# kb

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


id: viktor-schauberger-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Schauberger-0.md
category: reference
title: Viktor Schauberger
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Schauberger
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:01.370284+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: viktor-schauberger-20260505-0
summary:
Viktor Schauberger (Austrian German: [ˈʃaʊbɛrɡɐ]; 30 June 1885 – 25 September 1958) was an Austrian forest caretaker, naturalist, philosopher, pseudoscientist, and inventor. == Early life == Schauberger was born in Holzschlag, Upper Austria on 30 June 1885. His parents were Leopold Schauberger and Josefa, née Klimitsch. From 1891 to 1897, he attended the elementary school in Aigen, then until 1900 the state grammar school in Linz. Until 1904, he went to the forestry school in Aggsbach in the Kartause Aggsbach, where he passed the exam as a forester. From 1904 to 1906, he was a forest clerk in Groß-Schweinbarth in Lower Austria. == Technology == Nick Cook visited the PKS bio-technical institute, Pythagoras-Kepler System, in the Salzkammergut Mountains. Viktor's grandson Joerg gave Nick access to the family archives, which included Viktor's books, letters, diary, and patent applications. Besides inventing a log flume, Viktor worked on bio-technical machinery. In 1939, Viktor filed a patent with the Reich Patent Office for a "multistage centrifuge with concentrically juxtaposed pressure chambers," a means of propelling machines through air or water, water purification, or electricity generation. In 1940, Viktor contracted Kaempfer in Berlin to build the machine, then in February 1941, switched to the Kertl


id: sluggish-schizophrenia-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sluggish_schizophrenia-0.md
category: reference
title: Sluggish schizophrenia
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sluggish_schizophrenia
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:02.694805+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: sluggish-schizophrenia-20260505-0
summary:
Sluggish schizophrenia or slow progressive schizophrenia (Russian: вялотеку́щая шизофрени́я, romanized: vyalotekushchaya shizofreniya) was a diagnostic category used in the Soviet Union to describe what was claimed to be a form of schizophrenia characterized by a slowly progressive course; it was diagnosed even in patients who showed no symptoms of schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders, on the assumption that these symptoms would appear later. It was developed in the 1960s by Soviet psychiatrist Andrei Snezhnevsky and his colleagues, and was used exclusively in the USSR and several Eastern Bloc countries, until the fall of Communism starting in 1989. The diagnosis has long been discredited because of its scientific inadequacy and its use as a means of confining dissenters. It has never been used or recognized outside of the Eastern Bloc, or by international organizations such as the World Health Organization. It is considered a prime example of the political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union. Sluggish schizophrenia was the most infamous of diagnoses used by Soviet psychiatrists, due to its usage against political dissidents. After being discharged from a hospital, persons diagnosed with sluggish schizophrenia were deprived of their civic rights, credibility and employability. The usage of this diagnosis has


id: sluggish-schizophrenia-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sluggish_schizophrenia-1.md
category: reference
title: Sluggish schizophrenia
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sluggish_schizophrenia
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:02.694805+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: sluggish-schizophrenia-20260505-0
summary:
== Popularity of diagnosis == Because of diagnoses of sluggish schizophrenia, Russia in 1974 had 5–7 cases of schizophrenia per 1,000 population, compared to 3–4 per 1,000 in the United Kingdom. In the 1980s, Russia had three times as many schizophrenic patients per capita as the US, twice as many schizophrenic patients as West Germany, Austria and Japan, and more schizophrenic patients than any Western country. The city with the highest diagnosed prevalence of schizophrenia in the world was Moscow. Along with paranoia, sluggish schizophrenia was the diagnosis most frequently used for the psychiatric incarceration of dissenters. Darrel Regier of the National Institute of Mental Health, one of the U.S. experts who visited Soviet psychiatric hospitals in 1989, testified that a "substantial number" of political dissenters had been recognized as mentally sick on the basis of such symptoms as "anti-Soviet thoughts" or "delusions of reformism". According to Moscow psychiatrist Alexander Danilin, the nosological approach in the Moscow psychiatric school established by Andrei Snezhnevsky (whom Danilin considered a state criminal) boiled down to the ability to diagnose schizophrenia. == Systematics by Snezhnevsky == The Soviet model of schizophrenia is based on the hypothesis that a fundamental characteristic (by which schizophrenia spectrum


id: sluggish-schizophrenia-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sluggish_schizophrenia-2.md
category: reference
title: Sluggish schizophrenia
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sluggish_schizophrenia
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:02.694805+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: sluggish-schizophrenia-20260505-0
summary:
Only specially instructed psychiatrists could recognize sluggish schizophrenia to indefinitely treat dissenters in a "Special Psychiatric Hospital" with heavy doses of antipsychotic medication. Convinced of the immortality of the totalitarian USSR, Soviet psychiatrists, especially in Moscow, did not hesitate to form "scientific" articles and defend dissertations by using the cases of dissidents. For example, Snezhnevsky diagnosed dissident Vladimir Bukovsky as schizophrenic on 5 July 1962 and on 12 November 1971 wrote to writer Viktor Nekrasov that the characteristics of Bukovsky's mental disease were included in the dissertation by Snezhnevsky's colleague. All the paper products were available in medical libraries. As Semyon Gluzman recollects, when he returned to Kiev in 1982 after his absence of ten years, he was amazed to see all this "scientific" literature in open storage at the Kiev medical library and was even more amazed to read all the "ridiculous stuff" hardly put into scientific psychiatric terminology. In their papers and dissertations on treatment for litigiousness and reformism, Kosachyov and other Soviet psychiatrists recommended compulsory treatment for persons with litigiousness and reformism, in the same psychiatric hospitals used for murderers: Compulsory treatment in psychiatric hospitals of special type is to be recommended in cases of brutal murders


id: sluggish-schizophrenia-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sluggish_schizophrenia-3.md
category: reference
title: Sluggish schizophrenia
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sluggish_schizophrenia
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:02.694805+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: sluggish-schizophrenia-20260505-0
summary:
== Recurrence in post-Soviet countries == In 2010, Yuri Savenko, the president of the Independent Psychiatric Association of Russia, warned that Professor Anatoly Smulevich, author of the monographs Problema Paranoyi (The Problem of Paranoia) (1972) and Maloprogredientnaya Shizofreniya (Continuous Sluggish Schizophrenia) (1987), which had contributed to the hyperdiagnosis of sluggish schizophrenia, had again begun to play the same role. Under his influence, therapists have begun to widely use antidepressants and antipsychotics but often in inadequate cases and in inappropriate doses, without consulting psychiatrists. This situation has opened up a huge new market for pharmaceutical firms, and the flow of the mentally ill to internists. In their joint book Sociodinamicheskaya Psikhiatriya (Sociodynamic Psychiatry), Doctor of Medical Sciences professor of psychiatry Caesar Korolenko and Doctor of Psychological Sciences Nina Dmitrieva note that Smulevich's clinical description of sluggish schizophrenia is extremely elusive and includes almost all possible changes in mental status and conditions that occur in a person without psychopathology: euphoria, hyperactivity, unfounded optimism, irritability, explosiveness, sensitivity, inadequacy and emotional deficit, hysterical reactions with conversive and dissociative symptoms, infantilism, obsessive-phobic states and stubbornness. At present, the hyperdiagnosis of schizophrenia becomes especially negative due to a large number of schizophreniform psychoses caused by the


id: society-for-scientific-exploration-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_for_Scientific_Exploration-0.md
category: reference
title: Society for Scientific Exploration
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_for_Scientific_Exploration
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:03.844288+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: society-for-scientific-exploration-20260505-0
summary:
The Society for Scientific Exploration (SSE) is a group committed to studying fringe science. The opinions of the organization in regard to what are the proper limits of scientific exploration are often at odds with those of mainstream science. Critics argue that the SSE is devoted to disreputable ideas far outside the scientific mainstream. == History == The society was founded in 1982. Its first meeting took place at the University of Maryland, College Park in 1982. Of the SSE and its journal, it has been said that "Pretty much anything that might have shown up on The X-Files or in the National Enquirer shows up first here. But what also shows up is a surprising attitude of skepticism." == Activities == === Journal === The society's scientific journal, the Journal of Scientific Exploration, was established to provide a scientific forum for ufology, parapsychology, and cryptozoology, publishing research articles, essays, book reviews, and letters on those and many other topics that are largely ignored in mainstream journals. The journal is peer-reviewed and was abstracted and indexed in Scopus. The journal is edited by Stephen E. Braude. The Spirituality and Psychiatry Special Interest Group of the Royal College of Psychiatrists says


id: ian-stevenson-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Stevenson-0.md
category: reference
title: Ian Stevenson
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Stevenson
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:05.034547+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ian-stevenson-20260505-0
summary:
Ian Pretyman Stevenson (October 31, 1918 – February 8, 2007) was a Canadian-born American psychiatrist, the founder and director of the Division of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. He was a professor at the University of Virginia School of Medicine for fifty years. He was chair of their department of psychiatry from 1957 to 1967, Carlson Professor of Psychiatry from 1967 to 2001, and research professor of psychiatry from 2002 until his death in 2007. He helped to found the Society for Scientific Exploration in 1982. He is best known for his research into evidence of reincarnation – the premise that emotions, memories, and even physical bodily features can be passed on from one life to another. Over his forty years of international research, he amassed three thousand cases of children who claimed to remember past lives. Stevenson was the author of around three hundred papers and fourteen books on reincarnation, including Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation (1966), Reincarnation and Biology and its simplified version Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect (both 1997), and European Cases of the Reincarnation Type (2003). Stevenson was cautious in making claims about reincarnation. He emphasized that the information he collected


id: ian-stevenson-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Stevenson-1.md
category: reference
title: Ian Stevenson
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Stevenson
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:05.034547+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ian-stevenson-20260505-0
summary:
=== Early interest === Stevenson described as the leitmotif of his career his interest in why one person would develop one disease, and another something different. He came to believe that neither environment nor heredity could account for certain fears, illnesses and special abilities, and that some form of personality or memory transfer might provide a third type of explanation. He acknowledged, however, the absence of evidence of a physical process by which a personality could survive death and transfer to another body, and he was careful not to commit himself fully to the position that reincarnation occurs. He argued only that his case studies could not, in his view, be explained by environment or heredity, and that "reincarnation is the best – even though not the only – explanation for the stronger cases we have investigated." He said in 1974, looking back on his work: [W]hat I do believe is that, of the cases we now know, reincarnation--at least for some--is the best explanation that we have been able to come up with. There is an impressive body of evidence and it is getting stronger all the time. I think a rational person, if he wants, can believe in


id: ian-stevenson-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Stevenson-2.md
category: reference
title: Ian Stevenson
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Stevenson
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:05.034547+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ian-stevenson-20260505-0
summary:
=== Criticism === The Journal of the American Medical Association referred to Stevenson's Cases of the Reincarnation Type (1975) as a "painstaking and unemotional" collection of cases that were "difficult to explain on any assumption other than reincarnation." In September 1977, the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease devoted most of one issue to Stevenson's research. Writing in the journal, the psychiatrist Harold Lief described Stevenson as a methodical investigator and added, "Either he is making a colossal mistake, or he will be known (I have said as much to him) as 'the Galileo of the 20th century'." The issue proved popular: the journal's editor, the psychiatrist Eugene Brody, said he had received 300–400 requests for reprints. Despite this early interest, most scientists ignored Stevenson's work. According to his New York Times obituary, his detractors saw him as "earnest, dogged but ultimately misguided, led astray by gullibility, wishful thinking and a tendency to see science where others saw superstition." Critics suggested that the children or their parents had deceived him, that he was too willing to believe them, and that he had asked them leading questions. Robert Todd Carroll wrote in his Skeptic's Dictionary that Stevenson's results were subject to


id: ian-stevenson-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Stevenson-3.md
category: reference
title: Ian Stevenson
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Stevenson
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:05.034547+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ian-stevenson-20260505-0
summary:
"The major problem with Stevenson’s work is that the methods he used to investigate alleged cases of reincarnation are inadequate to rule out simple, imaginative storytelling on the part of the children claiming to be reincarnations of dead individuals. In the seemingly most impressive cases Stevenson (1975, 1977) has reported, the children claiming to be reincarnated knew friends and relatives of the dead individual. The children’s knowledge of facts about these individuals is, then, somewhat less than conclusive evidence for reincarnation." Robert Baker wrote that many alleged past-life experiences can be explained in terms of known psychological factors. Baker attributed the recalling of past lives to a mixture of cryptomnesia and confabulation. British author and independent researcher Ian Wilson argued that a large number of Stevenson's cases consisted of poor children remembering wealthy lives or belonging to a higher caste. He speculated that such cases may represent a scheme to obtain money from the family of the alleged former incarnation. The philosopher C.T.K. Chari of Madras Christian College in Chennai, a specialist in parapsychology, argued that Stevenson was naive and that the case studies were undermined by his lack of local knowledge. Chari wrote that many of the cases had


id: ian-stevenson-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Stevenson-4.md
category: reference
title: Ian Stevenson
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Stevenson
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:05.034547+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ian-stevenson-20260505-0
summary:
=== Concessions from critics === Ian Wilson, one of Stevenson's critics, acknowledged that Stevenson had brought “a new professionalism to a hitherto crank-prone field.” Paul Edwards wrote that Stevenson “has written more fully and more intelligibly in defense of reincarnation than anybody else.” Though faulting Stevenson's judgment, Edwards wrote: “I have the highest regard for his honesty. All of his case reports contain items that can be made the basis of criticism. Stevenson could easily have suppressed this information. The fact that he did not speaks well for his integrity.” Carl Sagan referred to what were apparently Stevenson's investigations in his book The Demon-Haunted World as an example of carefully collected empirical data, and though he rejected reincarnation as a parsimonious explanation for the stories, he wrote that the phenomenon of alleged past-life memories should be further researched. === Support === Remi J. Cadoret, wrote in The American Journal of Psychiatry that Stevenson's European Cases of the Reincarnation Type "provides an introduction to an exciting range of [unusual] phenomena and furnishes an inspiring example of a painstaking protocol to sift facts from fancy." Lester S. King, pathologist, reviewed the first volume of Cases of the Reincarnation Type for the JAMA


id: strategies-for-engineered-negligible-senescence-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategies_for_engineered_negligible_senescence-0.md
category: reference
title: Strategies for engineered negligible senescence
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategies_for_engineered_negligible_senescence
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:06.214793+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: strategies-for-engineered-negligible-senescence-20260505-0
summary:
Strategies for engineered negligible senescence (SENS) is a range of proposed regenerative medical therapies, either planned or currently in development, for the periodic repair of all age-related damage to human tissue. These therapies have the ultimate aim of maintaining a state of negligible senescence in patients and postponing age-associated disease. SENS was first defined by British biogerontologist Aubrey de Grey. While scientists agreed with de Grey that "research into the basic biology of ageing needs and deserves more support", they also viewed de Grey's proposals "to 'engineer' the body to prevent ageing indefinitely" as a fringe theory. De Grey later highlighted similarities and differences of SENS to subsequent categorization systems of the biology of aging, such as the highly influential Hallmarks of Aging published in 2013. While some biogerontologists support the SENS program, others contend that the ultimate goals of de Grey's programme are too speculative given the current state of technology. The 31-member Research Advisory Board of de Grey's SENS Research Foundation have signed an endorsement of the plausibility of the SENS approach. == Framework == The term "negligible senescence" was first used in the early 1990s by professor Caleb Finch to describe organisms such as lobsters and hydras,


id: strategies-for-engineered-negligible-senescence-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategies_for_engineered_negligible_senescence-1.md
category: reference
title: Strategies for engineered negligible senescence
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategies_for_engineered_negligible_senescence
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:06.214793+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: strategies-for-engineered-negligible-senescence-20260505-0
summary:
== Technology Review contest == In February 2005, the MIT Technology Review published an article by Sherwin Nuland, a Clinical Professor of Surgery at Yale University and the author of How We Die, that drew a skeptical portrait of SENS, at the time de Grey was a computer associate in the Flybase Facility of the Department of Genetics at the University of Cambridge. While Nuland praised de Grey's intellect and rhetoric, he criticized the SENS framework both for oversimplifying "enormously complex biological problems" and for promising relatively near-at-hand solutions to those unsolved problems. During June 2005, David Gobel, CEO and co-founder of the Methuselah Foundation with de Grey, offered Technology Review $20,000 to fund a prize competition to publicly clarify the viability of the SENS approach. In July 2005, Jason Pontin announced a $20,000 prize, funded 50/50 by Methuselah Foundation and MIT Technology Review. The contest was open to any molecular biologist, with a record of publication in biogerontology, who could prove that the alleged benefits of SENS were "so wrong that it is unworthy of learned debate." Technology Review received five submissions to its challenge. In March 2006, Technology Review announced that it had chosen a panel of judges


id: superstition-in-india-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstition_in_India-0.md
category: reference
title: Superstition in India
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstition_in_India
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:07.462046+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: superstition-in-india-20260505-0
summary:
Superstitions in India are prevalent and are based on myths, legends, fables, traditions and stories. People stop if a black cat crosses their path, or if someone sneezes, auspicious work is postponed. Common superstitions in India today include a black cat crossing the road being bad luck, cutting fingernails/toenails at nighttime is considered to give bad luck, a crow calling meaning that guests are arriving, drinking milk after eating fish causing skin diseases, and itchy palms signaling the arrival of money. == Overview == Superstitions are usually attributed to lack of education; however, this has not always been the case in India, as there are many educated people with beliefs considered superstitious by the public. Superstitious beliefs and practices vary from one region to another, ranging from harmless practices such as lemon-and-chili to terms in order to ward off the evil eye, to harmful acts like witch-burning. Being part of tradition and religion, these beliefs and practices have been passed down from one generation to another for centuries. The Indian government has tried to put new laws prohibiting such practices into effect. Due to the rich history of superstition, these laws often face a lot of opposition from the general


id: superstition-in-india-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstition_in_India-1.md
category: reference
title: Superstition in India
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstition_in_India
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:07.462046+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: superstition-in-india-20260505-0
summary:
=== Horoscopes === In India, people who follow Hindu religion believe to be born with a star on their name which is one of twenty seven stars in Hindu astrology based on their time and date of birth. They also believe that planets and their position and size and shape of moon such a full moon or full solar eclipse influence their day-to-day life. Horoscopes are tailored to each and every Hindu person and a horoscope typically mentions any defects or negative influences a person has or may face. Horoscope is used in marriages in which the bride and groom should have a matching horoscope which is also called Janam Kundali. Without a matching horoscope, a marriage between Hindu male and female may not happen. Hindu wedding matchmakers typically carry information about a person's horoscope. Hindu persons prefer arranged marriage as it allows them to find a bride or groom with a matching horoscope. A person born under the influence of Mars (Mangala) is said to have Mangala Dosha ("mars defect"); such a person is called a manglik. According to the superstition, the marriage between a Manglik and a non-Manglik is disastrous. To prevent this disaster, the manglik person is


id: superstition-in-india-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstition_in_India-2.md
category: reference
title: Superstition in India
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstition_in_India
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:07.462046+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: superstition-in-india-20260505-0
summary:
==== Notable persons and incidents ==== Originally from Sri Lanka, Swami Premananda moved to India in 1984 and founded an ashram in Pudukkotai, Tamil Nadu, in 1989. In 1996, one of the girls living the ashram escaped and reported that she was raped and was pregnant. In view of the so-called spiritual powers of the accused, which included doing miracles like materializing vibhuti and regurgitating small Shiva lingams, an illusionist was invited to the court and he performed both the miracles in the open court. In 1997, the Swami was sentenced to life imprisonment and fined ₹60 lakh for 13 counts of rape and a murder. Chandraswami, astrologer and spiritual guru, was a close associate of former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao. He was indicted in several lawsuits including in the assassination of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. In 2011, the Supreme Court of India fined him ₹9 crore (US$1.4 million) for multiple violations of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA). In December 2002, Santosh Madhavan defrauded an Indian expatriate woman living in Dubai of DH 400,000 (₹50 lakh) by claiming he had supernatural powers, and disappeared. The Interpol issued an alert for his arrest on the advice of Dubai police. Later


id: superstition-in-india-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstition_in_India-3.md
category: reference
title: Superstition in India
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstition_in_India
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:07.462046+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: superstition-in-india-20260505-0
summary:
On 10 March 2012, Sanal Edamaruku investigated a so-called miracle in Vile Parle, where a Jesus statue had started weeping and concluded that the problem was caused by faulty drainage. Later that day, during a TV discussion with some church members, Edamaruku accused the Catholic Church of miracle-mongering. On 10 April, Angelo Fernandes, President of the Maharashtra Christian Youth Forum, filed a police complaint against Edamaruku under Indian Penal Code Section 295A. In July, while on a tour in Finland, Edamaruku was informed by a friend that his house was visited by the police. Since the offence is not bailable, Edamaruku decided to stay in Finland. == Historical predictions and challenges == === Historical predictions === In September 1951, responding to a newspaper article about an astrologer predicting an imminent war with Pakistan, the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru expressed his desire to pass a law against astrology and sooth-saying. In January 1962, Indian astrologers predicted a global catastrophe on Sunday, 4 February 1962. People took refuge in hills to escape the event. The Maharajah of Sikkim, Palden Thondup Namgyal postponed his marriage to Hope Cooke to 1963 on the advice of some astrologers. Business and travel also


id: superstition-in-india-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstition_in_India-4.md
category: reference
title: Superstition in India
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstition_in_India
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:07.462046+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: superstition-in-india-20260505-0
summary:
=== Article 51 A (h), Constitution of India === The Article 51 A (h) of the Constitution of India, lists "to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform" as a fundamental duty for every Indian citizen. Rationalist Narendra Nayak has argued the Article 51 A (h) is contrary to IPC 295A and the constitution should be held over to IPC 295A. There have been calls to implement this article more widely (e.g., 2011 Janhit Manch vs Union of India, Bombay High Court). === Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 === This act prohibits advertisements of magical remedies, like amulets or spells, for certain diseases. The law lists 56 of these diseases. The law also curbs sales and promotion of so-called miracle drugs and cures. But, the law is rarely enforced and several such products are freely available to the public. The law is considered severely outdated as 14 of the diseases in the list are now curable, and newer diseases like AIDS are not on the list. Some advertisements of these categories are also known to appear on cable television channels without much repercussions. Proposed amendments to this law has also raised questions


id: touchless-knockout-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touchless_knockout-0.md
category: reference
title: Touchless knockout
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touchless_knockout
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:08.631573+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: touchless-knockout-20260505-0
summary:
Touchless knockout or no-touch knockout is a fraudulent practice by con artists who claim knowledge of techniques by which an enemy combatant can be rendered unconscious solely by application of qi, kiai or similar methods, without making physical contact. This differs from pressure point techniques which involve light or slight contact to specific areas of the body causing unconsciousness. Skeptics believe apparent demonstrations of touchless knockout techniques to be hypnotism of, or acting (collusion) on the part of, the apparent victims of the technique. One notable practitioner of the fictitious touchless knockout is George Dillman; he attempted to demonstrate the technique for a National Geographic Channel program about him and was unable to knock out volunteers previously unknown to him. Another martial artist who claimed but was unable to prove an ability to knock out without contact is Harry Thomas "Tom" Cameron, who was featured in episode eight of season one of Stan Lee's Superhumans and, unusually for that program, judged not to have any superhuman ability whatsoever. Cameron was also debunked in a Fox news investigation. Other people who have claimed, but been unable to prove under controlled conditions, an ability to perform a touchless knockout include Yanagi Ryuken


id: universal-darwinism-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Darwinism-0.md
category: reference
title: Universal Darwinism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Darwinism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:09.761567+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: universal-darwinism-20260505-0
summary:
Universal Darwinism is a variety of approaches that extend the theory of Darwinism beyond its original domain of biological evolution on Earth. Universal Darwinism aims to formulate a generalized version of the mechanisms of variation, selection and heredity proposed by Charles Darwin, so that they can apply to explain evolution in a wide variety of other domains, including psychology, linguistics, economics, culture, medicine, computer science, and physics. Examples of patterns that have been postulated to undergo variation and selection, and thus adaptation, are genes, ideas (memes), theories, technologies, neurons and their connections, words, computer programs, firms, antibodies, institutions, law and judicial systems, quantum states and even whole universes. == History and development == Conceptually, "evolutionary theorizing about cultural, social, and economic phenomena" preceded Darwin, but was still lacking the concept of natural selection. Starting in the 1950s, Donald T. Campbell was one of the first and most influential authors to revive the tradition, and to formulate a generalized Darwinian algorithm directly applicable to phenomena outside of biology. In this, he was inspired by William Ross Ashby's view of self-organization and intelligence as fundamental processes of selection. His aim was to explain the development of science and other forms of knowledge


id: universal-darwinism-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Darwinism-1.md
category: reference
title: Universal Darwinism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Darwinism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:09.761567+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: universal-darwinism-20260505-0
summary:
=== Other Darwinian extensions === Quantum Darwinism sees the emergence of classical states in physics as a natural selection of the most stable quantum properties Cosmological natural selection hypothesizes that universes reproduce and are selected for having fundamental constants that maximize "fitness" Complex adaptive systems models the dynamics of complex systems in part on the basis of the variation and selection of its components Evolutionary archaeology is a Darwinian approach to the cultural evolution of tools Evolutionary computation is a Darwinian approach to the generation of adapted computer programs Genetic algorithms, a subset of evolutionary computation, models variation by "genetic" operators (mutation and recombination) Evolutionary robotics applies Darwinian algorithms to the design of autonomous robots Artificial life uses Darwinian algorithms to let organism-like computer agents evolve in a software simulation Evolutionary art uses variation and selection to produce works of art Evolutionary music does the same for works of music Clonal selection theory sees the creation of adapted antibodies in the immune system as a process of variation and selection Neural Darwinism proposes that neurons and their synapses are selectively pruned during brain development Evolutionary epistemology of theories assumes that scientific theories develop through variation and selection Memetics is a


id: vertebral-subluxation-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertebral_subluxation-0.md
category: reference
title: Vertebral subluxation
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertebral_subluxation
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:10.932831+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: vertebral-subluxation-20260505-0
summary:
In chiropractic, a vertebral subluxation means pressure on nerves, abnormal functions creating a lesion in some portion of the body, either in its action or makeup (defined by D.D. Palmer and B.J. Palmer, founders of chiropractic). Chiropractors claim subluxations are not necessarily visible on X-rays. Straight chiropractors continue to follow Palmer's tradition, claiming that vertebral subluxation has considerable health effects and also adding a visceral component to the definition. Most medical experts and some mixer chiropractors consider these ideas to be pseudoscientific and dispute these claims, as there is no scientific evidence for the existence of chiropractic subluxations or proof they or their treatment have any effects on health. The use of the word vertebral subluxation should not be confused with the term's precise usage in medicine, which considers only the anatomical relationships. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a chiropractic subluxation is a "dysfunction in a joint or motion segment in which alignment, movement integrity, and/or physiological function are altered, although contact between joint surfaces remains intact". The WHO notes that this is "different from the current medical definition" of a subluxation, which is a "structural displacement" significant enough to be "visible on static imaging studies" such as


id: vertebral-subluxation-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertebral_subluxation-1.md
category: reference
title: Vertebral subluxation
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertebral_subluxation
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:10.932831+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: vertebral-subluxation-20260505-0
summary:
The ACC paradigm has been criticized by chiropractic authors:All in all, the ambiguities that permeate the ACC's statements on subluxation render it inadequate as a guide to clinical research... Whether the ACC's subluxation claims have succeeded as a political statement is beyond our concern here. These assertions were published as a priori truths (what many chiropractors have traditionally referred to as "principle"), and are exemplary of scientifically unjustified assertions made in many corners of the profession. It matters not whether unsubstantiated assertions are offered for clinical, political, scientific, educational, marketing or other purposes; when offered without acknowledgment of their tentative character, they amount to dogmatism. We contend that attempts to foster unity (among the schools or in the wider profession) at the expense of scientific integrity is ultimately self-defeating. To be sure, the profession's lack of cultural authority is based in part upon our characteristic disunity. However, attempts to generate unity by adoption of a common dogma can only bring scorn and continued alienation from the wider health care community and the public we all serve.In May 2010 the General Chiropractic Council, the statutory regulatory body for chiropractors in the United Kingdom, issued guidance for chiropractors stating that the chiropractic


id: vertebral-subluxation-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertebral_subluxation-2.md
category: reference
title: Vertebral subluxation
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertebral_subluxation
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:10.932831+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: vertebral-subluxation-20260505-0
summary:
It has been proposed that a vertebral subluxation can negatively affect general health by altering the neurological communication between the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nervous system. Although individuals may not always be symptomatic, straight chiropractors believe that the presence of vertebral subluxation is in itself justification for correction via spinal adjustment. V. Strang, D.C., describes several hypotheses on how a misaligned vertebra may cause interference to the nervous system in his book, Essential Principles of Chiropractic: Nerve compression hypothesis: suggests that when the vertebrae are out of alignment, the nerve roots and/or spinal cord can become pinched or irritated. While the most commonly referenced hypothesis, and easiest for a patient to understand, it may be the least likely to occur. Proprioceptive insult hypothesis: focuses on articular alterations causing hyperactivity of the sensory nerve fibers. Somatosympathetic reflex hypothesis: all the visceral organ functions can be reflexly affected by cutaneous or muscular stimulation. Somatosomatic reflex hypothesis: afferent impulses from one part of the body can result in reflex activity in other parts of the body. Viscerosomatic reflex hypothesis: visceral afferent fibers cause reflex somatic problems. Somatopsychic hypothesis: the effects of a subluxation on the ascending paths of the reticular activating system.


id: vertebral-subluxation-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertebral_subluxation-3.md
category: reference
title: Vertebral subluxation
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertebral_subluxation
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:10.932831+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: vertebral-subluxation-20260505-0
summary:
Believers within the chiropractic tradition assert that spinal health and function are directly related to general health and well-being, including visceral disorders, but the efficacy and validity of spinal manipulation to address visceral disorders systems remains a source of controversy within the chiropractic profession. The usefulness of spinal manipulation for organic disorders is not supported by evidence. Chiropractic professors and researchers, Nansel and Szlazak, found that:the proper differential diagnosis of somatic (musculoskeletal) vs. visceral (organ) dysfunction represents a challenge for both the medical and chiropractic physician. The afferent convergence mechanisms, which can create signs and symptoms that are virtually indistinguishable with respect to their somatic vs. visceral etiologies, suggest it is not unreasonable that this somatic visceral-disease mimicry could very well account for the "cures" of presumed organ disease that have been observed over the years in response to various somatic therapies (e.g., spinal manipulation, acupuncture, Rolfing, Qi Gong, etc.) and may represent a common phenomenon that has led to "holistic" health care claims on the part of such clinical disciplines. Considering this phenomenon, Seaman suggests that the chiropractic concept of joint complex (somatic) dysfunction should be incorporated into the differential diagnosis of pain and visceral symptoms because these dysfunctions


id: vertebral-subluxation-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertebral_subluxation-4.md
category: reference
title: Vertebral subluxation
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertebral_subluxation
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:10.932831+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: vertebral-subluxation-20260505-0
summary:
However, no real evidence has ever been presented showing that a given chiropractic treatment alters the position of any vertebrae. In addition, there is no real evidence that impairment of nerve outflow is a major contributor to common illnesses, or that spinal manipulation changes nerve outflow in such a way as to affect organ function. In 2009, four scholarly chiropractors concluded that epidemiologic evidence does not support chiropractic's most fundamental theory. Since its inception, the vast majority of chiropractors have postulated that "subluxations" (misalignments) are the cause or underlying cause of ill health and can be corrected with spinal "adjustments". After searching the scientific literature, the chiropractic authors concluded: No supportive evidence is found for the chiropractic subluxation being associated with any disease process or of creating suboptimal health conditions requiring intervention. Regardless of popular appeal, this leaves the subluxation construct in the realm of unsupported speculation. This lack of supportive evidence suggests the subluxation construct has no valid clinical applicability. In 2005, four leading chiropractic researchers leveled strong critiques of chiropractic dogma: Lastly, the ACC claims that chiropractors use the 'best available rational and empirical evidence' to detect and correct subluxations. This strikes us as pseudoscience, since the ACC


id: vixra-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ViXra-0.md
category: reference
title: ViXra
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ViXra
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:12.067005+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: vixra-20260505-0
summary:
viXra is an electronic e-print archive known for unorthodox and fringe science. It was set up by independent physicist Philip Gibbs as an alternative to the dominant arXiv service operated by Cornell University. Its name comes from arXiv spelled backwards. == Description == Although dominated by physics and mathematics submissions, viXra aims to cover topics across the whole scientific community. It accepts submissions without requiring authors to have an academic affiliation and without any threshold for quality. The e-prints on viXra are grouped into seven broad categories: physics, mathematics, computational science, biology, chemistry, humanities, and other areas. Anyone may post anything on viXra, though house rules do prohibit "vulgar, libellous, plagiaristic or dangerously misleading" content. As a result, the site has a reputation among physicists for hosting "material of no interest". Physicist Gerard 't Hooft writes, "When a paper is published in viXra, it is usually a sign that it is not likely to contain acceptable results. It may, but the odds against that are considerable". Gibbs originally started the archive to cater to researchers who believed that their preprints had been unfairly rejected or reclassified by the arXiv moderators. As of 2013, it had over 4000 preprints, and by


