Australo-Melanesians (also known as Australasians or the Australomelanesoid, Australoid or Australioid race) is an outdated historical grouping of various people indigenous to Melanesia and Australia. Controversially, some groups found in parts of Southeast Asia and South Asia were also sometimes included. While most authors included Papuans, Aboriginal Australians and Melanesians (mainly from Fiji, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu), there was controversy about the inclusion of the various Southeast Asian populations grouped as "Negrito", or a number of dark-skinned tribal populations of the Indian subcontinent. The concept of dividing humankind into three, four or five races (often called Caucasoid, Mongoloid, Negroid, and Australoid) was introduced in the 18th century and further developed by Western scholars in the context of "racist ideologies" during the age of colonialism. With the rise of modern genetics, the concept of distinct human races in a biological sense has become obsolete. In 2019, the American Association of Biological Anthropologists stated: "The belief in “races” as natural aspects of human biology, and the structures of inequality (racism) that emerge from such beliefs, are among the most damaging elements in the human experience both today and in the past." == Terminological history == The term "Australoid" was coined


id: autodynamics-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autodynamics-0.md
category: reference
title: Autodynamics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autodynamics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:15.509623+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: autodynamics-20260505-0
summary:
Autodynamics was a physics theory proposed by Ricardo Carezani (1921–2016) in the early 1940s as a replacement for Einstein's theories of special relativity and general relativity. Autodynamics never gained status as a viable alternative model within the physics community, and today is wholly rejected by mainstream science. == Main tenets of autodynamics == The primary claim of autodynamics is that the equations of the Lorentz transformation are incorrectly formulated to describe relativistic effects, which would invalidate special relativity, general relativity, and Maxwell's equations. The effect of the revised equations proposed in autodynamics is to cause particle mass to decrease with particle velocity, being exchanged with kinetic energy (with mass being zero and kinetic energy being equal to the rest mass at c). This exchange between mass and energy is the proposed mechanism underlying most of the derived conclusions of autodynamics. Ancillary predictions of autodynamics include: the nonexistence of the neutrino, the existence of additional particles that have not been observed by mainstream physicists (including the "picograviton" and the "electromuon"), the existence of additional decay modes for muons and interaction modes for energetic atomic nuclei. == Status of autodynamics == Autodynamics is rejected by the mainstream scientific community. A 1999 article


id: ayurveda-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda-0.md
category: reference
title: Ayurveda
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:16.698453+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ayurveda-20260505-0
summary:
Ayurveda (; IAST: āyurveda) is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. It is heavily practised throughout India and Nepal, where as much as 80% of the population report using ayurveda. Ayurveda has been adapted for Western consumption, notably by Baba Hari Dass in the 1970s and Maharishi ayurveda in the 1980s. The theory and practice of ayurveda are pseudoscientific, and many ayurvedic preparations, particularly in the rasa shastra tradition, contain toxic levels of lead, mercury, and arsenic. There is no evidence that cancer can be treated or cured through ayurveda. Ayurveda therapies have varied and evolved over more than two millennia. Therapies include herbal medicines, special diets, meditation, yoga, massage, laxatives, enemas, and medical oils. Early ayurvedic preparations were almost entirely based on complex herbal compounds based on the materia medica of South Asia. Minerals and other metal substances began to enter the traditional pharmacopoeia more pervasively after the eleventh century, under the influence of early Indian alchemy or rasashastra. Ancient ayurveda texts also taught surgical techniques, including rhinoplasty, lithotomy, sutures, cataract surgery, and the extraction of foreign objects. Historical evidence for ayurvedic terminology and concepts appear in the Buddhist Canon from the middle of


id: ayurveda-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda-1.md
category: reference
title: Ayurveda
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:16.698453+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ayurveda-20260505-0
summary:
According to ayurveda, the human body is composed of tissues (dhatus), waste (malas), and humoral fluids (doshas). The seven dhatus are chyle (rasa), blood (rakta), muscles (māmsa), fat (meda), bone (asthi), marrow (majja), and semen (shukra). Like the medicine of classical antiquity, the classic treatises of ayurveda divided bodily substances into five classical elements (panchamahabhuta) viz. earth, water, fire, air and ether. There are also twenty gunas (qualities or characteristics) which are considered to be inherent in all matter. These are organized in ten pairs: heavy/light, cold/hot, unctuous/dry, dull/sharp, stable/mobile, soft/hard, non-slimy/slimy, smooth/coarse, minute/gross, and viscous/liquid. The three postulated elemental bodily humours, the doshas or tridosha, are vata (air, which some modern authors equate with the nervous system), pitta (bile, fire, equated by some with enzymes), and kapha (phlegm, or earth and water, equated by some with mucus). Contemporary critics assert that doshas are not real, but are a fictional concept. The humours (doshas) may also affect mental health. Each dosha has particular attributes and roles within the body and mind; the natural predominance of one or more doshas thus explains a person's physical constitution (prakriti) and personality. Ayurvedic tradition holds that imbalance among the bodily and mental doshas is


id: ayurveda-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda-2.md
category: reference
title: Ayurveda
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:16.698453+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ayurveda-20260505-0
summary:
Animal products used in ayurveda include milk, bones, and gallstones. In addition, fats are prescribed both for consumption and for external use. Consumption of minerals, including sulfur, arsenic, lead, copper sulfate and gold, are also prescribed. The addition of minerals to herbal medicine is called rasashastra. Ayurveda uses alcoholic beverages called Madya, which are said to adjust the doshas by increasing pitta and reducing vatta and kapha. Madya are classified by the raw material and fermentation process, and the categories include: sugar-based, fruit-based, cereal-based, cereal-based with herbs, fermented with vinegar, and tonic wines. The intended outcomes can include causing purgation, improving digestion or taste, creating dryness, or loosening joints. Ayurvedic texts describe Madya as non-viscid and fast-acting, and say that it enters and cleans minute pores in the body. Purified opium is used in eight ayurvedic preparations and is said to balance the vata and kapha doshas and increase the pitta dosha. It is prescribed for diarrhea and dysentery, for increasing the sexual and muscular ability, and for affecting the brain. The sedative and pain-relieving properties of opium are considered in ayurveda. The use of opium is found in the ancient ayurvedic texts, and is first mentioned in the Sarngadhara


id: ayurveda-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda-3.md
category: reference
title: Ayurveda
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:16.698453+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ayurveda-20260505-0
summary:
It was reported in 2008 and again in 2018 that around 80 percent of people in India used ayurveda exclusively or combined with conventional Western medicine. A 2014 national health survey found that, in general, forms of the Indian system of medicine or AYUSH (ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, unani, siddha, and homeopathy) were used by about 3.5% of patients who were seeking outpatient care over a two-week reference period. In 1970, the Indian parliament passed the Indian Medical Central Council Act which aimed to standardise qualifications for ayurveda practitioners and provide accredited institutions for its study and research. In 1971, the Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) was established under the Department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha medicine and Homoeopathy, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, to monitor higher education in ayurveda in India. The Indian government supports research and teaching in ayurveda through many channels at both the national and state levels, and helps institutionalise traditional medicine so that it can be studied in major towns and cities. The state-sponsored Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS) is designed to do research on ayurveda. Many clinics in urban and rural areas are run by professionals who


id: ayurveda-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda-4.md
category: reference
title: Ayurveda
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:16.698453+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ayurveda-20260505-0
summary:
==== Europe ==== The first ayurvedic clinic in Switzerland was opened in 1987 by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. In 2015, the government of Switzerland introduced a federally recognized diploma in ayurveda. == Classification and efficacy == Ayurvedic medicine is considered pseudoscientific because its premises are not based on science. Both the lack of scientific soundness in the theoretical foundations of ayurveda and the quality of research have been criticized. Although laboratory experiments suggest that some herbs and substances in ayurveda might be developed into effective treatments, there is no evidence that any are effective in themselves. There is no evidence they can prevent or treat cancer in humans. Ethnologist Johannes Quack writes that although the rationalist movement Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti officially labels ayurveda a pseudoscience akin to astrology, these practices are in fact embraced by many of the movement's members. A review of the use of ayurveda for cardiovascular disease concluded that the evidence is not convincing for the use of any ayurvedic herbal treatment for heart disease or hypertension, but that many herbs used by ayurvedic practitioners could be appropriate for further research. === Promotion === In India, promotion of ayurveda is undertaken by the Ministry of AYUSH through


id: ayurveda-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda-5.md
category: reference
title: Ayurveda
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:16.698453+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ayurveda-20260505-0
summary:
Some scholars assert that the concepts of traditional ayurvedic medicine have existed since the times of the Indus Valley civilisation but since the Indus script has not been deciphered, such assertions are moot. The Atharvaveda contains hymns and prayers aimed at curing disease. There are various legendary accounts of the origin of ayurveda, such as that it was received by Dhanvantari (or Divodasa) from Brahma. Tradition also holds that the writings of ayurveda were influenced by a lost text by the sage Agnivesha. Ayurveda is one of the few systems of medicine developed in ancient times that is still widely practised in modern times. As such, it is open to the criticism that its conceptual basis is obsolete and that its contemporary practitioners have not taken account of the developments in medicine. Responses to this situation led to an impassioned debate in India during the early decades of the twentieth century, between proponents of unchanging tradition (śuddha "pure" ayurveda) and those who thought ayurveda should modernize and syncretize (aśuddha "impure, tainted" ayurveda). The political debate about the place of ayurveda in contemporary India has continued to the present, both in the public arena and in government. Debate about the place


id: ayurveda-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda-6.md
category: reference
title: Ayurveda
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:16.698453+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ayurveda-20260505-0
summary:
=== Further development and spread === Ayurveda flourished throughout the Indian Middle Ages. Dalhana (fl. 1200), Sarngadhara (fl. 1300) and Bhavamisra (fl. 1500) compiled works on Indian medicine. The medical works of both Sushruta and Charaka were also translated into the Chinese language in the 5th century, and during the 8th century, they were translated into the Arabic and Persian language. The 9th-century Persian physician Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi was familiar with the text. The Arabic works derived from the ayurvedic texts eventually also reached Europe by the 12th century. In Renaissance Italy, the Branca family of Sicily and Gaspare Tagliacozzi (Bologna) were influenced by the Arabic reception of the Sushruta's surgical techniques. British physicians living in India observed rhinoplasty being performed using Indian methods, and reports on their rhinoplasty methods were published in London in the Gentleman's Magazine in 1794. Instruments described in the Sushruta Samhita were further modified in Europe. Joseph Constantine Carpue studied plastic surgery methods in India for 20 years and, in 1815, was able to perform the first major rhinoplasty surgery in the western world, using the "Indian" method of nose reconstruction. In 1840 Brett published an article about this technique. The British had shown


id: baghdad-battery-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baghdad_Battery-0.md
category: reference
title: Baghdad Battery
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baghdad_Battery
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:17.899908+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: baghdad-battery-20260505-0
summary:
The Baghdad Battery or Parthian Battery Persian: باتری اشکانی ،is the name given to an artifact consisting of a ceramic pot, a tube of copper, and a rod of iron fixed together with bitumen. It was discovered in present-day Khujut Rabu, Iraq in 1936, close to the ancient city of Ctesiphon, the capital of the Parthian (150 BC – 223 AD) and Sasanian (224–650 AD) empires, and it is believed to date from either of these periods. Its origin and purpose remain unclear. Wilhelm König, at the time director of the laboratory of the National Museum of Iraq, suggested that the object functioned as a galvanic cell, possibly used for electroplating, or some kind of electrotherapy. There is no electroplated object known from this period, and the claims are universally rejected by archaeologists. An alternative explanation is that it functioned as a container for magic spells for protection, defense or curses. Ten similar clay vessels had been found earlier. Four were found in 1930 in Seleucia dating to the Sassanid period. Three were sealed with bitumen and contained a bronze cylinder, again sealed, with a pressed-in papyrus wrapper containing decomposed fiber rolls. They had been held in place with up


id: baghdad-battery-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baghdad_Battery-1.md
category: reference
title: Baghdad Battery
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baghdad_Battery
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:17.899908+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: baghdad-battery-20260505-0
summary:
After the publication of a sensationalist article describing the jar in the March 1939 edition of Astounding Science-Fiction, electrical engineer Willard F. M. Gray at the General Electric plant in Pittsfield, Massachusetts made a reconstruction. Gray chose to test it with copper (II) sulphate solution as the electrolyte. He reported that this “worked quite well for a short time.” Arne Eggebrecht, a past director of the Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum Hildesheim, claimed to have electroplated silver onto an unspecified surface. Using many replicas of the jar connected together, with grape juice as the electrolyte, Eggebrecht only produced a layer of silver 100 nanometres thick. Speaking to a reporter for BBC News, Bettina Schmitz, a researcher based at the same museum, said, "There does not exist any written documentation of the experiments which took place here in 1978... The experiments weren't even documented by photos, which really is a pity...I have searched through the archives of this museum and I talked to everyone involved in 1978 with no results." In 1993, W. Jansen reported an experiment with an electrolyte of diluted acetic acid with some dissolved benzoquinone in a cell and got "good experimental results". On the 29th episode (23 March 2005)


id: baghdad-battery-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baghdad_Battery-2.md
category: reference
title: Baghdad Battery
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baghdad_Battery
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:17.899908+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: baghdad-battery-20260505-0
summary:
=== Alternative hypothesis === Wilhelm König noted the clear similarity of this jar with the 4 found in Seleucia and 6 found in Ctesiphon. In 1932, Kühnel described those found at Ctesiphon as containers for "conjurations, blessings and the like, written perhaps on papyrus". Emmerich Paszthory asserted the Khujut Rabu jar and those from Seleucia and Ctesiphon were clearly magic objects - as all the parts were known to be associated with magic in that time. As the tubes were copper, the spell was probably protective. "Magic nails have been preserved in large numbers." The iron nails were used to nail fast the contents. Brad Hafford of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Museum agreed with this analysis. The jars found in Seleucia were in the same vicinity as three magical or incantation bowls - made to protect against demons. Two of those bowls were covered with fake writing. Those two were found stacked together, covering a similarly inscribed eggshell. The jar found at Khujut Rabu' (the Baghdad Battery) was itself also found in association with magical bowls. The artifacts are similar to other objects believed to be storage vessels for sacred scrolls from nearby Seleucia on the Tigris. In


id: bates-method-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bates_method-0.md
category: reference
title: Bates method
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bates_method
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:19.108469+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: bates-method-20260505-0
summary:
The Bates method is an ineffective and potentially dangerous alternative therapy aimed at improving eyesight. Eye-care physician William Horatio Bates (1860–1931) held the erroneous belief that the extraocular muscles produced changes in focus and that "mental strain" caused abnormal action of these muscles; hence he believed that relieving such "strain" would cure defective vision. In 1952, optometry professor Elwin Marg wrote of Bates, "Most of his claims and almost all of his theories have been considered false by practically all visual scientists." No type of training has been shown to change the refractive power of the eye. Moreover, certain aspects of the Bates method can put its followers at risk: They may damage their eyes through overexposure to sunlight, not wear their corrective lenses when they need them (e.g., while driving), or neglect conventional eye care, possibly allowing serious conditions to develop. == Early history == In 1891, Bates published an article in the New York Medical Journal claiming to have successfully reversed seven cases of nearsightedness, or myopia. In 1911, Bates published an article claiming to have taught myopic schoolchildren how to correctly focus in the distance. He recommended that schools post a Snellen chart in each classroom and


id: bates-method-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bates_method-1.md
category: reference
title: Bates method
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bates_method
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:19.108469+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: bates-method-20260505-0
summary:
Bates suggested closing the eyes for minutes at a time to help bring about relaxation. He asserted that the relaxation could be deepened in most cases by "palming", or covering the closed eyes with the palms of the hands, without putting pressure on the eyeballs. If the covered eyes did not strain, he said, they would see "a field so black that it is impossible to remember, imagine, or see anything blacker", since light was excluded by the palms. However, he reported that some of his patients experienced "illusions of lights and colors" sometimes amounting to "kaleidoscopic appearances" as they "palmed", occurrences he attributed to his ubiquitous "strain" and that he claimed disappeared when one truly relaxed. This phenomenon, however, was almost certainly caused by Eigengrau or "dark light". In fact, even in conditions of perfect darkness, as inside a cave, neurons at every level of the visual system produce random background activity that is interpreted by the brain as patterns of light and color. If while palming one ends up applying pressure to the eyes, this may increase the risk of glaucoma. === Visualization === Bates placed importance on mental images, as he felt relaxation was the key to


id: bates-method-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bates_method-2.md
category: reference
title: Bates method
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bates_method
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:19.108469+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: bates-method-20260505-0
summary:
Perhaps the most famous proponent of the Bates method was the British writer Aldous Huxley. At the age of 16, Huxley had an attack of keratitis, which, after an 18-month period of near-blindness, left him with one eye just capable of light perception and the other with an unaided Snellen fraction of 10/200. This was mainly due to opacities in both corneas, complicated by hyperopia and astigmatism. He was able to read only if he wore thick glasses and dilated his better pupil with atropine, to allow that eye to see around an opacity in the center of the cornea. In 1939, at the age of 45 and with eyesight that continued to deteriorate, he happened to hear of the Bates method and sought the help of Margaret Corbett, who gave him regular lessons. Three years later, he wrote The Art of Seeing, in which he related: "Within a couple of months, I was reading without spectacles, and what was better still, without strain and fatigue.... At the present time, my vision, though very far from normal, is about twice as good as it used to be when I wore spectacles." Describing the process, Huxley wrote, "Vision is not won


id: bates-method-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bates_method-3.md
category: reference
title: Bates method
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bates_method
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:19.108469+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: bates-method-20260505-0
summary:
In 2004 the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) published a review of various research regarding "visual training", which consisted of "eye exercises, muscle relaxation techniques, biofeedback, eye patches, or eye massages", "alone or in combinations". No evidence was found that such techniques could objectively benefit eyesight, though some studies noted changes, both positive and negative, in the visual acuity of nearsighted subjects as measured by a Snellen chart. In some cases noted improvements were maintained at subsequent follow-ups. However, these results were not seen as actual reversals of nearsightedness, and were attributed instead to factors such as "improvements in interpreting blurred images, changes in mood or motivation, creation of an artificial contact lens by tear film changes, or a pinhole effect from miosis of the pupil." In 2005 the Ophthalmology Department of New Zealand's Christchurch Hospital published a review of forty-three studies regarding the use of eye exercises. They found that "As yet there is no clear scientific evidence published in the mainstream literature supporting the use of eye exercises" to improve visual acuity, and concluded that "their use therefore remains controversial." == General criticisms == === Dead-end === A frequent criticism of the Bates method is that it has


id: william-bates-physician-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bates_(physician)-0.md
category: reference
title: William Bates (physician)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bates_(physician)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:20.291653+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: william-bates-physician-20260505-0
summary:
William Horatio Bates (December 23, 1860 – July 10, 1931) was an American physician who practiced ophthalmology and developed what became known as the Bates method for better eyesight. The method was based in his theory that the eye does not focus by changing the power of the lens, but rather by elongating the eyeball through use of the extraocular oblique muscles; this model contradicted mainstream ophthalmology and optometry then and now. == Career == Bates graduated A.B. from Cornell University in 1881 and received his medical degree at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1885. He formulated a theory about vision health, and published the book Perfect Sight Without Glasses in 1920, and the magazine Better Eyesight from 1919 to 1930. Parts of Bates' approach to treating vision disorders were based on psychological principles that were contrary to many of the medical theories of the time and remain so. The Bates method still enjoys some limited acceptance as a modality of alternative medicine. Bates treated many patients, who claimed to have been cured of vision defects, especially myopia. This brought him into conflict with his peers. He defended himself by claiming that other physicians were in thrall


id: baunscheidtism-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baunscheidtism-0.md
category: reference
title: Baunscheidtism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baunscheidtism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:21.471712+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: baunscheidtism-20260505-0
summary:
Baunscheidtism is a form of alternative medicine created in the 19th century. The practice, a form of homeopathy, is named for its founder Carl Baunscheidt (1809–1873), a German mechanic and inventor. The legitimacy of baunscheidtism as an effective medical practice was questioned by at least 1880, when a Melbourne practitioner named Samuel Fischer lost a lawsuit he brought against a patient who failed to pay him, based on the objection that Fischer (a bootmaker) was not a qualified medical practitioner. == Lebenswecker == The lebenswecker (lit. 'life awakener' in German) or "artificial leech" was a medical device invented by Baunscheidt to pierce the skin with many fine needles. Billed as being able to cure myriad illnesses, the lebenswecker was used on skin treated with toxic oil. The resulting inflammation was alleged to draw the body's attention away from the patient's illness, thus effecting a cure. The diseases that could allegedly be cured with the lebenswecker included whooping cough, baldness, toothaches, and mental disorders. The device's popularity was great enough to support a market for "counterfeit" versions of the lebenswecker that were produced by Baunscheidt. == References ==


id: bdort-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BDORT-0.md
category: reference
title: BDORT
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BDORT
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:22.642607+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: bdort-20260505-0
summary:
The Bi-Digital O-Ring Test (BDORT), characterized as a form of applied kinesiology, is a patented alternative medicine diagnostic procedure in which a patient forms an 'O' with his or her fingers, and the diagnostician subjectively evaluates the patient's health according to the patient's finger strength as the diagnostician tries to pry them apart. BDORT has been cited and characterized at length by the American Institute for Technology and Science Education as a specific and noteworthy example of pseudoscientific quackery. BDORT was invented by Yoshiaki Omura, along with several other related alternative medicine techniques. They are featured in Omura's self-published Acupuncture & Electro-Therapeutics Research, The International Journal, of which Omura is founder and editor-in-chief, as well as in seminars presented by Omura and his colleagues. Omura is registered to practice acupuncture in New York State. In the only known full, formal independent evaluation of BDORT or of any other BDORT-related treatment and technique by a mainstream scientific or medical body, the Medical Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal of New Zealand ruled, in two separate cases brought before it in 2003, that Richard Warwick Gorringe, MB, ChB of Hamilton, New Zealand, who used BDORT (which he also called "Peak Muscle Resistance Testing", or "PMRT")


id: bdort-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BDORT-1.md
category: reference
title: BDORT
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BDORT
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:22.642607+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: bdort-20260505-0
summary:
=== Solar energy stored papers === Special solar energy: solar energy stored papers (SESP) is a device which Omura claims was developed using BDORT assessment and evaluation, that can capture a special healing power of sunlight. Omura uses index cards or other ordinary paper and he says the sunlight must be "captured" at the ideal times of sunrise and sunset. Omura says the energy can then be preserved in SESP while maintaining appropriate qigong polarity and shielding the papers from electromagnetic fields by carefully wrapping them in aluminum foil. Thus captured and preserved, he claims that special solar energy is effective in the treatment of a number of conditions, including arthritis, cancers, hypertension, and Alzheimer's disease. He has applied for a patent for this process. === Psychic healing === Omura, as published in his journal, has investigated the application of psychic healing and psychic surgery in Brazil, particularly that of Rubens Farias, Jr, who claims to channel the spirit of Dr Fritz. Applying the BDORT as his tool of evaluation, he concluded that the effects of psychic healing and psychic surgery were achieved through the application of qigong energy and the use of acupuncture points. == Medical Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal


id: biodynamic-agriculture-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodynamic_agriculture-0.md
category: reference
title: Biodynamic agriculture
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodynamic_agriculture
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:23.917461+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: biodynamic-agriculture-20260505-0
summary:
Biodynamic agriculture is a form of alternative agriculture based on pseudoscientific and esoteric concepts initially developed in 1924 by Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925). It was the first of the organic farming movements. It treats soil fertility, plant growth, and livestock care as ecologically interrelated tasks, emphasising spiritual and mystical perspectives. Biodynamics has much in common with other organic approaches – it emphasizes the use of manures and composts and excludes the use of synthetic (artificial) fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides on soil and plants. Methods unique to the biodynamic approach include its treatment of animals, crops, and soil as a single system, an emphasis from its beginnings on local production and distribution systems, its use of traditional and development of new local breeds and varieties. Some methods use an astrological sowing and planting calendar. Biodynamic agriculture uses various herbal and mineral additives for compost additives and field sprays; these are prepared using methods that are more akin to sympathetic magic than agronomy, such as burying ground quartz stuffed into the horn of a cow, which are said to harvest "cosmic forces in the soil". No difference in beneficial outcomes has been scientifically established between certified biodynamic agricultural techniques and similar organic and


id: biodynamic-agriculture-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodynamic_agriculture-1.md
category: reference
title: Biodynamic agriculture
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodynamic_agriculture
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:23.917461+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: biodynamic-agriculture-20260505-0
summary:
In the United States, biodynamic farming dates from 1926. From 1926 through to 1938, 39 farmers and gardeners in the US pursued biodynamic practices. The Biodynamic Farming & Gardening Association was founded in 1938 as a New York state corporation. In Great Britain, biodynamic farming dates from 1927. In 1928 the Anthroposophical Agricultural Foundation was founded in England; this is now called the Biodynamic Agriculture Association. In 1939, Britain's first biodynamic agriculture conference, the Betteshanger Summer School and Conference on Biodynamic Agriculture, was held at Lord Northbourne's farm in Kent; Ehrenfried Pfeiffer was the lead presenter. In Australia, the first biodynamic farmer was Ernesto Genoni who in 1928 joined the Experimental Circle of Anthroposophical Farmers and Gardeners, followed soon after by his brother Emilio Genoni. Ernesto Genoni's first biodynamic farm was at Dalmore, in Gippsland, Victoria, in 1933. The following year, Ileen Macpherson and Ernesto Genoni founded Demeter Biological Farm at Dandenong, Victoria, in 1934 and it was farmed using biodynamic principles for over two decades. Bob Williams presented the first public lecture in Australia on biodynamic agriculture on 26 June 1938 at the home of the architects Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin at Castlecrag, Sydney. Since the


id: biodynamic-agriculture-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodynamic_agriculture-2.md
category: reference
title: Biodynamic agriculture
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodynamic_agriculture
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:23.917461+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: biodynamic-agriculture-20260505-0
summary:
The field sprays contain substances that stimulate plant growth including cytokinins. Some improvement in nutrient content of compost is evident from the ingredients included, but not necessarily as a result of the practices and exact preparations as Steiner described them. Although the preparations have direct nutrient values, modern biodynamic practitioners believe their benefit is to support the self-regulating capacities of the biota already present in the soil and compost. Critics of the practice have pointed out that no evidence or logic underlies the practices themselves, which instead are dependent on magical thinking and debunked theories of Steiner himself. There is no evidence that biodynamic practices have any benefit beyond the direct nutrients they add as fertilizer, which may itself be of smaller benefit than other traditionally organic or commercial fertilizers. ==== Field preparations ==== Field preparations, for stimulating humus formation: 500: A humus mixture prepared by filling a cow's horn with cow manure and burying it in the ground (40–60 cm below the surface) in the autumn. It is left to decompose during the winter and recovered for use as fertilizer the following spring. 501: Crushed powdered quartz stuffed into a cow's horn and buried in the ground in springtime


id: biodynamic-agriculture-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodynamic_agriculture-3.md
category: reference
title: Biodynamic agriculture
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodynamic_agriculture
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:23.917461+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: biodynamic-agriculture-20260505-0
summary:
== Reception == In a 2002 newspaper editorial, Peter Treue, agricultural researcher at the University of Kiel, characterized biodynamics as pseudoscience and argued that similar or equal results can be obtained using standard organic farming principles. He wrote that some biodynamic preparations more resemble alchemy or magic akin to geomancy. In a 1994 analysis, Holger Kirchmann, a soil researcher with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, concluded that Steiner's instructions were occult and dogmatic, and cannot contribute to the development of alternative or sustainable agriculture. According to Kirchmann, many of Steiner's statements are not provable because scientifically clear hypotheses cannot be made from his descriptions. Kirchmann asserted that when methods of biodynamic agriculture were tested scientifically, the results were unconvincing. Further, in a 2004 overview of biodynamic agriculture, Linda Chalker-Scott, a researcher at Washington State University, characterized biodynamics as pseudoscience, writing that Steiner did not use scientific methods to formulate his theory of biodynamics, and that the later addition of valid organic farming techniques has "muddled the discussion" of Steiner's original idea. Based on the scant scientific testing of biodynamics, Chalker-Scott concluded "no evidence exists" that homeopathic preparations improve the soil. In Michael Shermer's The Skeptic Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience, Dan


id: biomesotherapy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomesotherapy-0.md
category: reference
title: Biomesotherapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomesotherapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:25.062777+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: biomesotherapy-20260505-0
summary:
Biomesotherapy is a pseudoscientific therapy that combines homeopathy, mesotherapy, and acupuncture. Saline and/or homeopathic solutions are injected subcutaneously at or along traditional acupuncture sites. Oral administration of homeopathic formulations may also form part of the treatment. Biomesotherapy is marketed as a form of pain management or as a generalised wellness treatment. Biomesotherapy was implicated in a cluster of mycobacterial infections in Australia in 2008. This therapy involves the oral administration of a homeopathic remedy and the injection of a sterile saline solution into certain trigger points in the body with the aim of stimulating the organ systems, which is known as the cutivistic response. Biomesotherapy is claimed designed to relax tense muscles, and primarily aims to help the body heal itself and normalize the nervous system. This therapy is often used to treat pain as a result of joint disease or other musculoskeletal problems. Biomesotherapy is claimed to help the body to treat the root of the pain. Biomesotherapy is not recommended for the treatment of heart disease, high blood pressure, depression, AIDS etc. There is no evidence to the efficacy of the treatment. == References == This article incorporates public domain text from the CDC as cited.


id: biorhythm-pseudoscience-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biorhythm_(pseudoscience)-0.md
category: reference
title: Biorhythm (pseudoscience)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biorhythm_(pseudoscience)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:27.359615+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: biorhythm-pseudoscience-20260505-0
summary:
The biorhythm theory is the pseudoscientific idea that peoples' daily lives are significantly affected by rhythmic cycles with periods of exactly 23, 28 and 33 days, typically a 23-day physical cycle, a 28-day emotional cycle, and a 33-day intellectual cycle. The idea was developed by German otolaryngologist Wilhelm Fliess in the late 19th century, and was popularized in the United States in the late 1970s. The proposal has been independently tested and, consistently, no validity for it has been found. According to the notion of biorhythms, a person's life is influenced by rhythmic biological cycles that affect their ability in various domains, such as mental, physical, and emotional activity. These cycles begin at birth and oscillate in a steady (sine wave) fashion throughout life, and by modeling them mathematically, it is suggested that a person's level of ability in each of these domains can be predicted from day to day. It is built on the idea that the biofeedback chemical and hormonal secretion functions within the body could show a sinusoidal behavior over time. Most biorhythm models use three cycles: a 23-day physical cycle, a 28-day emotional cycle, and a 33-day intellectual cycle. These cycles are to be adjusted based


id: biorhythm-pseudoscience-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biorhythm_(pseudoscience)-1.md
category: reference
title: Biorhythm (pseudoscience)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biorhythm_(pseudoscience)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:27.359615+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: biorhythm-pseudoscience-20260505-0
summary:
An examination of some 134 biorhythm studies found that the theory is not valid (Hines, 1998). It is empirically testable and has been shown to be false. Terence Hines believes that this fact implies that biorhythm theory 'can not be properly termed a pseudoscientific theory'. However, when the advocates of an empirically testable theory refuse to give up the theory in the face of overwhelming evidence against it, it seems reasonable to call the theory pseudoscientific. For, in fact, the adherents to such a theory have declared by their behaviour that there is nothing that could falsify it, yet they continue to claim the theory is scientific. (from Carroll's The Skeptic's Dictionary) The physiologist Gordon Stein in the book Encyclopedia of Hoaxes (1993) wrote:Both the theoretical underpinning and the practical scientific verification of biorhythm theory are lacking. Without those, biorhythms became just another pseudoscientific claim that people are willing to accept without required evidence. Those pushing biorhythm calculators and books on a gullible public are guilty of making fraudulent claims. They are hoaxers of the public if they know what they are saying has no factual justification.A 1978 study of the incidence of industrial accidents found neither empirical nor theoretical


id: black-salve-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_salve-0.md
category: reference
title: Black salve
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_salve
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:29.804399+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: black-salve-20260505-0
summary:
Black salve, also known by the brand name Cansema, is an ineffective and unsafe alternative cancer treatment. The product is commonly classified as an escharotic—a topical paste which destroys skin tissue and leaves behind a scar called an eschar. Escharotics were widely used to treat skin lesions in the early 1900s, but have since been replaced by safer and more effective treatments. Escharotics, such as black salves, are currently advertised by some alternative medicine marketers as treatments for skin cancer, often with unsubstantiated testimonials and unsupported claims of effectiveness. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has listed Cansema as a "fake cancer cure" and warns consumers to avoid it. == Usages and dangers == Cancer salves were first utilized during the Victorian period. As the medical profession started to gain a better understanding, many home remedies, black salve as one example, started to be criticized by medical professionals. An example of this is documented and labeled as a form of quackery in a 1955 Time magazine article: A 37-year-old housewife had a skin condition that later (at Duke) proved not to be a cancer. Convinced that it was, she had gone to a backwoods healer, who applied a salve. Soon,


id: blood-type-diet-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_type_diet-0.md
category: reference
title: Blood type diet
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_type_diet
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:30.997847+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: blood-type-diet-20260505-0
summary:
The blood type diets are fad diets advocated by several authors, the most prominent of whom is Peter J. D'Adamo. These diets are based on the notion that blood type, according to the ABO blood group system, is the most important factor in determining a healthy diet, and each author recommends a distinct diet for each blood type. The consensus among dietitians, physicians, and scientists is that these diets are unsupported by scientific evidence. In what was apparently the first study testing whether there was any benefit to eating the "right" diet according to one's blood type, a study published in 2014 compared "biomarkers" such as body mass index, blood pressure, and serum cholesterol and insulin among young people, and assessed their diets over a period of a month. Based on one's diet each person was classified as tending to follow the blood-type diet recommended for O, A, or B. While there were significant differences in some biomarkers between these groups, there was no significant interaction between diet and biomarkers. In other words, those who were eating the "right" diet for their blood type did not show different biomarker values on average compared to those eating the "wrong" diet. The


id: blood-type-personality-theory-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_type_personality_theory-0.md
category: reference
title: Blood type personality theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_type_personality_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:32.145274+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: blood-type-personality-theory-20260505-0
summary:
The blood type personality theory is a pseudoscientific belief prevalent in East Asia that a person's blood type is predictive of a person's personality, temperament, and compatibility with others. The theory is generally considered a superstition by the scientific community. One of the reasons Japan developed the blood type personality indicator theory was in reaction to a claim from German scientist Emil von Dungern, that blood type B people were inferior. The popular belief originates with publications by Masahiko Nomi in the 1970s. Although some medical hypotheses have been proposed in support of blood type personality theory, the scientific community generally dismisses blood type personality theories as superstition or pseudoscience because of lack of evidence or testable criteria. Although research into the causal link between blood type and personality is limited, the majority of modern studies do not demonstrate any statistically significant association between the two. Some studies suggest that there is a statistically significant relationship between blood type and personality, although it is unclear if this is simply due to a self-fulfilling prophecy. == Overview == According to popular belief, people with type A blood are friendly and kind but also obsessive and anxious, people with type B are


id: blood-type-personality-theory-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_type_personality_theory-1.md
category: reference
title: Blood type personality theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_type_personality_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:32.145274+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: blood-type-personality-theory-20260505-0
summary:
=== Controversial statistically significant data === However, some academic researchers have shown several statistically significant data in Japan and Korea. Akira Sakamoto and Kenji Yamazaki, Japanese social psychologists, analyzed 32,347 samples of annual opinion polls from 1978 through 1988. These results indicated that Japanese blood-typical stereotypes influenced their self-reported personalities – like a self-fulfilling prophecy. Cosy Muto and Masahiro Nagashima et al. (Nagasaki University) conducted a supplementary survey of Yamazaki and Sakamoto in 2011. They demonstrated that significant and the same difference in personalities between blood-types by using the same database as Samamoto and Yamazaki used. In the 1990s, the difference due to blood types was stabilized and variances became smaller. Then in the 2000s, the difference was statistically significant, too. However, the effect magnitude was extremely small, despite 'significance' in the statistical sense. Another Japanese social psychologist, Shigeyuki Yamaoka (Shotoku University), announced results of his questionnaires, which were conducted in 1999 (1,300 subjects) and 2006 (1,362 subjects), In both cases, the subjects were university students, and only subjects with enough knowledge of and belief in the "blood-type diagnosis" showed meaningful differences. He concluded that these differences must be the influence of mass media, especially TV programs. Yamaoka later examined


id: blood-type-personality-theory-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_type_personality_theory-2.md
category: reference
title: Blood type personality theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_type_personality_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:32.145274+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: blood-type-personality-theory-20260505-0
summary:
== Popularity == In Japan, blood types are often used in women's magazines to determine relationship compatibility with potential or current partners. Blood type horoscopes are featured in morning television shows and daily newspapers. The blood types of celebrities are often listed in their infoboxes on Japanese Wikipedia. The four books of a series that describe people's character by blood type each ranked third, fourth, fifth, and ninth on a list of best-selling books in Japan in 2008. One survey showed that at least two-thirds of respondents from Chinese-speaking East Asian countries and regions believe in an association between blood types and personality. In a Japanese survey, more than half of Japanese respondents stated they were fond of talking about personalities based on blood types. The research also stated that people in Japan like blood-typical personality diagnoses, believe there is a relationship between blood type and personality, and feel its traits apply to themselves to a certain degree. Two other surveys showed similar results. Although there is no proven correlation between blood type and personality, many matchmaking services use it. In this way, it is similar to the use of astrological signs, which are also popular in Japan. Asking one's


id: bloodletting-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodletting-0.md
category: reference
title: Bloodletting
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodletting
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:33.324303+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: bloodletting-20260505-0
summary:
Bloodletting (or blood-letting) is the deliberate withdrawal of blood from a patient to prevent or cure illness and disease. Bloodletting, whether by a physician or by leeches, was based on an ancient system of medicine in which blood and other bodily fluids were regarded as "humors" that had to remain in proper balance to maintain health. It was the most common medical practice performed by surgeons from antiquity until the late 19th century, a span of over 2,000 years. In Europe, the practice continued to be relatively common until the end of the 19th century. The practice has been abandoned by modern-style medicine for all except a few very specific medical conditions. In the beginning of the 19th century, studies had begun to show the harmful effects of bloodletting. The modern term phlebotomy refers to the drawing of blood for laboratory analysis or blood transfusion. Therapeutic phlebotomy refers to the drawing of a unit of blood in specific cases like hemochromatosis, polycythemia vera, porphyria cutanea tarda, etc., to reduce the number of red blood cells. The traditional medical practice of bloodletting is considered a pseudoscience, though the method is still commonly used in forms of alternative medicine. == In the


id: bloodletting-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodletting-1.md
category: reference
title: Bloodletting
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodletting
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:33.324303+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: bloodletting-20260505-0
summary:
A number of different methods were employed. The most common was phlebotomy, or venesection (often called "breathing a vein"), in which blood was drawn from one or more of the larger external veins, such as those in the forearm or neck. In arteriotomy, an artery was punctured, although generally only in the temples. In scarification (not to be confused with scarification, a method of body modification), the "superficial" vessels were attacked, often using a syringe, a spring-loaded lancet, or a glass cup that contained heated air, producing a vacuum within (see fire cupping). There was also a specific bloodletting tool called a scarificator, used primarily in 19th century medicine. It has a spring-loaded mechanism with gears that snaps the blades out through slits in the front cover and back in, in a circular motion. The case is cast brass, and the mechanism and blades steel. One knife bar gear has slipped teeth, turning the blades in a different direction than those on the other bars. The last photo and the diagram show the depth adjustment bar at the back and sides. Leeches could also be used. The withdrawal of so much blood as to induce syncope (fainting) was considered beneficial,


id: bloodletting-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodletting-2.md
category: reference
title: Bloodletting
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodletting
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:33.324303+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: bloodletting-20260505-0
summary:
One reason for the continued popularity of bloodletting (and purging) was that, while anatomical knowledge, surgical and diagnostic skills increased tremendously in Europe from the 17th century, the key to curing disease remained elusive, and the underlying belief was that it was better to give any treatment than nothing at all. The psychological benefit of bloodletting to the patient (a placebo effect) may sometimes have outweighed the physiological problems it caused. Bloodletting slowly lost favour during the 19th century, after French physician Dr. Pierre Louis conducted an experiment in which he studied the effect of bloodletting on pneumonia patients. A number of other ineffective or harmful treatments were available as placebos—mesmerism, various processes involving the new technology of electricity, many potions, tonics, and elixirs. Yet, bloodletting persisted during the 19th century partly because it was readily available to people of any socioeconomic status. Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English write that the popularity of bloodletting and heroic medicine in general was because of a need to justify medical billing. Traditional healing techniques had been mostly practiced by women within a non-commercial family or village setting. As male doctors suppressed these techniques, they found it difficult to quantify various "amounts" of healing


id: bloodletting-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodletting-3.md
category: reference
title: Bloodletting
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloodletting
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:33.324303+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: bloodletting-20260505-0
summary:
Bloodletting is not self-administered. Out of 14 cultures in which the bloodletting practitioner was mentioned, the practitioner was always a third party. 13 out of 14 of the cultures had practitioners with roles related to medicine, while one culture had a practitioner whose role was not related to medicine. The idea of bloodletting removing "bad blood" that needs to be taken out was common, and was explicitly mentioned in 10 out of 14 cultures studied with detailed descriptions of bloodletting. Bloodletting is not thought to be effective against illness caused supernaturally by humans (e.g., witchcraft). This is surprising, because in most cultures witchcraft and sorcery can be blamed for ailments. But out of 14 cultures with detailed bloodletting descriptions, there was no evidence of bloodletting being used to cure witchcraft-related ailments, while bloodletting was recorded as a cure for ailments of other origins. The Azande culture has been recorded to believe that bloodletting does not work to cure human-related witchcraft ailments. Bloodletting is usually administered directly to the affected area, e.g. if the patient has a headache, a cut is made on the forehead. Out of 14 cultures with information on the localization of bloodletting, 11 at least sometimes removed


id: blue-monday-date-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Monday_(date)-0.md
category: reference
title: Blue Monday (date)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Monday_(date)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:34.512242+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: blue-monday-date-20260505-0
summary:
Blue Monday is a day in January (typically the third Monday of the month) which is said by UK travel agency Sky Travel to be the most depressing day of the year. It takes into account weather conditions and thus only applies to the Northern Hemisphere temperate zones. The day was given its name by former Cardiff University health psychologist Cliff Arnall in 2005. Arnall is a member of The British Psychological Society (BPS). Some have dismissed the idea as pseudoscience. Mental health advocacy groups, including the Samaritans and Mind, have used Blue Monday to facilitate talk about mental health. == Date == The date is generally reported as falling on the third Monday in January, but also on the second or fourth Monday. The first such date declared was 24 January in 2005 as part of a Sky Travel press release. == Calculation == The Blue Monday formula is expressed as: [ W + ( D − d ) ] × T Q M × N a {\displaystyle {\frac {[W+(D-d)]\times T^{Q}}{M\times N_{a}}}} Where: W {\displaystyle W} = Weather/Light exposure D − d {\displaystyle D-d} = Debt minus ability to pay T {\displaystyle T} = Time since Christmas Q {\displaystyle


id: body-memory-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_memory-0.md
category: reference
title: Body memory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_memory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:35.721939+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: body-memory-20260505-0
summary:
Body memory (BM) is a hypothesis that the body itself is capable of storing memories, as opposed to only the brain. While experiments have demonstrated the possibility of cellular memory, there are currently no known means by which tissues other than the brain would be capable of storing memories. Modern usage of BM tends to frame it exclusively in the context of traumatic memory and ways in which the body responds to recall of a memory. In this regard, it has become relevant in treatment for PTSD. == Overview == Peter Levine calls BM implicit memory or more specifically procedural memory, things that the body is capable of doing automatically and not in one's consciousness. He clarifies 3 types of BM and frames his work in terms of traumatic memory consequence and resolution: Learned motor actions - Action patterns that can be continuously modified over time by higher brain regions. Emergency response - Hardwired instinctual behaviors (i.e., fight or flight response, etc...). Attraction or repulsion - We are attracted to sources of nourishment and growth and repulsed from sources of injury or toxicity. Nicola Diamond elaborates on the opinion of philosopher Merleau-Ponty and asserts that BM is formed by doing.


id: body-memory-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_memory-1.md
category: reference
title: Body memory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_memory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:35.721939+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: body-memory-20260505-0
summary:
=== Stress and emotional memory === The hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis, through the release of glucocorticoids like cortisol, plays a pivotal role in stress and emotional memory. Cortisol enhances the consolidation of emotionally charged memories by modulating hippocampal activity, yet it can impair memory retrieval. This dual effect is supported by research showing that glucocorticoids improve consolidation of long-term memory, particularly for emotionally valenced information, while impairing retrieval processes. Dysregulation of this pathway is implicated in stress-related disorders such as PTSD, where the over-consolidation of fear-based memories occurs. Studies have demonstrated that glucocorticoids facilitate memory encoding but may compromise the retrieval of information, creating a dynamic interplay between memory formation and stress responses. Recent research has further elucidated how chronic stress shapes neural networks. Prolonged exposure to high cortisol levels can reduce hippocampal volume and inhibit neurogenesis, weakening the brain's capacity to form new memories while reinforcing maladaptive ones. Those same studies have shown that chronic exposure to elevated cortisol levels, whether through stress or medical conditions, can lead to morphological changes in the hippocampus, suppress neuronal proliferation, and reduce hippocampal volume. The dynamic interplay between memory formation and stress responses is evident in the research demonstrating that glucocorticoids facilitate memory


id: body-memory-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_memory-2.md
category: reference
title: Body memory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_memory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:35.721939+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: body-memory-20260505-0
summary:
=== Flatworms === Biologists at Tufts University have been able to train flatworms despite the loss of the brain and head. This may show memory stored in other parts of the body in some animals. A worm reduced to 1/279th of the original can be regrown within a few weeks and be trained much quicker to head towards light and open space for food, an unnatural behavior for a flatworm. With each head removed training times appear reduced. This may just be a sign of epigenetics showing the appearance of memory. However, in the 1950s and 1960s James McConnell flatworm experiments measured how long it took to learn a maze. McConnell trained some to move around a maze and then chopped them up and fed them to untrained worms. The untrained group learned faster compared to a control that had not been fed trained worms. McConnell believed the experiment indicated cellular memory. The training involved stressing the worms with electric shock. This kind of stress releases persistent hormones and shows no evidence for memory transfer. Similar experiments with mice being trained and being fed to untrained mice showed improved learning. It was not a memory that was transferred but hormone


id: bone-setting-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone-setting-0.md
category: reference
title: Bone-setting
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone-setting
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:38.201225+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: bone-setting-20260505-0
summary:
Bone-setting is a type of a folk medicine in which practitioners engage in joint manipulation, such as reducing joint dislocations and resetting bone fractures. The practice dates back thousands of years, has appeared throughout the globe, and predates formal training in accepted modern medical procedures. Before the advent of chiropractors, osteopaths, and physical therapists, bone-setters were the main providers of this type of treatment. == History == The practice of joint manipulation and treating fractures dates back to ancient times and has roots in most countries. The earliest known medical text, the Edwin Smith papyrus of 1552 BC, describes the Ancient Egyptian treatment of bone-related injuries. These early bone-setters would treat fractures with wooden splints wrapped in bandages or make a cast around the injury out of a plaster-like mixture. It is unknown whether they performed amputations. In the 16th century, monks and nuns with some knowledge of medicine became healers and bone-setters after the dissolution of monasteries in the British Isles. However, many bone-setters were non-religious, and most were self-taught. Their skills were then passed on from generation to generation, creating families of bone-setters. Notable families include the Taylor family of Whitworth, the Thomas family of Anglesey and the


id: bourgeois-pseudoscience-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourgeois_pseudoscience-0.md
category: reference
title: Bourgeois pseudoscience
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourgeois_pseudoscience
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:39.413064+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: bourgeois-pseudoscience-20260505-0
summary:
Bourgeois pseudoscience (Russian: буржуазная лженаука, burzhuaznaya lzhenauka) was a term of condemnation in the Soviet Union for certain scientific disciplines that were deemed unacceptable from an ideological point of view due to their incompatibility with Marxism–Leninism. At various times pronounced "bourgeois pseudosciences" were: Mendelian genetics, cybernetics (artificial intelligence), quantum physics, theory of relativity,, geopolitics, sociology and particular directions in comparative linguistics (the now-debunked Japhetic theory of Nikolay Yakovlevich Marr, which was also refuted by Joseph Stalin in "Marxism and Problems of Linguistics"). The term was not used by Stalin himself, who rejected the notion that all sciences must have a class nature. Stalin removed all mention of “bourgeois biology” from Trofim Lysenko’s report, The State of Biology in the Soviet Union, and in the margin next to the statement that “any science is based on class” Stalin wrote, “Ha-ha-ha!! And what about mathematics? Or Darwinism?” The term or its synonyms was used in the 1951 and 1954 editions of the Short Philosophical Dictionary: "Cybernetic is a reactionary pseudoscience originated in the United States... A form of modern mechanicism.", "Eugenics is a bourgeois pseudoscience", "Weismannism-Morganism - bourgeois pseudoscience, designed to justify capitalism". Today, most scholars agree in characterizing eugenics as rooted


id: brain-washing-book-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-Washing_(book)-0.md
category: reference
title: Brain-Washing (book)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-Washing_(book)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:40.558555+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: brain-washing-book-20260505-0
summary:
Brain-Washing: A Synthesis of the Russian Textbook on Psychopolitics is a Red Scare, black propaganda book, first published by the Church of Scientology in 1955 about brainwashing. The text falsely claims to be a synthesis of existing, actual brainwashing manuals circulating in the Soviet Union. Several different versions were distributed with somewhat different contents. Its actual author is unclear; it is widely believed to have been authored by Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, though radical rightist activist Kenneth Goff claimed to be its compiler and some believe he was the author. In this text, many of the practices Scientology opposes (psychiatry teaching, brain surgery, electroshock, income tax) are described as communist-led conspiracies, and its technical content is limited to suggesting more of these practices on behalf of the Soviet Union. The text also describes the Church of Scientology as the greatest threat to communism. There are some differences in the various versions of the text in circulation. The Church of Scientology withdrew it from publication several months later; it continued to be distributed, largely by far-right groups, based on the version distributed by Goff. == Background and publication == The text claims to be a synthesis of various


id: brain-washing-book-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-Washing_(book)-1.md
category: reference
title: Brain-Washing (book)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-Washing_(book)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:40.558555+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: brain-washing-book-20260505-0
summary:
Some, including Morris Kominsky, suggest that the author was Kenneth Goff. Goff, a former Communist who later became a radical antisemite, authored numerous tracts on a variety of topics. He claimed that he had been "conditioned" into communism by Soviet forces, and some of his works prior to the publication of the manual dealt with brainwashing as a theme. Goff personally claimed that he was the original compiler of the book, but had not authored the material. After Goff died, far-right activist Gordon Mohr, who knew Goff, denied that Hubbard wrote it and instead credited it to Goff. Several versions of the book list Goff as the author, while a number of publishers avoid the difficulty of authorship by listing the author as "anonymous." However, none of the versions attributed to him are dated and there is no evidence they predate the Scientology publication. Kominsky claimed that Goff wrote it. Introvigne doubted that it had been written by Goff, calling the material far different than his style, which he called "quite unpolished" and lacking familiarity with psychological jargon. Introvigne concluded that "there is more evidence, and good arguments, for a Hubbard rather than a Goff authorship". == Content == There


id: brainspotting-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainspotting-0.md
category: reference
title: Brainspotting
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainspotting
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:41.731435+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: brainspotting-20260505-0
summary:
Brainspotting is a psychotherapy approach developed in 2003 that aims to help individuals process psychological trauma and other distress by maintaining specific eye positions believed to be linked to unprocessed experiences. The evidence base for brainspotting is limited; small pilot and comparative studies suggest possible benefits, but its theoretical foundations have not been empirically validated. Several psychologists characterize brainspotting as a pseudoscience or fringe medicine, though some consider it to be an emerging therapy. == History == Therapist David Grand indicates he developed brainspotting in 2003 after working with 9/11 survivors and other patients. David Grand was previously trained in psychoanalysis in the 1980s and EMDR in 1993. He combined EMDR, psychoanalysis, and somatic experiencing into a modality he titled “Natural Flow EMDR,” which became the precursor for brainspotting. == Technique == Grand states that the motto of brainspotting is, “Where you look affects how you feel”. He has hypothesized that allowing one’s gaze to be focused on a specific external location will maintain the brain’s focus on an internal location where traumatic memories are stored, which would promote processing of these memories. Grand believes that influencing the visual field will influence neurological and psychological processes. Currently, no such evidence


id: brilliant-light-power-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brilliant_Light_Power-0.md
category: reference
title: Brilliant Light Power
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brilliant_Light_Power
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:42.960234+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: brilliant-light-power-20260505-0
summary:
Brilliant Light Power, Inc. (BLP), formerly BlackLight Power, Inc. of Cranbury, New Jersey, is a company founded by Randell L. Mills, who claims to have discovered a new energy source from what he says is the electron in a hydrogen atom dropping below its ground energy state into a "hydrino state". The claims lack corroborating scientific evidence and the proposed hydrino states are unphysical and incompatible with key equations of quantum mechanics. BLP has announced several times that it was about to deliver commercial products based on Mill's theories but has never delivered any working product. Mills has self-published a closely related book, The Grand Unified Theory of Classical Physics and has co-authored numerous articles on hydrino-related phenomena. Critical analyses have been published in the peer reviewed journals Physics Letters A, New Journal of Physics, Journal of Applied Physics, and Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics. In 2009, IEEE Spectrum magazine characterized it as a "loser" technology because "most experts don't believe such lower states exist, and they say the experiments don't present convincing evidence" and mentioned that physicist Wolfgang Ketterle had said the claims are "nonsense". == Company == The company, originally called HydroCatalysis Inc., was founded in 1991


id: brilliant-light-power-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brilliant_Light_Power-1.md
category: reference
title: Brilliant Light Power
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brilliant_Light_Power
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:42.960234+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: brilliant-light-power-20260505-0
summary:
== Criticism == In 1999, the Nobel prize winning physicist Philip Warren Anderson said he is "sure that it's a fraud", and in the same year another Nobel prize winning physicist, Steven Chu, called it "extremely unlikely". The following year, a 2000 patent based on its hydrino-related technology was later withdrawn by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) due to contradictions with known physics laws and other concerns about the viability of the described processes, citing Park and others. An April 2000 editorial column by Robert L. Park and an outside query by an unknown person prompted Group Director Esther Kepplinger of the USPTO to review this new patent herself. Kepplinger said that her "main concern was the proposition that the applicant was claiming the electron going to a lower orbital in a fashion that I knew was contrary to the known laws of physics and chemistry", and that the patent appeared to involve cold fusion and perpetual motion. Kepplinger contacted another Director, Robert Spar, who also expressed doubts on the patentability of the patent application. This caused the USPTO to withdraw from issue the patent application before it was granted and re-open it for review, and to


id: brilliant-light-power-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brilliant_Light_Power-2.md
category: reference
title: Brilliant Light Power
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brilliant_Light_Power
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:42.960234+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: brilliant-light-power-20260505-0
summary:
"BlackLight Power (BLP), founded 17 years ago as HydroCatalysis, announced last week that the company had successfully tested a prototype power system that would generate 50 KW of thermal power. BLP anticipates delivery of the new power system in 12 to 18 months. The BLP process, discovered by Randy Mills, is said to coax hydrogen atoms into a "state below the ground state", called the "hydrino". There is no independent scientific confirmation of the hydrino, and BLP has a patent problem. So they have nothing to sell but bull shit. The company is therefore dependent on investors with deep pockets and shallow brains." – Park In 2008, Robert L. Park wrote that BLP has benefited from wealthy investors who allocate a proportion of their funds to risky ventures with a potentially huge upside, but that in the case of BLP since the science underlying the offering was "just wrong" investment risk was, in Park's view, "infinite". Various scientists also voiced their opinions as far back as the 1990s. Steven Chu, Nobel Laureate in Physics in 1997, said "it's extremely unlikely that this is real, and I feel sorry for the funders, the people who are backing this". In 1999, Princeton


id: brilliant-light-power-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brilliant_Light_Power-3.md
category: reference
title: Brilliant Light Power
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brilliant_Light_Power
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:42.960234+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: brilliant-light-power-20260505-0
summary:
== Peer-reviewed criticisms == In the 2000s, several reviewed articles were published criticizing Hydrino theory for being incompatible with Quantum Mechanics. For example, in 2005, Andreas Rathke of the European Space Agency, publishing in the New Journal of Physics, wrote that Mills' description of quantum mechanics is "inconsistent and has several serious deficiencies", and that there is "no theoretical support of the hydrino hypothesis". Rathke said it would be helpful if Mills' experimental results could be independently replicated, and suggested that any evidence produced should be reconsidered in the context of a conventional physical explanation. One inconsistency of Mills' CQM with quantum mechanics regards its inability to be reconciled with the probability density function in quantum mechanics. Rathke stated, "However, while solutions of the Schrödinger equation with n<1 indeed exist, they are not square integrable. This violates not only an axiom of quantum mechanics, but in practical terms prohibits that these solutions can in any way describe the probability density of a particle." In the same year, the Journal of Applied Physics published a critique by A.V. Phelps of the 2004 article, "Water bath calorimetric study of excess heat generation in resonant transfer plasmas" by J. Phillips, R. Mills and


id: burzynski-clinic-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burzynski_Clinic-0.md
category: reference
title: Burzynski Clinic
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burzynski_Clinic
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:44.243805+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: burzynski-clinic-20260505-0
summary:
The Burzynski Clinic is a clinic selling an unproven cancer treatment, which has been characterized as harmful quackery. It was founded in 1976 and is located in Houston, Texas, in the United States. It offers a form of chemotherapy originally called "antineoplaston therapy" devised by the clinic's founder Stanislaw Burzynski in the 1970s. Antineoplaston is Burzynski's term for a group of urine-derived peptides, peptide derivatives, and mixtures. There is no accepted scientific evidence of benefit from antineoplaston combinations for various diseases, and the Clinic's claimed successes have not been replicated by independent researchers. The therapy has been rebranded in various ways over the years to mirror fashions in medicine, for example as a kind of "immunotherapy". The therapy is administered through the ruse of running a large numbers of clinical trials, which long-time Burzynski lawyer Richard Jaffe described as "a joke". The clinic has been the focus of criticism primarily due to the way its antineoplaston therapy is promoted, the costs for people with cancer participating in trials of antineoplastons and problems with the way these trials are run. Legal cases have been brought as a result of the sale of the therapy without regulatory approval. Burzynski is also the


id: burzynski-clinic-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burzynski_Clinic-1.md
category: reference
title: Burzynski Clinic
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burzynski_Clinic
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:44.243805+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: burzynski-clinic-20260505-0
summary:
According to the National Cancer Institute, as of August 2019, "no phase III randomized, controlled trials of antineoplastons as a treatment for cancer have been conducted. Publications have taken the form of case reports, phase I clinical trials, toxicity studies, and phase II clinical trials", and "for the most part, these publications have been authored by the developer of the therapy, Dr. Burzynski, in conjunction with his associates at the Burzynski Clinic. Although these studies often report remissions, other investigators have not been successful in duplicating these results." From 1991 to 1995, the NCI initiated multiple phase II trials of antineoplastons. In 1995, after over $1 million had been spent on these trials, they were stopped due to fundamental conflicts between NCI investigators and Burzynski and his employees, notably around Burzynski's insistence on approving all protocols in the NCI trial. Since the mid-1990s, Burzynski registered some sixty clinical trials of antineoplastons and, in December 2010, a Phase III trial that did not open for patient recruitment. The results of these trials are seldom published in reputable journals, and the few that have been do not confirm the worth of the clinic's treatments. The aim of registering so many trials, according


id: burzynski-clinic-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burzynski_Clinic-2.md
category: reference
title: Burzynski Clinic
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burzynski_Clinic
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:44.243805+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: burzynski-clinic-20260505-0
summary:
=== FDA warnings === In 1978, FDA representatives warned Burzynski that he was violating federal law because he was not administering antineoplastons in the context of a clinical trial. In 1981, FDA wrote in a letter, "the FDA advises persons who inquire about Burzynski's alleged cure that we do not believe the drug is fit for administration to humans and that there is no reason to believe Dr. Burzynski has discovered an effective cure for cancer." In 1996, Burzynski's use and advertising of antineoplastons as an unapproved cancer therapy were deemed to be unlawful by the U.S. FDA and the Texas Attorney General, and limits on the sale and advertising of the treatment were imposed as a result. In 2009, the FDA issued a warning letter to the Burzynski Research Institute, stating that an investigation had determined the Burzynski Institutional Review Board (IRB) "did not adhere to the applicable statutory requirements and FDA regulations governing the protection of human subjects." It identified a number of specific findings, among them that the IRB had approved research without ensuring risk to patients was minimized, had failed to prepare required written procedures or retain required documentation, and had failed to conduct required continuing


id: burzynski-clinic-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burzynski_Clinic-3.md
category: reference
title: Burzynski Clinic
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burzynski_Clinic
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:44.243805+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: burzynski-clinic-20260505-0
summary:
Another warning issued in October 2012 notes that the Burzynski Clinic is advertising investigational drugs as being "safe and effective", noting: Promotion of an investigational new drug is prohibited under FDA regulations at 21 CFR 312.7(a), which states, "A sponsor or investigator, or any person acting on behalf of a sponsor or investigator, shall not represent in a promotional context that an investigational new drug is safe or effective for the purposes for which it is under investigation or otherwise promote the drug. This provision is not intended to restrict the full exchange of scientific information concerning the drug, including dissemination of scientific findings in scientific or lay media. Rather, its intent is to restrict promotional claims of safety or effectiveness of the drug for a use for which it is under investigation and to preclude commercialization of the drug before it is approved for commercial distribution."The websites, including the posted press releases and embedded videos, contain claims such as the following that promote Antineoplastons as safe and/or effective for the purposes for which they are being investigated or otherwise promote the drugs. [...] Since Antineoplastons are investigational new drugs, the products' indication(s), warnings, precautions, adverse reactions, and dosage and


id: burzynski-clinic-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burzynski_Clinic-4.md
category: reference
title: Burzynski Clinic
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burzynski_Clinic
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:44.243805+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: burzynski-clinic-20260505-0
summary:
=== Texas Medical Board === In December 2010, the use of chemotherapeutic agents by the clinic has been characterized as "random" and their use of unapproved combinations "with no known benefits but clear harms" by the Texas Medical Board, which regulates and licenses physicians in the state of Texas, led to a case against Burzynski by that board. Burzynski was acquitted because he had not personally written the prescriptions. In July 2014, the board filed a 202-page complaint against Burzynski to the Texas State Office of Administrative Hearings. The complaint addressed allegations by the Board including misleading patients into paying exorbitant charges, misrepresenting unlicensed persons to patients as licensed medical doctors, and misleading patients into accepting care from providers without significant education or training related to cancer treatment. Citing examples of problems with 29 patients, which were listed in the document, the board said that "unapproved combinations of highly toxic chemotherapy" were prescribed "in ways that caused harm to several patients." In July 2015, Burzynski's counsel, Richard Jaffe, withdrew from the case citing a potential conflict of interest, a result of Jaffe's pursuing actions against Burzynski in bankruptcy court. With the addition of replacement counsel, the hearing was set to


id: burzynski-clinic-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burzynski_Clinic-5.md
category: reference
title: Burzynski Clinic
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burzynski_Clinic
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:44.243805+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: burzynski-clinic-20260505-0
summary:
=== Legal threats to online critics === In November 2011, a music writer and editor for the British newspaper The Observer sought help raising £200,000 to have his 4-year-old niece, who was diagnosed with glioma, treated at the Burzynski Clinic. Several bloggers reported other cases of patients who had spent similar amounts of money on the treatment, and had died, and challenged the validity of Burzynski's treatments. Marc Stephens, identifying himself as a representative of the Burzynski Clinic, sent emails accusing them of libel and demanding that coverage of Burzynski be removed from their sites. One of the bloggers who received threatening e-mails from Stephens was Rhys Morgan, a 17-year-old sixth-form student from Cardiff, Wales, at the time, previously noted for exposing the Miracle Mineral Supplement. Another was Andy Lewis, a skeptic and publisher of the Quackometer blog. Following the publicity fallout resulting from the legal threats made by Stephens against the bloggers, the Burzynski Clinic issued a press release on November 29, 2011, confirming that the Clinic had hired Stephens "to provide web optimization services and to attempt to stop the dissemination of false and inaccurate information concerning Dr. Burzynski and the Clinic", apologizing for comments made by Stephens


id: buteyko-method-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buteyko_method-0.md
category: reference
title: Buteyko method
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buteyko_method
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:45.441681+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: buteyko-method-20260505-0
summary:
The Buteyko method or Buteyko breathing technique is a practice used to help regulate breathing, primarily as a treatment for asthma and other respiratory conditions. Buteyko asserts that numerous medical conditions, including asthma, are caused or exacerbated by chronically increased respiratory rate or hyperventilation. The method aims to correct hyperventilation and encourage shallower, slower breathing. Treatments include a series of reduced-breathing exercises that focus on nasal-breathing, breath-holding and relaxation. Advocates of the Buteyko method claim that it can alleviate symptoms and reliance on medication for patients with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and chronic hyperventilation. The medical community questions these claims, given limited and inadequate evidence supporting the theory and efficacy of the method. == History == The Buteyko method was originally developed in the 1950s by physiologist Konstantin Buteyko in the Soviet Union. The first official study into the effectiveness of the Buteyko method on asthma was undertaken in 1968 at the Leningrad Institute of Pulmonology. The second, held at the First Moscow Institute of Pediatric Diseases in April 1980, eventually led to the head of the ministry of health to issue an order (No 591) for the implementation of the Buteyko method in the treatment of bronchial


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: 2026-05-05T09:17:46.683248+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: camel-urine-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camel_urine-0.md
category: reference
title: Camel urine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camel_urine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:47.855252+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: camel-urine-20260505-0
summary:
Camel urine is a liquid by-product of metabolism in a camel's anatomy. Urine from camels has been used in medicine for centuries, being a part of Bedouin, ayurvedic, and Islamic Prophetic medicine. According to the World Health Organization, the use of camel urine as a medicine lacks scientific evidence. After the spread of MERS-CoV infections, the WHO urged people to refrain from drinking "raw camel milk or camel urine or eating meat that has not been properly cooked". == Composition == Camel urine comes out as a thick syrup. The kidneys and intestines of a camel are very efficient at reabsorbing water. Camels' kidneys have a 1:4 cortex to medulla ratio. Thus, the medullary part of a camel's kidney occupies twice as much area as a cow's kidney. Secondly, the camel's renal corpuscles have a smaller diameter, which reduces surface area for filtration. These two major anatomical characteristics enable camels to conserve water and limit the volume of urine in extreme desert conditions. Each kidney of an Arabian camel has a capacity of around 0.86 litres and can produce urine with high chloride concentrations. Like the horse, the dromedary has no gall bladder, an organ that requires water to function.


id: candida-hypersensitivity-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candida_hypersensitivity-0.md
category: reference
title: Candida hypersensitivity
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candida_hypersensitivity
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:49.029802+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: candida-hypersensitivity-20260505-0
summary:
Candida hypersensitivity is a pseudoscientific syndrome promoted by William G. Crook, M.D. It is spuriously claimed that chronic yeast infections are responsible for many common disorders and non-specific symptoms including fatigue, weight gain, constipation, dizziness, muscle and joint pain, asthma, and others. == Background == Candida albicans is a fungus that colonizes a large majority of the population (meaning it is present in the body but not causing an infection or any problems). Under certain conditions, however, it can cause an infection. The most common manifestations are thrush (a superficial Candida infection in the mouth) and vaginitis, also commonly referred to as a yeast infection. Several Candida species can also cause a serious infection known as invasive candidiasis, which can be systemic if blood borne (candidaemia). This is almost always restricted to those with compromised immune systems, such as patients undergoing chemotherapy or with advanced AIDS, or undergoing medical treatments. == Symptoms == After reading publications by C. Orian Truss, M.D., Crook proposed the idea that a condition he termed systemic candidiasis, or Candida hypersensitivity, was responsible for a long list of common conditions and non-specific symptoms including fatigue, asthma, psoriasis, sexual dysfunction, and many others. The list of symptoms


id: carctol-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carctol-0.md
category: reference
title: Carctol
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carctol
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:50.214923+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: carctol-20260505-0
summary:
Carctol is an ineffective cancer treatment made by mixing eight Indian herbs. First promoted in 1968 by Nandlal Tiwari, it gained widespread popularity in United Kingdom. Carctol has been aggressively marketed as being able to treat cancer and reduce the side-effects of chemotherapy. However, there is no medical evidence that it has any benefits whatsoever for people with cancer. == Background == Carctol is a herbal dietary supplement marketed with claims it is based on traditional ayurvedic medicine. It is made from Hemidesmus indicus, Tribulus terrestris, Piper cubeba, Ammani vesicatoria, Lepidium sativum, Blepharis edulis, Smilax china, and Rheum australe (syn. R. emodi). It was In 2009, Edzard Ernst wrote that it was still promoted in the United Kingdom; public relations companies hired by its sellers had garnered it wide coverage on the web and, according to the British Medical Journal, in the media generally. == Criticism == Edzard Ernst has noted a complete absence of any form of scientific evidence to assert that carctol is any beneficial to cancer patients. A few studies about the chemical composition of carctol along with inconclusive surveys of patients who used it were noted to be published in non-peer reviewed journals. Cancer Research UK


id: carnivore-diet-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnivore_diet-0.md
category: reference
title: Carnivore diet
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnivore_diet
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:52.701527+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: carnivore-diet-20260505-0
summary:
The carnivore diet (also called a zero carb diet) is a high-protein fad diet in which only animal products such as meat, dairy and eggs are consumed. The carnivore diet is associated with pseudoscientific health claims. The diet lacks dietary fiber, can lead to deficiencies of vitamins, and can increase the risk of chronic diseases. The lion diet is a highly restrictive form of the carnivore diet, in which only beef is eaten. A recent fad inspired by the carnivore diet is the animal-based diet in which fruit, honey and raw dairy are added. == History == The idea of an exclusive meat diet can be traced to the German writer Bernard Moncriff, author of The Philosophy of the Stomach: Or, An Exclusively Animal Diet in 1856, who spent a year living on only beef and milk. In the 1870s, Italian physician Arnaldo Cantani prescribed his diabetic patients an exclusive animal-based diet. In the 1880s an American, James H. Salisbury, advocated a meat diet consisting of 2 to 4 pounds of lean beef and 3 to 5 pints of hot water daily for 4 to 12 weeks. It became known as the meat and hot water diet, or Salisbury diet.


id: caspian-race-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspian_race-0.md
category: reference
title: Caspian race
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caspian_race
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:53.947156+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: caspian-race-20260505-0
summary:
The Caspian race was a supposed sub-race of the Caucasian race in the context of a now-outdated model of dividing humanity into different races which was developed originally by Europeans in support of colonialism. The term was used by M. G. Abdushelishvili (1979) as constituting a branch of the Mediterranean race or Irano-Afghan race. In Soviet-era anthropology, the term was used to include Tats and Azerbaijanis. The Caspian race was said to be prevalent among the Azerbaijanis, Kumyks and Tsakhurs. Genrietta Leonidovna Khit said that as a form of racial admixture the Caspian subtype was represented among Turkmens and Talyshs. == Notes ==


id: cataclysmic-pole-shift-hypothesis-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cataclysmic_pole_shift_hypothesis-0.md
category: reference
title: Cataclysmic pole shift hypothesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cataclysmic_pole_shift_hypothesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:55.185842+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: cataclysmic-pole-shift-hypothesis-20260505-0
summary:
The cataclysmic pole shift hypothesis is a pseudo-scientific claim that there have been recent, geologically rapid shifts in the axis of rotation of Earth, causing calamities such as floods and tectonic events or relatively rapid climate changes. There is evidence of precession and changes in axial tilt, but this change is on much longer time-scales and does not involve relative motion of the spin axis with respect to the planet. However, in what is known as true polar wander, the Earth rotates with respect to a fixed spin axis. Research shows that during the last 200 million years a total true polar wander of some 30° has occurred, but that no rapid shifts in Earth's geographic axial pole were found during this period. A characteristic rate of true polar wander is 1° or less per million years. Between approximately 790 and 810 million years ago, when the supercontinent Rodinia existed, two geologically rapid phases of true polar wander may have occurred. In each of these, the magnetic poles of Earth shifted by approximately 55° due to a large shift in the crust. == Definition and clarification == The geographic poles are defined by the points on the surface of Earth


id: cataclysmic-pole-shift-hypothesis-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cataclysmic_pole_shift_hypothesis-1.md
category: reference
title: Cataclysmic pole shift hypothesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cataclysmic_pole_shift_hypothesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:55.185842+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: cataclysmic-pole-shift-hypothesis-20260505-0
summary:
While there are reputable studies showing that true polar wander has occurred at various times in the past, the rates are much smaller (1° per million years or slower) than predicted by the pole shift hypothesis (up to 1° per thousand years). Analysis of the evidence does not lend credence to Hapgood's hypothesized rapid displacement of layers of Earth. Data indicates that the geographical poles have not deviated by more than about 5° over the last 130 million years, contradicting the hypothesis of a cataclysmic polar wander event. More rapid past possible occurrences of true polar wander have been measured: from 790 to 810 million years ago, true polar wander of approximately 55° may have occurred twice. == See also == Dzhanibekov effect Large low-shear-velocity provinces Low-velocity zone Ultra low velocity zone Inner core super-rotation Intermediate axis theorem Global catastrophic risk Earth Changes North Magnetic Pole South Magnetic Pole Tollmann's bolide hypothesis The Nibiru cataclysm, another pseudoscientific hypothesis that has often been suggested as a cause for cataclysmic pole shifts == References == == External links == Alleged "Evidence" of Earth Crustal Displacement (Pole Shift)Analysis of specific evidence used to argue for geologically recent Pole Shift Fingerprints of the Gods


id: caucasian-race-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasian_race-0.md
category: reference
title: Caucasian race
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasian_race
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:56.351278+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: caucasian-race-20260505-0
summary:
The Caucasian race (also Caucasoid, Europid, or Europoid) is an obsolete racial classification of humans based on a now-disproven theory of biological race. The Caucasian race was historically regarded as a biological taxon which, depending on which of the historical race classifications was being used, usually included ancient and modern populations from Europe, Western Asia, North Africa, South Asia, and some parts of Central Asia and the Horn of Africa. Introduced in the 1780s by members of the Göttingen school of history, the term denoted one of three purported major races of humans (those three being Caucasoid, Mongoloid, and Negroid). In biological anthropology, Caucasoid has been used as an umbrella term for phenotypically similar groups from these different regions, with a focus on skeletal anatomy, and especially cranial morphology, without regard to skin tone. Ancient and modern "Caucasoid" populations were thus not exclusively "white", but ranged in complexion from white-skinned to dark brown. Since the second half of the 20th century, physical anthropologists have switched from a typological understanding of human biological diversity towards a genomic and population-based perspective, and have tended to understand race as a social classification of humans based on phenotype and ancestry as well as cultural


id: caucasian-race-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasian_race-1.md
category: reference
title: Caucasian race
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasian_race
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:56.351278+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: caucasian-race-20260505-0
summary:
=== Carleton Coon === There was never consensus among the proponents of the "Caucasoid race" concept regarding how it would be delineated from other groups such as the proposed Mongoloid race. Carleton S. Coon (1939) included the populations native to all of Central and Northern Asia, including the Ainu people, under the Caucasoid label. Many scientists maintained the racial categorizations of color established by Meiners' and Blumenbach's works, along with many other early steps of anthropology, well into the 20th century as they were increasingly used to justify political policies such as segregation and immigration restrictions. For example, Thomas Henry Huxley (1870) classified all populations of Asian nations as Mongoloid. Lothrop Stoddard (1920) in turn classified as "brown" most of the populations of the Middle East, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Central Asia and South Asia. He counted as "white" only European peoples and their descendants, as well as a few populations in areas adjacent to or opposite southern Europe, in parts of Anatolia and parts of the Rif and Atlas mountains. In 1939, Coon claimed that the Caucasian race had originated through admixture between Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens of the "Mediterranean type" which he considered to be


id: caucasian-race-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasian_race-2.md
category: reference
title: Caucasian race
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasian_race
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:56.351278+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: caucasian-race-20260505-0
summary:
=== Subraces === The postulated subraces vary depending on the author, including but not limited to Mediterranean, Atlantid, Nordic, East Baltic, Alpine, Dinaric, Turanid, Armenoid, Iranid, Indid, Arabid, and Hamitic. Some authors also proposed a Pamirid race (or Pamir-Fergana race) in Central Asia, named after the Pamir range and the Fergana valley. H.G. Wells argued that across Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, West Asia, Central Asia and South Asia, a Caucasian physical stock existed. He divided this racial element into two main groups: a shorter and darker Mediterranean or Iberian race and a taller and lighter Nordic race. Wells asserted that Semitic and Hamitic populations were mainly of Mediterranean type, and Aryan populations were originally of Nordic type. He regarded the Basques as descendants of early Mediterranean peoples, who inhabited western Europe before the arrival of Aryan Celts from the direction of central Europe. The "Northcaucasian race" is a sub-race proposed by Carleton S. Coon (1930). It comprises the native populations of the North Caucasus, the Balkars, Karachays and Vainakh (Chechens and Ingushs). An introduction to anthropology, published in 1953, gives a more complex classification scheme: "Archaic Caucasoid Races": Ainu people in Japan, Australoid race, Dravidian peoples, and


id: caucasian-race-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasian_race-3.md
category: reference
title: Caucasian race
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasian_race
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:56.351278+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: caucasian-race-20260505-0
summary:
=== Literature === Augstein, HF (1999). "From the Land of the Bible to the Caucasus and Beyond". In Harris, Bernard; Ernst, Waltraud (eds.). Race, Science and Medicine, 1700–1960. New York: Routledge. pp. 58–79. ISBN 978-0-415-18152-5. Baum, Bruce (2006). The rise and fall of the Caucasian race: a political history of racial identity. New York: New York University Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-9892-8. Blumenbach, Johann Friedrich (1775) On the Natural Varieties of Mankind – the book that introduced the concept Cavalli-Sforza, Luigi Luca (2000). Genes, Peoples and Languages. London: Allen Lane. ISBN 978-0-7139-9486-5. Gould, Stephen Jay (1981). The Mismeasure of Man. New York: Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-01489-1. – a history of the pseudoscience of race, skull measurements, and IQ inheritability Guthrie, Paul (1999). The Making of the Whiteman: From the Original Man to the Whiteman. Chicago: Research Associates School Times. ISBN 978-0-948390-49-4. Piazza, Alberto; Cavalli-Sforza, Luigi Luca & Menozzi, Paolo (1996). The History and Geography of Human Genes. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-02905-4. – a major reference of modern population genetics Stoddard, Theodore Lothrop (1924). Racial Realities in Europe. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Wolf, Eric R. & Cole, John N. (1999). The Hidden Frontier: Ecology and Ethnicity in an Alpine


id: charlatan-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlatan-0.md
category: reference
title: Charlatan
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlatan
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:57.508219+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: charlatan-20260505-0
summary:
A charlatan (also called a swindler or mountebank) is a person practicing quackery or a similar confidence trick in order to obtain money, power, fame, or other advantages through pretense or deception. One example of a charlatan appears in the Canterbury Tales story "The Pardoner's Tale," with the Pardoner who tricks sinners into buying fake religious relics. Synonyms for charlatan include shyster, quack, or faker. Quack is a reference to quackery or the practice of dubious medicine, including the sale of snake oil, or a person who does not have medical training who purports to provide medical services. == Etymology == The English word comes from French charlatan, a seller of medicines who might advertise his presence with music and an outdoor stage show. The best known of the Parisian charlatans was Tabarin, whose skits and farces – which were influenced by commedia dell'arte – inspired the 17th century playwright Molière. The word is also similar to Spanish charlatán, an indiscreetly talkative person, a chatterbox. Etymologists trace charlatan ultimately from Italian, either from ciarlare, to chatter or prattle; or Cerretano, a resident of Cerreto, a village in Umbria, known for its quacks in the 16th century, or a mixture of


id: chemtrail-conspiracy-theory-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemtrail_conspiracy_theory-0.md
category: reference
title: Chemtrail conspiracy theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemtrail_conspiracy_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:58.736438+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: chemtrail-conspiracy-theory-20260505-0
summary:
The chemtrail conspiracy theory is the erroneous belief that long-lasting condensation trails left in the sky by high-flying aircraft are actually "chemtrails" consisting of chemical or biological agents, sprayed for nefarious purposes undisclosed to the general public. Believers in this conspiracy theory say that while normal contrails dissipate relatively quickly, contrails that linger must contain additional substances. Those who subscribe to the theory speculate that the purpose of the chemical release may be solar radiation management, weather modification, psychological manipulation, human population control, biological or chemical warfare, or testing of biological or chemical agents on a population, and that the trails are causing respiratory illnesses and other health problems. Chemtrail conspiracy theories emerged in the late 1990s after publication of a 1996 United States Air Force (USAF) report on weather modification, with the Air Force accused of secretly spraying substances via aircraft. The theories spread through internet forums and were popularised by radio host Art Bell from 1999. Chemtrails have been dismissed by the scientific community. There is no evidence that purported chemtrails differ from normal water-based contrails routinely left by high-flying aircraft under certain atmospheric conditions. Proponents have tried to prove that chemical spraying occurs, but their analyses have


id: chemtrail-conspiracy-theory-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemtrail_conspiracy_theory-1.md
category: reference
title: Chemtrail conspiracy theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemtrail_conspiracy_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:58.736438+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: chemtrail-conspiracy-theory-20260505-0
summary:
Proponents of the chemtrail conspiracy theory say that chemtrails can be distinguished from contrails by their long duration, asserting that the chemtrails are those trails left by aircraft that persist for as much as a half-day or transform into cirrus-like clouds. The proponents claim that after 1995, contrails had a different chemical composition and lasted a lot longer in the sky; proponents fail to acknowledge evidence of long-lasting contrails shown in World War II–era photographs. Proponents characterize contrails as streams that persist for hours and that, with their criss-cross, grid-like, or parallel stripe patterns, eventually blend to form large clouds. Proponents view the presence of visible color spectra in the streams, unusual concentrations of sky tracks in a single area, or lingering tracks left by unmarked or military airplanes flying atypical altitudes or locations as markers of chemtrails. Photographs of barrels installed in the passenger space of an aircraft for flight test purposes have been claimed to show aerosol dispersion systems. The barrels' actual purpose is to simulate the weight of passengers or cargo. The barrels are filled with water, and the water can be pumped from barrel to barrel to test different centers of gravity while the aircraft is


id: chemtrail-conspiracy-theory-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemtrail_conspiracy_theory-2.md
category: reference
title: Chemtrail conspiracy theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemtrail_conspiracy_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:58.736438+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: chemtrail-conspiracy-theory-20260505-0
summary:
=== Incidents === In 2001, in response to requests from constituents, U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich introduced (but did not author) H.R. 2977 (107th), the Space Preservation Act of 2001, which would have permanently prohibited basing weapons in space, listing chemtrails as one of a number of "exotic weapons" that would be banned. Proponents have interpreted this explicit reference to chemtrails as official government acknowledgment of their existence. Skeptics noted that the bill in question also mentions "extraterrestrial weapons" and "environmental, climate, or tectonic weapons". The bill received an unfavorable evaluation from the United States Department of Defense and died in committee, with no mention of chemtrails appearing in the text of any of Kucinich's three subsequent failed attempts to enact a Space Preservation Act. In 2003, in a response to a petition by concerned Canadian citizens that "chemicals used in aerial sprayings are adversely affecting the health of Canadians", the Government House Leader responded: "There is no substantiated evidence, scientific or otherwise, to support the allegation that there is high altitude spraying conducted in Canadian airspace. The term 'chemtrails' is a popularised expression, and there is no scientific evidence to support their existence." The House leader added, "it is our


id: david-hatcher-childress-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hatcher_Childress-0.md
category: reference
title: David Hatcher Childress
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hatcher_Childress
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:17:59.903663+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: david-hatcher-childress-20260505-0
summary:
David Hatcher Childress (born June 1, 1957) is an American author, and the owner of Adventures Unlimited Press, a publishing house established in 1984 specializing in books on topics such as ancient mysteries, unexplained phenomena, pseudohistory, and historical revisionism. His own works primarily concentrate on pseudoarchaeological and pseudoscientific topics such as "UFOs, secret societies, suppressed technology, cryptozoology [and] conspiracy theory". Childress, having no degree, refers to himself as a "rogue archaeologist". == Biography == Born in France to American parents, and raised in Colorado and Montana, United States, Childress went to University of Montana–Missoula to study archaeology, but left college in 1976 at 19 to begin travelling in pursuit of his archaeological interests. After several years in Asia and then Africa, Childress moved in 1983 to Stelle, Illinois, a community founded by New Age writer Richard Kieninger; Childress had been given one of Kieninger's books while touring Africa. Childress chronicled his explorations in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s in his Lost Cities and Ancient Mysteries series of books. Childress's first book, A Hitchhikers Guide to Africa and Arabia, was published in 1983 by Chicago Review Press. In 1984, Childress moved to Kempton, Illinois, and established a publishing company named Adventures


id: chinese-herbology-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_herbology-0.md
category: reference
title: Chinese herbology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_herbology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:01.077830+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: chinese-herbology-20260505-0
summary:
Chinese herbology (traditional Chinese: 中藥學; simplified Chinese: 中药学; pinyin: zhōngyào xué) is the theory of traditional Chinese herbal therapy, which accounts for the majority of treatments in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). A Nature editorial described TCM as "fraught with pseudoscience", and said that the most obvious reason why it has not delivered many cures is that the majority of its treatments have no logical mechanism of action. The term herbology is misleading in the sense that, while plant elements are by far the most commonly used substances, animal, human, and mineral products are also used, some of which are poisonous. In the Huangdi Neijing they are referred to as 毒藥 (pinyin: dúyào) which means "poison-medicine". Paul U. Unschuld points out that this is similar etymology to the Greek pharmakon and so he uses the term pharmaceutic. Thus, the term medicinal (instead of herb) is usually preferred as a translation for 藥 (pinyin: yào). Research into the effectiveness of traditional Chinese herbal therapy is of poor quality and often tainted by bias, with little or no rigorous evidence of efficacy. There are concerns over a number of potentially toxic Chinese herbs, including Aristolochia which is thought to cause cancer. == History


id: chinese-herbology-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_herbology-1.md
category: reference
title: Chinese herbology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_herbology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:01.077830+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: chinese-herbology-20260505-0
summary:
Typically, one batch of medicinals is prepared as a decoction of about 9 to 18 substances. Some of these are considered as main herbs, some as ancillary herbs; within the ancillary herbs, up to three categories can be distinguished. Some ingredients are added to cancel out toxicity or side-effects of the main ingredients; on top of that, some medicinals require the use of other substances as catalysts. === Chinese patent medicine === Chinese patent medicine (中成藥; 中成药; zhōngchéng yào) is a kind of traditional Chinese medicine. They are standardized herbal formulas. From ancient times, pills were formed by combining several herbs and other ingredients, which were dried and ground into a powder. They were then mixed with a binder and formed into pills by hand. The binder was traditionally honey. Modern teapills, however, are extracted in stainless steel extractors to create either a water decoction or water-alcohol decoction, depending on the herbs used. They are extracted at a low temperature (below 100 °C (212 °F)) to preserve essential ingredients. The extracted liquid is then further condensed, and some raw herb powder from one of the herbal ingredients is mixed in to form a herbal dough. This dough is then machine


id: chinese-herbology-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_herbology-2.md
category: reference
title: Chinese herbology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_herbology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:01.077830+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: chinese-herbology-20260505-0
summary:
=== Country of origin === Many herbs indigenous to other countries have been incorporated into the Chinese materia medica. Xi Yang Shen (Radix panacis quinquefolii), imported from North American crops, translates as 'western ginseng,' while Dong Yang Shen (Radix ginseng Japonica), grown in and imported from North Asian countries, is 'eastern ginseng.' == Toxicity == From the earliest records regarding the use of medicinals to today, the toxicity of certain substances has been described in all Chinese materia medica. Since TCM has become more popular in the Western world, there are increasing concerns about the potential toxicity of many traditional Chinese medicinals including plants, animal parts and minerals. For most medicinals, efficacy and toxicity testing are based on traditional knowledge rather than laboratory analysis. The toxicity in some cases could be confirmed by modern research (i.e., in scorpion); in some cases it could not (i.e., in Curculigo). Further, ingredients may have different names in different locales or in historical texts, and different preparations may have similar names for the same reason, which can create inconsistencies and confusion in the creation of medicinals, with the possible danger of poisoning. Edzard Ernst "concluded that adverse effects of herbal medicines are an important


id: chinese-herbology-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_herbology-3.md
category: reference
title: Chinese herbology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_herbology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:01.077830+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: chinese-herbology-20260505-0
summary:
The traditional practice of using now-endangered species is controversial within TCM. Modern Materia Medicas such as Bensky, Clavey and Stoger's comprehensive Chinese herbal text discuss substances derived from endangered species in an appendix, emphasizing alternatives. Parts of endangered species used as TCM drugs include tiger bones and rhinoceros horn. Poachers supply the black market with such substances, and the black market in rhinoceros horn, for example, has reduced the world's rhino population by more than 90 percent over the past 40 years. Concerns have also arisen over the use of turtle plastron and seahorses. TCM recognizes bear bile as a medicinal. In 1988, the Chinese Ministry of Health started controlling bile production, which previously used bears killed before winter. Now bears are fitted with a sort of permanent catheter, which is more profitable than killing the bears. More than 12,000 asiatic black bears are held in "bear farms", where they suffer cruel conditions while being held in tiny cages. The catheter leads through a permanent hole in the abdomen directly to the gall bladder, which can cause severe pain. Increased international attention has mostly stopped the use of bile outside of China; gallbladders from butchered cattle (牛胆; 牛膽; niú dǎn)


id: chinese-herbology-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_herbology-4.md
category: reference
title: Chinese herbology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_herbology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:01.077830+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: chinese-herbology-20260505-0
summary:
Ji Desheng (1898–1981), Chinese herbalist from Nantong. Li Ching-Yuen (died 1933), Chinese herbalist, martial artist and tactical advisor. Aw Chu Kin (died 1908), Burmese Chinese herbalist, inventor of Tiger Balm. Ing Hay (1862–1952), migrated to the United States in 1887 and practiced traditional Chinese medicine in Oregon. == See also == == References == Chen, John K.; Chen, Tina T. (2004). Chinese Medical Herbology and Pharmacology. Art of Medicine Press. ISBN 0-9740635-0-9. Archived from the original on 2011-09-04. Retrieved 2012-02-09. Chen, John K.; Chen, Tina T. (2009). Pocket Atlas of Chinese Medicine. Art of Medicine Press. ISBN 978-0-9740635-7-7. Archived from the original on 2009-07-31. Retrieved 2012-02-09. Ergil, M.; et al. (2009). Pocket Atlas of Chinese Medicine. Thieme. ISBN 978-3-13-141611-7. Foster, S.; Yue, C. (1992). Herbal emissaries: bringing Chinese herbs to the West. Healing Arts Press. ISBN 978-0-89281-349-0. Kiessler, Malte (2005). Traditionelle Chinesische Innere Medizin (in German). Elsevier, Urban & Fischer. ISBN 978-3-437-57220-3. Goldschmidt, Asaf (2009). The Evolution of Chinese Medicine: Song Dynasty, 960-1200. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-42655-8. Sivin, Nathan (1987). Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China. Ann Arbor: Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan. ISBN 978-0-89264-074-4. Unschuld, Paul U. (1985). Medicine in China: A History of Ideas.


id: chromotherapy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromotherapy-0.md
category: reference
title: Chromotherapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromotherapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:02.227433+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: chromotherapy-20260505-0
summary:
Chromotherapy, sometimes called color therapy, colorology or cromatherapy, is a pseudoscientific form of alternative medicine which proposes certain diseases can be treated by exposure to certain colors. Its practice is considered to be quackery. Chromotherapists claim to be able to use light in the form of color to balance "energy" lacking from a person's body, whether it be on physical, emotional, spiritual, or mental levels. For example, they thought that shining a colored light on a person would cure constipation. Historically, chromotherapy has been associated with mysticism and occultism. Color therapy is unrelated to photomedicine, such as phototherapy and blood irradiation therapy, which are scientifically accepted medical treatments for a number of conditions, as well as being unrelated to photobiology, which is the scientific study of the effects of light on living organisms. == History == Avicenna (980–1037), seeing color as of vital importance both in diagnosis and in treatment, discussed chromotherapy in The Canon of Medicine. He wrote that "color is an observable symptom of disease" and also developed a chart that related color to the temperature and physical condition of the body. His view was that red moved the blood, blue or white cooled it, and yellow reduced


id: chromotherapy-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromotherapy-1.md
category: reference
title: Chromotherapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromotherapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:02.227433+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: chromotherapy-20260505-0
summary:
== Scientific rejection == Chromotherapy is a popular pseudoscience. Its practice is regarded by health experts and historians as a form of quackery. According to a book published by the American Cancer Society, "available scientific evidence does not support claims that alternative uses of light or color therapy are effective in treating cancer or other illnesses". Regarding Dinshah Ghadiali's work, science writer Martin Gardner had described him as "perhaps the greatest quack of them all". According to Gardner, photographs of Ghadiali at work in his laboratory are "indistinguishable from stills of a grade D movie about a mad scientist". Historian Deborah Ascher Barnstone has noted that chromotherapy is "distinct from scientifically verified light treatments such as neonatal jaundice treatment. As, unlike chromotherapy, the light used in such therapies, whether scientifically proven or not, was not always colored, their particulars are not relevant in this context." Photobiology, the term for the scientific study of the effects of light on living tissue, has sometimes been used instead of the term chromotherapy in an effort to distance it from its roots in Victorian mysticism and to strip it of its associations with symbolism and magic. Light therapy is a specific treatment approach using


id: church-of-scientology-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Scientology-0.md
category: reference
title: Church of Scientology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Scientology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:03.439690+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: church-of-scientology-20260505-0
summary:
The Church of Scientology was started in 1953 by L. Ron Hubbard to promote and practice his Scientology theories and techniques. The term 'Church of Scientology' (abbreviated 'the Church') does not refer to any one corporate entity, but instead serves as a collective label for a network of privately‑held organizations, unified under the direction of its leader David Miscavige who serves as the central authority. Most of the top-level management divisions are located at 6331 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, California, or the building's side entrance 1710 Ivar Avenue. The Church of Scientology International (CSI) is officially the "mother church" responsible for guiding the other public-facing Scientology centers, which are called "orgs". Management and advanced orgs are staffed exclusively by members of the Sea Org, which is a strict organization for the most dedicated core of Scientologists. The Church has been the subject of a number of controversies. While in some countries it has attained legal recognition as a religious, a charitable, or a tax-exempt organization, it has also been described as a dangerous cult and a manipulative profit-making business in government inquiries, media investigative reports, superior court judgements and parliamentary debates. == History == In 1950, L. Ron Hubbard established


id: church-of-scientology-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Scientology-1.md
category: reference
title: Church of Scientology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Scientology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:03.439690+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: church-of-scientology-20260505-0
summary:
Missions of Scientology Missions are the smallest service organizations, and they operate as independent franchises. They are owned by a "mission holder" and licensed to operate by Scientology Missions International which receives 10% tithes and supervises them. Missions offer beginning services to newcomers to Scientology, then push their clients to higher level service orgs, for which they earn a commission. Missions are not financially supported by the central organization, and must purchase a Mission Starter Package, which in 2011 cost $35,000 (equivalent to $63,600 in 2025), and purchase all subsequent material from the main organization. Scientology Life Improvement Centers and Dianetics Centers These centers are operated by a local Church of Scientology and are small "store front" locations with the purpose of selling books and offering very basic services to get people interested in Scientology. Central org, Class V org This organization is what most people think of as "a Church of Scientology". It offers a full range of auditing and auditor training services up to the level of Clear on The Bridge to Total Freedom. They were called Class V orgs because the auditor training level up to Clear was called the "Class V auditor course". Ideal org An


id: church-of-scientology-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Scientology-2.md
category: reference
title: Church of Scientology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Scientology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:03.439690+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: church-of-scientology-20260505-0
summary:
Golden Era Productions is a 500+ acre property in California also known as Gold Base, occupied by the Church of Scientology since 1979. It is where they make Scientology films, reproduce audio recordings of Hubbard's lectures, and assemble E-meters. === Scientology Media Productions and Scientology Network === In 2011, the Church of Scientology purchased KCET-TV's studio facilities. After five years of renovations and upgrades, the 4.5-acre property was reopened in 2016 as "Scientology Media Productions". The facilities included "three soundstages, postproduction tools, control rooms, music studios, mixing rooms, art departments, scene shops, radio booths, screening rooms, a magazine production space, a live-events hub" and 136,000 square feet of space. In 2018, they launched the Scientology Network. === Bridge Publications and New Era Publications === Bridge Publications, Inc. (incorporated 1981 in California) is the publisher for Scientology books and magazines in the United States, and New Era Publications International, Aps is the publisher in Europe. Former publishing organizations include Distribution Center Inc. (Maryland 1955), Publications Organization United States (California 1971), and Scientology Publications Limited (UK 1991). As of 2023, the print and distribution center for Bridge Publications is located at 5600 E Olympic Blvd, Commerce, California, occupies 185,000 square feet, and


id: church-of-scientology-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Scientology-3.md
category: reference
title: Church of Scientology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Scientology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:03.439690+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: church-of-scientology-20260505-0
summary:
Hubbard moved to England shortly after founding Scientology, where he oversaw its worldwide development from an office in London for most of the 1950s. In 1959, he bought Saint Hill Manor, a Georgian manor house near the Sussex town of East Grinstead. During Hubbard's years at Saint Hill, he traveled extensively, providing lectures and training in Australia, South Africa in the United States, and developing materials that would eventually become Scientology's "core systematic theology and praxis". While in Saint Hill, Hubbard worked with a staff of nineteen and urged others to join. On September 14, 1959, he wrote: "Here, on half a hundred acres of lovely grounds in a mansion where we have not yet found all the bedrooms, we are handling the problems of administration and service for the world of Scientology. We are not very many here and as the sun never sets on Scientology we are very busy thetans." The most important achievement of the Saint Hill period was Hubbard's execution of the Saint Hill Special Briefing Course (SHBC). It was delivered by Hubbard from March 1951 to December 1966 and, within the Church of Scientology, is considered the best training course for budding "auditors" in the


id: church-of-scientology-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Scientology-4.md
category: reference
title: Church of Scientology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Scientology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:03.439690+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: church-of-scientology-20260505-0
summary:
The Church of Scientology maintains a large base on the outskirts of Trementina, New Mexico, for the purpose of storing their archiving project: engraving Hubbard's writings on stainless steel tablets and encasing them in titanium capsules underground. An aerial photograph showing the base's enormous Church of Spiritual Technology symbols on the ground caused media interest and a local TV station broke the story in November 2005. According to a report in The Washington Post, the organization unsuccessfully attempted to coerce the station not to air the story. == Finances == In 2008, the Church of Scientology and its large network of corporations, nonprofits and other legal entities were estimated to bring in around 500 million US dollars in annual revenue. According to 2011 tax documents, the Church of Scientology International and Church of Spiritual Technology in the US had a combined $1.7 billion in assets. Scientologists can attend classes, exercises or counseling sessions for a set range of "fixed donations"; however, membership without courses or auditing is possible. According to a sociological report entitled "Scientology: To Be Perfectly Clear", progression between levels above "clear" status cost $15,760.03 in 1980 (equivalent to $61,583 in 2025). Scientologists can reduce their costs by


id: church-of-scientology-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Scientology-5.md
category: reference
title: Church of Scientology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Scientology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:03.439690+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: church-of-scientology-20260505-0
summary:
=== Classification === From 1952 until 1966, Scientology was administered by an organization called the Hubbard Association of Scientologists (HAS), established in Arizona on September 10, 1952. In 1954, the HAS became the HASI (HAS International). The Church of Scientology was incorporated in California on February 18, 1954, changing its name to "The Church of Scientology of California" (CSC) in 1956. In 1966, Hubbard transferred all HASI assets to CSC, thus gathering Scientology under one tax-exempt roof. In 1967, the IRS stripped all US-based Scientology entities of their tax exemption, declaring the organization's activities were commercial and operated for the benefit of Hubbard. Controversy followed the organization in those years, but its growth continued in the 1960s. New facilities were formed in Paris (1959), Denmark (1968), Sweden (1969), and Germany (1970). In the 1970s the religion spread through Europe: in Austria (1971), Holland (1972), Italy (1978), and Switzerland (1978). Centers of Scientology were in 52 countries by the time the 80s came in and grew to 74 by 1992. The organization sued and lost repeatedly for 26 years trying to regain its tax-exempt status. The case was eventually settled in 1993, at which time the organization paid $12.5 million to


id: church-of-scientology-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Scientology-6.md
category: reference
title: Church of Scientology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Scientology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:03.439690+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: church-of-scientology-20260505-0
summary:
The Scientology organization has continued to aggressively target people it deems suppressive. In 1998, regarding its announcement that it had hired a private investigator to look into the background of a Boston Herald writer who had written a series on the organization, Robert W. Thornburg, dean of Marsh Chapel at Boston University, said, "No one I know goes so far as to hire outsiders to harass or try to get intimidating data on critics. Scientology is the only crowd that does that." It has apparently continued as recently as 2010. In 2007, when BBC journalist John Sweeney was making Scientology and Me, an investigative report about the organization, he was subjected to harassment: In LA, the moment our hire car left the airport we realised we were being followed by two cars. In our hotel a weird stranger spent every breakfast listening to us. Sweeney subsequently made a follow-up documentary, The Secrets of Scientology, in 2010 during which he was followed and filmed on multiple occasions and one of his interviewees was followed back to his home. The Church of Scientology was convicted of fraud by a French court in 2009, a decision upheld by the supreme Court of Cassation


id: church-of-scientology-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Scientology-7.md
category: reference
title: Church of Scientology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Scientology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:03.439690+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: church-of-scientology-20260505-0
summary:
=== Legal waivers === Working with lawyer Bill Drescher, we drafted and implemented one-sided agreements that everyone who partakes in scientology services is required to sign—forfeiting the right to sue and any rights to access the records of scientology services, and even giving scientology authorization to hold the signee against their will should they have a psychotic episode so they can participate in the Introspection Rundown. Due to previous litigation against the Church of Scientology, and particularly the civil and criminal cases surrounding the death of Lisa McPherson, COS drafted several contracts, releases and waivers which all individuals must sign in order to start any service with COS, no matter how small or introductory. They must be signed again before any major service, and new contracts signed for each Scientology corporate entity the individual visits. One particular waiver—called the "Lisa Clause" by critics of Scientology—states that a member will not seek any psychiatric treatment, and gives permission for the Church of Scientology to detain any member suspected of a psychotic break or other serious mental breakdown. Such detention is to provide the Introspection Rundown, a procedure where an individual is kept isolated from everyone, with no communication. This controversial procedure


id: clairvoyance-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clairvoyance-0.md
category: reference
title: Clairvoyance
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clairvoyance
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:04.683720+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: clairvoyance-20260505-0
summary:
Clairvoyance (; from French clair 'clear' and voyance 'vision') is the claimed ability to acquire information that would be considered impossible to get through scientifically proven sensations, thus classified as extrasensory perception, or "sixth sense". Any person who is claimed to have such ability is said to be a clairvoyant () ('one who sees clearly'). Claims for the existence of paranormal and psychic abilities such as clairvoyance have not been supported by scientific evidence. Parapsychology explores this possibility, but the existence of the paranormal is not accepted by the scientific community. The scientific community widely considers parapsychology, including the study of clairvoyance, a pseudoscience. == Usage == Pertaining to the ability of clear-sightedness, clairvoyance refers to the paranormal ability to see persons and events that are distant in time or space. It can be divided into roughly three classes: precognition, the ability to perceive or predict future events, retrocognition, the ability to see past events, and remote viewing, the perception of contemporary events happening outside the range of normal perception. The English connotations of seeing through time are not always present in concepts of clairvoyance in other languages. The French usage, for example, has more emphasis on spatial connotations and


id: clairvoyance-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clairvoyance-1.md
category: reference
title: Clairvoyance
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clairvoyance
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:04.683720+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: clairvoyance-20260505-0
summary:
Early researchers of clairvoyance included William Gregory, Gustav Pagenstecher, and Rudolf Tischner. Clairvoyance experiments were reported in 1884 by Charles Richet. Playing cards were enclosed in envelopes and a subject under hypnosis attempted to identify them. The subject was reported to have been successful in a series of 133 trials but the results dropped to chance level when performed before a group of scientists in Cambridge. J. M. Peirce and E. C. Pickering reported a similar experiment in which they tested 36 subjects over 23,384 trials. They did not find above chance scores. Ivor Lloyd Tuckett (1911) and Joseph McCabe (1920) analyzed early cases of clairvoyance and concluded they were best explained by coincidence or fraud. In 1919, the magician P. T. Selbit staged a séance at his flat in Bloomsbury. The spiritualist Arthur Conan Doyle attended and declared the clairvoyance manifestations genuine. A significant development in clairvoyance research came when J. B. Rhine, a parapsychologist at Duke University, introduced a standard methodology, with a standard statistical approach to analyzing data, as part of his research into extrasensory perception. A number of psychological departments attempted and failed to repeat Rhine's experiments. At Princeton University, W. S. Cox (1936) produced 25,064


id: clairvoyance-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clairvoyance-2.md
category: reference
title: Clairvoyance
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clairvoyance
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:04.683720+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: clairvoyance-20260505-0
summary:
== Scientific reception == According to scientific research, clairvoyance is generally explained as the result of confirmation bias, expectancy bias, fraud, hallucination, self-delusion, sensory leakage, subjective validation, wishful thinking or failures to appreciate the base rate of chance occurrences and not as a paranormal power. Parapsychology is generally regarded by the scientific community as a pseudoscience. In 1988, the US National Research Council concluded "The committee finds no scientific justification from research conducted over a period of 130 years, for the existence of parapsychological phenomena." Skeptics say that if clairvoyance were a reality, it would have become abundantly clear. They also contend that those who believe in paranormal phenomena do so for merely psychological reasons. According to David G. Myers (Psychology, 8th ed.): The search for a valid and reliable test of clairvoyance has resulted in thousands of experiments. One controlled procedure has invited 'senders' to telepathically transmit one of four visual images to 'receivers' deprived of sensation in a nearby chamber (Bem & Honorton, 1994). The result? A reported 32 percent accurate response rate, surpassing the chance rate of 25 percent. But follow-up studies have (depending on who was summarizing the results) failed to replicate the phenomenon or produced


id: clean-and-environmentally-safe-advanced-reactor-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_and_Environmentally_Safe_Advanced_Reactor-0.md
category: reference
title: Clean and Environmentally Safe Advanced Reactor
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_and_Environmentally_Safe_Advanced_Reactor
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:05.813522+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: clean-and-environmentally-safe-advanced-reactor-20260505-0
summary:
The Clean and Environmentally Safe Advanced Reactor (CAESAR) is a nuclear reactor concept created by Claudio Filippone, the former Director of the Center for Advanced Energy Concepts at the University of Maryland, College Park and CEO of HoloGens LLC. The concept's key element is the use of steam as a moderator, making it a type of reduced moderation water reactor. Because the density of steam may be controlled very precisely, Filippone claims it can be used to fine-tune neutron fluxes to ensure that neutrons are moving with an optimal energy profile to split 23892U nuclei – in other words, cause fission. There seems to be some discrepancy between "media overview" material and technical details: "assembly containing only U-238 (or natural uranium, or nuclear waste) and positioned near an existing nuclear reactor acting as the "jump starter" of CAESAR." this suggests that U-238 is the raw material used to breed fissile Pu-239 that is used in the core like any fast-neutron breeder reactor concept. However the neutronic (and burnup) simulation CAESAR is nowhere near other fast-breeder concepts or what is required in 2024. The CAESAR reactor design exploits the fact that the fission products and daughter isotopes produced via nuclear reactions


id: cloudbuster-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloudbuster-0.md
category: reference
title: Cloudbuster
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloudbuster
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:06.989895+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: cloudbuster-20260505-0
summary:
A cloudbuster is a device designed by Austrian psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich (1897–1957), which Reich claimed could produce rain by manipulating what he called "orgone energy" present in the atmosphere. The cloudbuster was intended to be used in a way similar to a lightning rod: focusing it on a location in the sky and grounding it in some material that was presumed to absorb orgone—such as a body of water—would draw the orgone energy out of the atmosphere, causing the formation of clouds and rain. Reich conducted dozens of experiments with the cloudbuster, calling the research "Cosmic orgone engineering". There have been no verified instances of a cloudbuster actually working and producing noticeable weather change, such as causing rain. Orgone therapy is seen as pseudoscience. A modern reinvention of cloudbuster is being sold under names of chembuster, orgone cannon or akasha pillar. It is marketed as a countermeasure against chemtrails (conspiracy theory relating to aircraft condensation trails). == Construction == A cloudbuster consists of an array of parallel hollow copper tubes which are connected at the rear to a series of flexible copper hoses which are equal or slightly smaller in diameter to the parallel tubes. Alternatively, the rear of the


id: colon-cleansing-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colon_cleansing-0.md
category: reference
title: Colon cleansing
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colon_cleansing
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:08.244186+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: colon-cleansing-20260505-0
summary:
Colon cleansing, also known as colon therapy, colon hydrotherapy, a colonic, or colonic irrigation, encompasses a number of alternative medical therapies claimed to remove toxins from the colon and intestinal tract by removing accumulations of feces. Colon cleansing in this context should not be confused with an enema which introduces fluid into the colon, often under mainstream medical supervision, for a limited number of purposes including severe constipation and medical imaging. Some forms of colon hydrotherapy use tubes to inject water, sometimes mixed with herbs or other liquids, into the colon via the rectum using special equipment. Oral cleaning regimes use dietary fiber, herbs, dietary supplements, or laxatives. Those who practice colon cleansing believe in autointoxication, that accumulations of putrefied feces line the walls of the large intestine and that these accumulations harbor parasites or pathogenic gut flora, causing nonspecific symptoms and general ill health. Autointoxication, a term coined in 1884 by the French physician Charles Jacques Bouchard, is a hypothesis based on medical beliefs of the ancient Egyptians and Greeks and was discredited in the early 20th century. Nonetheless, during the 2000s Internet marketing and infomercials of oral supplements supposedly for colon cleansing increased. There is no scientific evidence


id: colorpuncture-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorpuncture-0.md
category: reference
title: Colorpuncture
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorpuncture
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:09.451408+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: colorpuncture-20260505-0
summary:
Colorpuncture, cromopuncture, or color light acupuncture, is a pseudoscientific alternative medicine practice based on "mystical or supernatural" beliefs which asserts that colored lights can be used to stimulate acupuncture points to promote healing and better health. It is a form of chromotherapy or color therapy. There is no known anatomical or histological basis for the existence of acupuncture points or meridians, and there is no scientific support for the efficacy of colorpuncture. == Background == Colorpuncture was developed in the 1980s by German naturopath and acupuncturist Peter Mandel, who named it esogetic colorpuncture. "Esogetic" is a term coined by Mandel to refer to the "merger of esoteric wisdom of life with the energetic principles of life's processes". Mandel cited Fritz-Albert Popp, who claimed that the body's cells communicate with each other through a steady stream of photons. This is not a scientifically recognized method of cell communication. Using Kirlian photography, Mandel concluded that the acupuncture meridians absorb and disseminate colored light within the body. Colorpuncture is based on the idea that illness and pain occur when an individual has strayed off his or her "life path". For example, a treatment might be intended to release an emotional blockage to heal


id: conscientiology-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscientiology-0.md
category: reference
title: Conscientiology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscientiology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:10.629810+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: conscientiology-20260505-0
summary:
Conscientiology is a dissident movement from Spiritism, of a pseudoscientific nature, founded by Brazilian physician and medium Waldo Vieira. It proposes the integral study of consciousness, advocating for belief in parapsychic phenomena – such as out-of-body experiences – and in the seriality of life through reincarnation. According to this perspective, consciousness (also called ego, soul, or spirit) is said to have an independent existence that transcends biological life. Self-described as an "unconventional science," Conscientiology adopts the so-called "consciential paradigm," which values subjective approaches and personal experimentation over traditional scientific methodology. The movement emerged from Projectiology, a more applied subfield, and both share the same paradigm, often being treated as parts of a single system in their literature. Conscientiology employs a series of scientistic neologisms, such as "ressoma" (reactivation of the soma/physical body) as a replacement for the term "reincarnation". Although some of the scarce scientific literature classifies it as a religious phenomenon – situated within the context of the New Age or post-traditional religiosities – and identifies its scientistic discourse as a continuation of Allan Kardec's theodicy, its adherents reject any religious connotation, presenting it strictly as a study and research proposal. == Beliefs and practices == Conscientiology posits the


id: correactology-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correactology-0.md
category: reference
title: Correactology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correactology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:11.814379+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: correactology-20260505-0
summary:
Correactology is a system of alternative medicine based on the unsubstantiated claim that "regulating the density of cells" in the body improves a wide range of ailments. An offshoot of chiropractics, the treatment was developed in Sudbury (Ontario) in 2002 by brothers Michael and Allan Lapointe. It has been branded a pseudoscience by critics and the sole training program in the subject has been taken to court by former students. During correactology treatments, the practitioners hold their hands over patients, snap their fingers, and apply a light touch to the person's skin. Allan Lapointe claims they are first looking for "areas of resistance in the eight segments of cells, indicating areas of pathological or anatomical dysfunction." The practitioner then allegedly uses his hands to change the behaviour of proteins present in human cells, to improve wellness and reduce pain: "We cause a cascading effect to change the behaviour of the proteins. When the proteins change, our behaviour changes because, of course, proteins control all." Medical professionals have been questioning the practice as it becomes more widespread. The deputy editor of the Canadian Medical Association Journal Matthew Stanbrook denounced the claims made by the practitioners: "That is pseudo-science that uses a


id: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation-0.md
category: reference
title: COVID-19 misinformation
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:13.113344+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-0
summary:
False information, including disinformation and conspiracy theories about the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic and the origin, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the disease has been spread through social media, text messaging, and mass media. False information has been propagated by celebrities, politicians, and other prominent public figures. Many countries have passed laws against "fake news", and thousands of people have been arrested for spreading COVID-19 misinformation. The spread of COVID-19 misinformation by governments has also been significant. Commercial scams have claimed to offer at-home tests, supposed preventives, and "miracle" cures. Several religious groups have claimed their faith will protect them from the virus. Without evidence, some people have claimed the virus is a bioweapon accidentally or deliberately leaked from a laboratory, a population control scheme, the result of a spy operation, or the side effect of 5G upgrades to cellular networks. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared an "infodemic" of incorrect information about the virus that poses risks to global health. While belief in conspiracy theories is not a new phenomenon, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, this can lead to adverse health effects. Cognitive biases, such as jumping to conclusions and confirmation bias, may be linked to


id: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation-1.md
category: reference
title: COVID-19 misinformation
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:13.113344+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-0
summary:
The consensus among virologists is that the most likely origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus to be natural crossover from animals, having spilled-over into the human population from bats, possibly through an intermediate animal host, although the exact transmission pathway has not been determined. Genomic evidence suggests an ancestor virus of SARS-CoV-2 originated in horseshoe bats. An alternative hypothesis under investigation, deemed unlikely by the majority of virologists given a lack of evidence, is that the virus may have accidentally escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in the course of standard research. A poll in July 2021 found that 52% of US adults believe COVID-19 escaped from a lab. Unsubstantiated speculation and conspiracy theories related to this topic have gained popularity during the pandemic. Common conspiracy theories state that the virus was intentionally engineered, either as a bio-weapon or to profit from the sale of vaccines. According to the World Health Organization, genetic manipulation has been ruled out by genomic analysis. Many other origin stories have also been told, ranging from claims of secret plots by political opponents to a conspiracy theory about mobile phones. In March 2020, the Pew Research Center found that a third of Americans believed COVID-19


id: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation-2.md
category: reference
title: COVID-19 misinformation
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:13.113344+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-0
summary:
==== Gain-of-function research ==== One idea used to support a laboratory origin invokes previous gain-of-function research on coronaviruses. Virologist Angela Rasmussen argued that this is unlikely, due to the intense scrutiny and government oversight gain-of-function research is subject to, and that it is improbable that research on hard-to-obtain coronaviruses could occur under the radar. The exact meaning of "gain of function" is disputed among experts. In May 2020, Fox News host Tucker Carlson accused Anthony Fauci of having "funded the creation of COVID" through gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). Citing an essay by science writer Nicholas Wade, Carlson alleged that Fauci had directed research to make bat viruses more infectious to humans. In a hearing the next day, US senator Rand Paul alleged that the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) had been funding gain-of-function research in Wuhan, accusing researchers including epidemiologist Ralph Baric of creating "super-viruses". Both Fauci and NIH Director Francis Collins have denied that the US government supported such research. Baric likewise rejected Paul's allegations, saying that his lab's research into the potential in bat coronaviruses for cross-species transmission was not deemed gain-of-function by NIH or the University of North Carolina, where he


id: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation-3.md
category: reference
title: COVID-19 misinformation
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:13.113344+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-0
summary:
According to The Economist, conspiracy theories exist on China's internet about COVID-19 being created by the CIA in order to "keep China down". According to an investigation by ProPublica, such conspiracy theories and disinformation have been propagated under the direction of China News Service, the country's second largest government-owned media outlet controlled by the United Front Work Department. Global Times and Xinhua News Agency have similarly been implicated in propagating disinformation related to COVID-19's origins. NBC News however has noted that there have also been debunking efforts of US-related conspiracy theories posted online, with a WeChat search of "Coronavirus [disease 2019] is from the U.S." reported to mostly yield articles explaining why such claims are unreasonable. In March 2020, two spokesmen for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zhao Lijian and Geng Shuang, alleged at a press conference that Western powers may have "bio-engineered" COVID-19. They were alluding that the US Army created and spread COVID-19, allegedly during the 2019 Military World Games in Wuhan, where numerous cases of influenza-like illness were reported. A member of the U.S. military athletics delegation based at Fort Belvoir, who competed in the 50mi Road Race at the Wuhan games, became the subject of


id: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation-4.md
category: reference
title: COVID-19 misinformation
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:13.113344+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-0
summary:
==== In the Muslim world ==== Iran's Press TV asserted that "Zionist elements developed a deadlier strain of coronavirus against Iran." Similarly, some Arab media outlets accused Israel and the United States of creating and spreading COVID-19, avian flu, and SARS. Users on social media offered other theories, including the allegation that Jews had manufactured COVID-19 to precipitate a global stock market collapse and thereby profit via insider trading, while a guest on Turkish television posited a more ambitious scenario in which Jews and Zionists had created COVID-19, avian flu, and Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever to "design the world, seize countries, [and] neuter the world's population". Turkish politician Fatih Erbakan reportedly said in a speech: "Though we do not have certain evidence, this virus serves Zionism's goals of decreasing the number of people and preventing it from increasing, and important research expresses this." Israeli attempts to develop a COVID-19 vaccine prompted negative reactions in Iran. Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi denied initial reports that he had ruled that a Zionist-made vaccine would be halal, and one Press TV journalist tweeted that "I'd rather take my chances with the virus than consume an Israeli vaccine." A columnist for the Turkish Yeni Akit


id: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation-5.md
category: reference
title: COVID-19 misinformation
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:13.113344+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-0
summary:
The first conspiracy theories purporting a link between COVID-19 and 5G mobile networks had already appeared by the end of January 2020. Such claims spread rapidly on social media networks, leading to the spread of misinformation in what has been likened to a "digital wildfire". In March 2020, Thomas Cowan, a holistic medical practitioner who trained as a physician and operates on probation with the Medical Board of California, alleged that COVID-19 is caused by 5G. He based this on the claims that African countries had not been affected significantly by the pandemic and Africa was not a 5G region. Cowan also falsely alleged that the viruses were waste from cells that were poisoned by electromagnetic fields, and that historical viral pandemics coincided with major developments in radio technology. The video of Cowan's claims went viral and was recirculated by celebrities, including Woody Harrelson, John Cusack, and singer Keri Hilson. The claims may also have been recirculated by an alleged "coordinated disinformation campaign", similar to campaigns used by the Internet Research Agency in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The claims were criticized on social media and debunked by Reuters, USA Today, Full Fact and American Public Health Association executive director Georges C.


id: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation-6.md
category: reference
title: COVID-19 misinformation
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:13.113344+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-0
summary:
=== American scientist selling virus to China === In April 2020, rumors circulated on Facebook, alleging that the US Government had "just discovered and arrested" Charles Lieber, chair of the Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department at Harvard University for "manufacturing and selling" the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) to China. According to a report from Reuters, posts spreading the rumor were shared in multiple languages over 79,000 times on Facebook. Lieber was arrested in January 2020, and later charged with two federal counts of making an allegedly false statement about his links to a Chinese university, unrelated to the virus. The rumor of Lieber, a chemist in an area entirely unrelated to the virus research, developing COVID-19 and selling it to China has been discredited. === Meteor origin === In 2020, a group of researchers that included Edward J. Steele and Chandra Wickramasinghe, the foremost living proponent of panspermia, speculated in ten research papers that COVID-19 originated from a meteor spotted as a bright fireball over the city of Songyuan in Northeast China in October 2019 and that a fragment of the meteor landed in the Wuhan area, which started the first COVID-19 outbreaks. However, the group of researchers did not provide


id: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation-7.md
category: reference
title: COVID-19 misinformation
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:13.113344+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-0
summary:
==== Nurse whistleblower ==== In January 2020, a video circulated online appearing to be of a nurse named Jin Hui in Hubei, describing a far more dire situation in Wuhan than reported by Chinese officials. However, the BBC said that, contrary to its English subtitles in one of the video's existing versions, the woman does not claim to be either a nurse or a doctor in the video and that her suit and mask do not match the ones worn by medical staff in Hubei. The video claimed that more than 90,000 people had been infected with the virus in China, that the virus could spread from one person to 14 people (R0 = 14) and that the virus was starting a second mutation. The video attracted millions of views on various social media platforms and was mentioned in numerous online reports. The claimed R0 of 14 in the video was noted by the BBC to be inconsistent with the expert estimation of 1.4 to 2.5 at that time. The video's claim of 90,000 infected cases was noted to be 'unsubstantiated'. ==== Alleged leak of death toll by Tencent ==== In February 2020, Taiwan News published an article claiming that


id: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation-8.md
category: reference
title: COVID-19 misinformation
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:13.113344+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-0
summary:
==== Misleading Johns Hopkins News-Letter article ==== In November 2020, an article by Genevieve Briand (assistant director for the Master's program in Applied Economics at JHU) was published in the student-run Johns Hopkins News-Letter claiming to have found "no evidence that COVID-19 create[d] any excess deaths". The article was later retracted after it was used to promote conspiracy theories on right-wing social media accounts and misinformation websites, but the presentation was not removed from YouTube, where it had been viewed more than 58,000 times as of 3 December 2020. Briand compared data from spring 2020 and January 2018, ignoring expected seasonal variations in mortality and unusual peaks in the spring and summer of 2020 compared to previous spring and summer months. Briand's article failed to account for the total excess mortality from all causes reported during the pandemic, with 300,000 deaths associated with the virus per CDC data in 2020. Deaths per age group were also shown as a proportion percentage rather than as raw numbers, obscuring the effects of the pandemic when the number of deaths increases but the proportions are maintained. The article also suggested that deaths attributed to cardiac and respiratory diseases in infected persons were incorrectly


id: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-9
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation-9.md
category: reference
title: COVID-19 misinformation
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:13.113344+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-0
summary:
=== California herd immunity in 2019 === In March 2020, Victor Davis Hanson publicized a theory that COVID-19 may have been in California in the fall of 2019 resulting in a level of herd immunity to at least partially explain differences in infection rates in cities such as New York City vs Los Angeles. Jeff Smith of Santa Clara County stated that evidence indicated the virus may have been in California since December 2019. Early genetic and antibody analyses refute the idea that the virus was in the United States prior to January 2020. === Patient Zero === In March 2020, conspiracy theorists started the false rumor that Maatje Benassi, a US army reservist, was "Patient Zero" of the pandemic, the first person to be infected with COVID-19. Benassi was targeted because of her participation in the 2019 Military World Games at Wuhan before the pandemic started, even though she never tested positive for the virus. Conspiracy theorists even connected her family to the DJ Benny Benassi as a Benassi virus plot, even though they are not related and Benny had also not had the virus. === Airborne === Before mid-2021 the World Health Organization (WHO) denied that COVID readily


id: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-10
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation-10.md
category: reference
title: COVID-19 misinformation
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:13.113344+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-0
summary:
=== Bat soup === Some media outlets, including Daily Mail and RT, as well as individuals, disseminated a video showing a Chinese woman eating a bat, falsely suggesting it was filmed in Wuhan and connecting it to the outbreak. However, the widely circulated video contains unrelated footage of a Chinese travel vlogger, Wang Mengyun, eating bat soup in the island country of Palau in 2016. Wang posted an apology on Weibo, in which she said she had been abused and threatened, and that she had only wanted to showcase Palauan cuisine. The spread of misinformation about bat consumption has been characterized by xenophobic and racist sentiment toward Asians. In contrast, scientists suggest the virus originated in bats and migrated into an intermediary host animal before infecting people. === Large gatherings === South Korean "conservative populist" Jun Kwang-hun told his followers there was no risk to mass public gatherings as the virus was impossible to contract outdoors. Many of his followers are elderly. === Lifetime of the virus === Misinformation has spread that the lifetime of SARS-CoV-2 is only 12 hours and that staying home for 14 hours during the Janata curfew would break the chain of transmission. Another message claimed


id: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-11
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation-11.md
category: reference
title: COVID-19 misinformation
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:13.113344+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-0
summary:
=== Public use of face masks === Authorities, especially in Asia, recommended wearing face masks in public early in the pandemic. In other parts of the world, authorities made conflicting (or contradictory) statements. Several governments and institutions, such as in the United States, initially dismissed the use of face masks by the general population, often with misleading or incomplete information about their effectiveness. Commentators have attributed the anti-mask messaging to attempts at managing mask shortages caused by initial inaction, remarking that the claims went beyond the science, or were simply lies. In February 2020, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams tweeted "Seriously people—STOP BUYING MASKS! They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus [disease 2019]"; he later reversed his position with increasing evidence that masks can limit the spread of COVID-19. In June 2020, Anthony Fauci (a key member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force) confirmed that the American public were told not to wear masks from the beginning, due to a shortage of masks, and then explained that masks do actually work. Some media outlets claimed that neck gaiters were worse than not wearing masks at all in the COVID-19 pandemic, misinterpreting a study which was


id: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-12
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation-12.md
category: reference
title: COVID-19 misinformation
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:13.113344+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-0
summary:
=== Religious protection === A number of religious groups have claimed protection due to their faith. Some refused to stop practices, such as gatherings of large groups, that promoted the transmission of the virus. In Israel, some Ultra-Orthodox Jews initially refused to close synagogues and religious seminaries and disregarded government restrictions because "The Torah protects and saves", which resulted in an eight-fold faster rate of infection among some groups. In South Korea the River of Grace Community Church in Gyeonggi Province spread the virus after spraying salt water into their members' mouths in the belief that it would kill the virus, while the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in Daegu where a church leader claimed that no Shincheonji worshipers had caught the virus in February while hundreds died in Wuhan, later caused the biggest spread of the virus in the country. In Tanzania, President John Magufuli, instead of banning congregations, urged the faithfuls to go to pray in churches and mosques in the belief that it will protect them. He said that COVID-19 is a devil, therefore "cannot survive in the body of Jesus Christ; it will burn" (the "body of Jesus Christ" refers to the Christian church). Despite the COVID-19


id: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-13
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation-13.md
category: reference
title: COVID-19 misinformation
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:13.113344+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-0
summary:
=== Herbal treatments === Various national and party-held Chinese media heavily advertised an "overnight research" report by Wuhan Institute of Virology and Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, on how shuanghuanglian, an herb mixture from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), can effectively inhibit COVID-19. The report led to a purchase craze of shuanghuanglian. The president of Madagascar Andry Rajoelina launched and promoted in April 2020 a herbal drink based on an artemisia plant as a miracle cure that can treat and prevent COVID-19 despite a lack of medical evidence. The drink has been exported to other African countries. Based on in-vitro studies, extracts of E. purpurea (Echinaforce) showed virucidal activity against coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2. Because the data was experimental and solely derived from cell cultures, antiviral effects in humans have not been elucidated. As a result, regulatory agencies have not recommended the use of Echinacea preparations for the prophylaxis and treatment of COVID-19. === Vitamin C === During the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic, vitamin C was the subject of more FDA warning letters than any other quack treatment for COVID-19. In April 2021, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines stated that "there


id: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-14
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation-14.md
category: reference
title: COVID-19 misinformation
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:13.113344+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-0
summary:
=== Dangerous treatments === Proponents of Miracle Mineral Supplement (an aqueous solution of chlorine dioxide that is generally considered ineffective and dangerous for treating disease) have also promoted it as a treatment for COVID-19. On July 8, 2020, the Food and Drug Administration in the US raided the family compound of Mark Grenon, founder of Genesis II Church of Health and Healing, a promoter and distributor of MMS. In October 2023, Mark, alongside many of his family members, were sentenced to prison for distributing an unapproved and misbranded drug. Twelve people were hospitalized in India when they ingested the poisonous thornapple (Datura stramonium AKA Jimsonweed) after seeing the plant recommended as a 'coronavirus [disease 2019] home remedy' in a TikTok video. Datura species contain many substances poisonous to humans, mainly through anticholinergic effects. === Silver === In February 2020, televangelist Jim Bakker promoted a colloidal silver solution, sold on his website, as a remedy for COVID-19; naturopath Sherrill Sellman, a guest on his show, falsely stated that it "hasn't been tested on this strain of the coronavirus, but it's been tested on other strains of the coronavirus and has been able to eliminate it within 12 hours". The US Food


id: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-15
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation-15.md
category: reference
title: COVID-19 misinformation
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:13.113344+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-0
summary:
=== Return of wildlife === During the pandemic, many false and misleading images or news reports about the environmental impact of the COVID-19 pandemic were shared by clickbait journalism sources and social media. A viral post that originated on Weibo and spread on Twitter claimed that a pack of elephants descended on a village under quarantine in China's Yunnan, got drunk on corn wine, and passed out in a tea garden. A Chinese news report debunked the claim that the elephants got drunk on corn wine and noted that wild elephants were a common sight in the village; the image attached to the post was originally taken at the Asian Elephant Research Center in Yunnan in December 2019. Following reports of reduced pollution levels in Italy as a result of lockdowns, images purporting to show swans and dolphins swimming in Venice canals went viral on social media. The image of the swans was revealed to have been taken in Burano, where swans are common, while footage of the dolphins was filmed at a port in Sardinia hundreds of miles away. The Venice mayor's office clarified that the reported water clarity in the canals was due to the lack of sediment


id: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-16
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation-16.md
category: reference
title: COVID-19 misinformation
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:13.113344+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-0
summary:
== Efforts to combat misinformation == In February 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) described a "massive infodemic", citing an over-abundance of reported information, which was false, about the virus that "makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it". The WHO stated that the high demand for timely and trustworthy information has incentivised the creation of a direct WHO 24/7 myth-busting hotline where its communication and social media teams have been monitoring and responding to misinformation through its website and social media pages. The WHO specifically debunked several claims as false, including the claim that a person can tell if they have the virus or not simply by holding their breath; the claim that drinking large amounts of water will protect against the virus; and the claim that gargling salt water prevents infection. === Social media === In early February 2020, Facebook, Twitter, and Google announced that they were working with WHO to address misinformation on their platforms. In a blog post, Facebook stated that it would remove content flagged by global health organizations and local authorities that violate its content policy on misinformation leading to "physical harm". Facebook is also giving


id: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-17
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation-17.md
category: reference
title: COVID-19 misinformation
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_misinformation
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:13.113344+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: covid-19-misinformation-20260505-0
summary:
=== Government censorship === In many countries, censorship was performed by governments, with "fake news" laws being enacted to criminalize certain types of speech regarding COVID-19. Often, people were arrested for making posts online. In March 2020, the Turkish Interior Ministry reported 93 suspects and 19 arrests of social media users whose posts were "targeting officials and spreading panic and fear by suggesting the virus had spread widely in Turkey and that officials had taken insufficient measures". In April 2020, Iran's military said that 3600 people had been arrested for "spreading rumors" about COVID-19 in the country. In Cambodia, at least 17 individuals who expressed concerns about the spread of COVID-19 were arrested between January and March 2020 on "fake news" charges. In April 2020, Algerian lawmakers passed a law criminalizing "fake news" deemed harmful to "public order and state security". In the Philippines, China, India, Egypt, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Morocco, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iran, Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Kenya, South Africa, Côte d'Ivoire, Somalia, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Montenegro, Serbia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong, people have been arrested for allegedly spreading false information about the COVID-19 pandemic. The United Arab Emirates has introduced criminal penalties


id: cow-urine-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_urine-0.md
category: reference
title: Cow urine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_urine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:14.224508+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: cow-urine-20260505-0
summary:
Cow urine is a liquid by-product of metabolism in cows. It has a sacred role in Zoroastrianism and Hinduism. Urophagia, the consumption of urine, was used in several ancient cultures for various health, healing, and cosmetic purposes; urine drinking is still practiced today. Cow urine is used as medicine in some places of India, Myanmar, and Nigeria. Proponents' claims about its curing diseases and cancer have no scientific backing. == Hinduism == Cow urine is considered sacred in Hinduism. Cow urine is used in the making of pancha-gavya, for use in Hindu rituals. The Mahabharata narrates a story about how Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity, came to reside in cow dung. In the legend, Lakshmi asks cows to let her live in their bodies because they are pure and sinless. The cows refuse, describing her as unstable and fickle. Lakshmi begs them to accept her request, saying that others would ridicule her for being rejected by the cows, and agreeing to live in the most despised part of their body. The cows then allow her to live in their dung and urine. == Usage == === Folk medicine === Consuming cow urine is used as folk medicine in some cultures.


id: crackpot-index-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crackpot_index-0.md
category: reference
title: Crackpot index
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crackpot_index
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:15.428235+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: crackpot-index-20260505-0
summary:
The Crackpot Index is a number that rates scientific claims or the individuals that make them, in conjunction with a method for computing that number. It was proposed by John C. Baez in 1992, and updated in 1998. While the index was created for its humorous value, the general concepts can be applied in other fields like risk management. == Baez's crackpot index == The method was initially proposed semi-seriously by mathematical physicist John C. Baez in 1992, and then revised in 1998. The index used responses to a list of 37 questions, each positive response contributing a point value ranging from 1 to 50; the computation is initialized with a value of −5. An earlier version only had 17 questions with point values for each ranging from 1 to 40. Sample point assignments: 1 point for every statement that is widely agreed on to be false. 5 points for each mention of "Einstien", "Hawkins" or "Feynmann" [sic]. 10 points for offering prize money to anyone who proves and/or finds any flaws in your theory. 20 points for every use of science fiction works or myths as if they were fact. 40 points for comparing those who argue against your


id: craniosacral-therapy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craniosacral_therapy-0.md
category: reference
title: Craniosacral therapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craniosacral_therapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:16.624530+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: craniosacral-therapy-20260505-0
summary:
Craniosacral therapy (CST) or cranial osteopathy is a form of alternative medicine that uses gentle touch to feel non-existent rhythmic movements of the skull's bones and supposedly adjust the immovable joints of the skull to achieve a therapeutic result. CST is a pseudoscience and its practice has been characterized as quackery. It is based on fundamental misconceptions about the anatomy and physiology of the human skull and is promoted as a cure-all for a variety of health conditions. Medical research has found no significant evidence that either CST or cranial osteopathy confers any health benefit, and attempts to manipulate the bones of the skull can be harmful, particularly for children or infants. The basic assumptions of CST are not true, and practitioners produce conflicting and mutually exclusive diagnoses of the same patients. == Effectiveness and safety == Practitioners of CST claim it is effective in treating a wide range of conditions, sometimes claiming it is a cancer cure, or a cure-all. Practitioners particularly advocate the use of CST on children. The American Cancer Society cautions that CST should never be used on children under age two. Pediatricians have expressed concern at the harm CST can cause to children and infants.


