# kb

id: cymatics-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymatics-0.md
category: reference
title: Cymatics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymatics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:32.201545+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: cymatics-20260505-0
summary:
Cymatics (from Ancient Greek: κῦμα, romanized: kŷma, lit. 'wave') is a subset of modal vibrational phenomena. The term was coined by Swiss physician Hans Jenny (1904–1972). Typically the surface of a plate, diaphragm, or membrane is vibrated, and regions of maximum and minimum displacement are made visible in a thin coating of particles, paste, or liquid. Different patterns emerge in the excitatory medium depending on the geometry of the plate and the driving frequency. The apparatus employed can be simple, such as the Chinese spouting bowl, in which copper handles are rubbed and cause the copper bottom elements to vibrate. Other examples include the Chladni plate and the so-called cymascope. == History == On July 8, 1680, Robert Hooke was able to see the nodal patterns associated with the modes of vibration of glass plates. Hooke ran a bow along the edge of a glass plate covered with flour, and saw the nodal patterns emerge. The German musician and physicist Ernst Chladni noticed in the eighteenth century that the modes of vibration of a membrane or a plate can be observed by sprinkling the vibrating surface with a fine dust (e.g., lycopodium powder, flour or fine sand). The powder moves


id: cymatics-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymatics-1.md
category: reference
title: Cymatics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymatics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:32.201545+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: cymatics-20260505-0
summary:
== Influences on art and music == Devices for displaying nodal images have influenced visual arts and contemporary music. Artist Björk created projections of cymatics patterns by using bass frequencies on tour for her album Biophilia. Hans Jenny's book on Chladni figures influenced Alvin Lucier and helped lead to Lucier's composition Queen of the South. Jenny's work was also followed up by Center for Advanced Visual Studies (CAVS) founder György Kepes at MIT. His work in this area included an acoustically vibrated piece of sheet metal in which small holes had been drilled in a grid. Small flames of gas burned through these holes and thermodynamic patterns were made visible by this setup. In the mid-1980s, visual artist Ron Rocco, who also developed his work at CAVS, employed mirrors mounted to tiny servo motors, driven by the audio signal of a synthesizer and amplified by a tube amp to reflect the beam of a laser. This created light patterns which corresponded to the audio's frequency and amplitude. Using this beam to generate video feedback and computers to process the feedback signal, Rocco created his "Andro-media" series of installations. Rocco later formed a collaboration with musician David Hykes, who practiced a


id: daffy-s-elixir-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daffy's_Elixir-0.md
category: reference
title: Daffy's Elixir
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daffy's_Elixir
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:33.374658+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: daffy-s-elixir-20260505-0
summary:
Daffy's Elixir (also sometimes known as Daffey's Elixir or Daffye's Elixir) is a name that has been used by several patent medicines over the years. It was originally designed for diseases of the stomach, but was later marketed as a universal cure. It remained a popular remedy in Britain and later the United States of America throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. == Origins == Daffy's Elixir was one of the most popular and frequently advertised patent medicines in Britain during the 18th century. It is reputed to have been invented by clergyman Thomas Daffy, rector of Redmile, Leicestershire, in 1647. He named it elixir salutis (lit. elixir of health) and promoted it as a generic cure-all. == Ingredients == An early recipe for "True Daffy" from 1700 lists the following ingredients: aniseed, brandy, cochineal, elecampane, fennel seed, jalap, manna, parsley seed, raisin, rhubarb, saffron, senna and spanish liquorice. Chemical analysis has shown this to be a laxative made mostly from alcohol. Other recipes include Guiuacum wood chips, caraway, Salt of Tartar, and scammony. == Uses == According to an early nineteenth century advertisement it was used for the following ailments: The Stone in Babies and Children; Convulsion fits; Consumption


id: daffy-s-elixir-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daffy's_Elixir-1.md
category: reference
title: Daffy's Elixir
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daffy's_Elixir
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:33.374658+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: daffy-s-elixir-20260505-0
summary:
== Early advertisements == Daffy’s original elixir salutis, vindicated against all counterfeits, &c. or, An advertisement by mee, Anthony Daffy, of London, citizen and student in physick, By way of vindication of my famous and generally approved cordial drink, (called elixir salutis) from the notoriously false suggestions of one Tho. Witherden of Bear-steed in the county of Kent, Gent. (as pretended;) Jane White, Robert Brooke, apothecary, and Edward Willet; all new upstatrt counterfitors of my elixir, and Ape-like imitators of my long since printed Books and Directions, (some of them, nigh verbatim, or word for word) and that to the jeopardy of many good, (but mis-in-formed) Peoples Healths, and Lives too; as also, from the false pretentions of other more sneaking Cub-Quacks, not yet lickt into form, but remaining Moon-blind brats, (still in swadling-clouts) I mean the numerous crew of libellous pamphleteeirs, which are (if possible) more dangerous counterfeiters of my Elixer . . . Advertisement by mee, Anthony Daffy s.n., 1690?]. Daffy’s original and famous elixir salutis: the choice drink of health: or, health-bringing drink. Being a famous cordial drink, found out by the providence of the Almighty, and (for above twenty years) experienced by himself, and divers persons


id: dean-drive-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_drive-0.md
category: reference
title: Dean drive
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_drive
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:34.590638+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dean-drive-20260505-0
summary:
The Dean drive was a device created and promoted by inventor Norman Lorimer Dean (1902–1972) that he claimed to be a reactionless drive. Dean claimed that his device was able to generate a uni-directional force in free space, in violation of Newton's third law of motion from classical physics. His claims generated notoriety because, if true, such a device would have had enormous applications, completely changing human transport, engineering, space travel and more. Dean made several controlled private demonstrations of a number of different devices; however, no working models were ever demonstrated publicly or subjected to independent analysis and Dean never presented any rigorous theoretical basis for their operation. Analysts conclude that the motion seen in Dean's device demonstrations was likely reliant on asymmetrical frictional resistance between the device and the surface on which the device was set ("stick and slip"), resulting in the device moving in one direction when in operation, driven by the vibrations of the apparatus. == Early publicity == The Dean drive obtained a good deal of publicity in the 1950s and 1960s via the columns and conference presentations of John W. Campbell, the longtime editor of Astounding Science Fiction magazine. At that time, Campbell believed


id: dean-drive-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_drive-1.md
category: reference
title: Dean drive
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_drive
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:34.590638+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dean-drive-20260505-0
summary:
=== Purported weight loss === Dean made a demonstration for a representative of the magazine Popular Mechanics of one of his "Dean drive" devices. The witness reported that "While suspended above the ground, was able to pull a load to itself without itself being pulled toward the load". Another version of the machine was reported to be "able to apply a force to a hand, without moving—yet when the machine was turned off an equivalent force applied by the hand easily moved the machine". William O. Davis, who witnessed the latter demonstration, wrote in his notebook about Dean's explanation of how the device worked, "... does not strike me as valid ... For this reason I have decided to undertake a theoretical study of dynamic systems to see if a concept can be evolved which will describe a world in which Dean's Drive can exist and yet where other known facts are not contradicted." Davis produced a hypothesis, and it was published in Analog in 1962. Later analysis has revealed that the interactions of vibration, friction, and resonance with the springs of the scale are likely the root cause of the apparent weight loss reported by Campbell and others of


id: debunker-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debunker-0.md
category: reference
title: Debunker
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debunker
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:35.747040+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: debunker-20260505-0
summary:
A debunker is a person or organization that exposes or discredits claims believed to be false, exaggerated, or pretentious. The term is often associated with skeptical investigation of controversial topics such as UFOs, claimed paranormal phenomena, cryptids, conspiracy theories, alternative medicine, religion, and exploratory or fringe areas of scientific or pseudoscientific research. According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, to "debunk" is defined as: "to expose the sham or falseness of." The New Oxford American Dictionary defines "debunk" as "expose the falseness or hollowness of (a myth, idea, or belief)". If debunkers are not careful, their communications may backfire – increasing an audience's long-term belief in myths. Backfire effects can occur if a message spends too much time on the negative case, if it is too complex, or if the message is threatening. == Etymology == The American Heritage Dictionary traces the passage of the words bunk (noun), debunk (verb), and debunker (noun) into American English in 1923 as a belated outgrowth of bunkum. The first recorded use of the words was in 1828, apparently related to a poorly received "speech for Buncombe County, North Carolina" given by North Carolina representative Felix Walker during the 16th United States Congress (1819–1821). The


id: debunker-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debunker-1.md
category: reference
title: Debunker
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debunker
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:35.747040+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: debunker-20260505-0
summary:
== Notable organizations == American Council on Science and Health Committee for Skeptical Inquiry James Randi Educational Foundation The MythBusters, a program on the Discovery Channel. Two former special effects technicians, Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage, test the validity of urban legends. The National Institute of Standards and Technology debunked the World Trade Center controlled demolition conspiracy theories. Popular Mechanics has released several publications also debunking 9/11 conspiracy theories, in particular those mentioned in Loose Change. Quackwatch The Skeptics Society Snopes debunks or validates urban legends. == Backfire effects == Australian Professorial Fellow Stephan Lewandowsky and John Cook, Climate Communication Fellow for the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland and author at Skeptical Science, co-wrote Debunking Handbook, in which they warn that debunking efforts may backfire. Backfire effects occur when science communicators accidentally reinforce false beliefs by trying to correct them, a phenomenon known as belief perseverance. Cook and Lewandowsky offer possible solutions to the backfire effects as described in different psychological studies. They recommend spending little or no time describing misconceptions because people cannot help but remember ideas that they have heard before. They write: "Your goal is to increase people's familiarity with the facts." They recommend


id: demonic-ufo-hypothesis-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demonic_UFO_hypothesis-0.md
category: reference
title: Demonic UFO hypothesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demonic_UFO_hypothesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:36.963507+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: demonic-ufo-hypothesis-20260505-0
summary:
The demonic UFO hypothesis is the proposal that unidentified flying object (UFO) sightings are the result of a satanic influence, or are themselves demons. Psychologist Tim Lomas and theologian Brendan Case from the Harvard Human Flourishing Program argue that interpretations of anomalous aerial phenomena are shaped by the cultural and religious frameworks available to witnesses, with earlier “angelic” readings giving way in modern times to “alien” ones, and that such labels function as interpretive categories for making anomalous experiences intelligible rather than as definitive claims about the phenomenon’s nature. == Chronology == Occultist Marjorie Cameron connected the 1952 Washington, D.C. UFO incident to the recent death of her partner Jack Parsons, a rocketry expert and disciple of Aleister Crowley. In 1954, faith healer and evangelist Walter Vinson "W.V." Grant Sr published the booklet "Men in Flying Saucers Identified: Not a Mystery!" suggesting UFOs were demonic. In the end of the 1960s, British UFO author Gordon Creighton endorsed the theory. In the wake of the 1973 Pascagoula incident, Rev. Bill Riddick preached a sermon suggesting UFOs were demonic. In 1974, Clifford Wilson authored UFOs and their Mission Impossible which popularized the demonic hypothesis. In the 1975 book UFOs: What on Earth


id: dermo-optical-perception-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dermo-optical_perception-0.md
category: reference
title: Dermo-optical perception
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dermo-optical_perception
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:38.123323+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dermo-optical-perception-20260505-0
summary:
Dermo-optical perception (DOP, also known as dermal vision, dermo-optics, skin vision, skin reading, finger vision, cutaneous perception, digital sight, and bio-introscopy) is a term that is used in parapsychological literature to denote the alleged capability to perceive colors, differences in brightness, and/or formed images through the skin (without using the eyes, as distinct from blindsight), especially upon touching with the fingertips. Typically, people who claim to have dermo-optical perception claim to be able to see using the skin of their fingers or hands. People who claim to have DOP often demonstrate it by reading while blindfolded. The effect has not been demonstrated scientifically. Paroptic vision – also known as paroptic sense, eyeless vision, eyeless sight, para-optic perception, extra-optical vision or extra-retinal vision (not to be confused with extra-retinal information, an unrelated neuroscientific concept) – is a broader term referring to the alleged ability to perceive visual phenomena by any means without the light from the scene entering the eyes. Besides DOP it includes for example the ability to see an object enclosed by a box that is impervious to light. == History == The first Western scientific reports are from the 17th century. Scattered cases kept being reported over the


id: dermo-optical-perception-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dermo-optical_perception-1.md
category: reference
title: Dermo-optical perception
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dermo-optical_perception
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:38.123323+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dermo-optical-perception-20260505-0
summary:
== Scientific reception == Experiments into DOP by scientists have shown no effect. Alleged positive results have not been accepted by the mainstream scientific community due to procedures not being tight enough to prevent cheating by participants, problems with replicating the effect reliably, and concerns about the colors being recognized by the texture of the ink on the paper (people who are blind from an early age can recognize Braille patters that only have .2 millimeters of elevation above the paper, and the limit of relief distinction in fingers is still unknown). In summary, DOP has not been demonstrated scientifically. Most of DOP positive results have been explained as cheating by participants, either via the use of magicians' tricks, or via "peeking down the nose" (cheating by participants) In recent years, DOP has been the object of mainstream research that had no links with ESP. Apart from trickery, there are several hypotheses about how fingers could "see" radiation emitted by the colors in the paper, but none have been tested successfully. For example, people can hold their fingers near to painted and non-painted surfaces, and distinguish them by how much corporal heat is radiated back to their fingers. While it


id: detoxification-alternative-medicine-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detoxification_(alternative_medicine)-0.md
category: reference
title: Detoxification (alternative medicine)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detoxification_(alternative_medicine)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:39.234044+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: detoxification-alternative-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
Detoxification (often shortened to detox and sometimes called body cleansing) is a type of alternative medicine treatment which aims to rid the body of unspecified "toxins" – substances that proponents claim accumulate in the body over time and have undesirable short-term or long-term effects on individual health. It is not to be confused with detoxification carried out by the liver and kidneys, which filter the blood and remove harmful substances to be processed and eliminated from the body. Activities commonly associated with detoxification include dieting, fasting, consuming exclusively or avoiding specific foods (such as fats, carbohydrates, fruits, vegetables, juices, herbs), colon cleansing, chelation therapy, certain kinds of IV therapy and the removal of dental fillings containing amalgam. Scientists and health organizations have criticized the concept of detoxification for its unsound scientific basis and for the lack of evidence for claims made. The "toxins" usually remain undefined, with little to no evidence of toxic accumulation in the patient. The British organisation Sense about Science has described some detox diets and commercial products as "a waste of time and money", while the British Dietetic Association called the idea "nonsense" and a "marketing myth". Dara Mohammadi summarizes "detoxing" as "a scam [...] a


id: detoxification-alternative-medicine-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detoxification_(alternative_medicine)-1.md
category: reference
title: Detoxification (alternative medicine)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detoxification_(alternative_medicine)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:39.234044+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: detoxification-alternative-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
=== Unsound scientific basis === A 2015 review of clinical evidence about detox diets concluded: "At present, there is no compelling evidence to support the use of detox diets for weight management or toxin elimination. Considering the financial costs to consumers, unsubstantiated claims and potential health risks of detox products, they should be discouraged by health professionals and subject to independent regulatory review and monitoring." Detoxification and body cleansing products and diets have been criticized for their unsound scientific basis, in particular their premise of nonexistent "toxins" and their appropriation of the legitimate medical concept of detoxification. According to the Mayo Clinic, the "toxins" typically remain unspecified, and there is little to no evidence of toxic accumulation in patients treated. According to a British Dietetic Association (BDA) Fact Sheet, "The whole idea of detox is nonsense. The body is a well-developed system that has its own builtin mechanisms to detoxify and remove waste and toxins." It went on to characterize the idea as a "marketing myth", while other critics have called the idea a "scam" and a "hoax". The organization Sense about Science investigated "detox" products, calling them a waste of time and money. Resulting in a report that concluded


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: 2026-05-05T09:18:40.459020+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: detoxification-foot-pads-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detoxification_foot_pads-0.md
category: reference
title: Detoxification foot pads
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detoxification_foot_pads
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:41.617652+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: detoxification-foot-pads-20260505-0
summary:
Detoxification foot pads are pseudoscientific alternative medical adhesive foot pads or patches that manufacturers claim can dramatically improve health when placed under the feet during sleep. Some of these pads may contain ingredients such as "distilled bamboo vinegar" that allegedly pull toxins from the body, but critics have shown that the process is not scientifically viable. On January 3, 2008, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released an urgent warning regarding the potential dangers of many imported pharmaceutical substances, including several brands of detox foot patches. In April 2008, in response to questions from the Associated Press, an FDA spokeswoman said regarding the agency's investigation of the claims made for Kinoki foot pads that "basically, when we open up a case it means that the violation might be in terms of the Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act, such as when (product makers) make false, misleading claims." In August 2008, National Public Radio commissioned a laboratory test to look for heavy metals in used pads, which Kinoki claims are extracted from the body. The test found none. NPR also discovered that the pads change from white to grey when exposed to moisture, including sweat, and not necessarily because they


id: deutsche-physik-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Physik-0.md
category: reference
title: Deutsche Physik
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Physik
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:42.825405+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: deutsche-physik-20260505-0
summary:
Deutsche Physik (German: [ˈdɔʏtʃə fyˈziːk], lit. "German Physics") or Aryan Physics (German: Arische Physik) was a nationalist movement in the German physics community in the early 1930s which had the support of many eminent physicists in Germany. The term appears in the title of a four-volume physics textbook by Nobel laureate Philipp Lenard in the 1930s. Deutsche Physik was opposed to the work of Albert Einstein, who was ethnically Jewish, and other modern theoretically based physics, which was disparagingly labeled "Jewish physics" (German: Jüdische Physik). == Origins == This movement began as an extension of a German nationalistic movement in the physics community which went back to the start of World War I with Austria's declaration of war on 28 July 1914. On 25 August 1914, during the German Rape of Belgium, German troops used petrol to set fire to the library of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. The burning of the library led to a protest note which was signed by eight distinguished British scientists, namely William Bragg, William Crookes, Alexander Fleming, Horace Lamb, Oliver Lodge, William Ramsay, Lord Rayleigh, and J. J. Thomson. In 1915, this led to a counter-reaction in the form of an "appeal" formulated by Wilhelm


id: deutsche-physik-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Physik-1.md
category: reference
title: Deutsche Physik
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Physik
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:42.825405+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: deutsche-physik-20260505-0
summary:
When the Nazis entered the political scene, Lenard quickly attempted to ally himself with them, joining the party at an early stage. With another Nobel laureate in Physics, Johannes Stark, Lenard began a campaign to label Einstein's relativity as Jewish physics. Lenard and Stark benefited considerably from this Nazi support. Under the rallying cry that physics should be more "German" and "Aryan", Lenard and Stark embarked on a Nazi-endorsed plan to replace physicists at German universities with "Aryan physicists". By 1935, though, this campaign was superseded by the Nuremberg Laws of 1935. There were no longer any Jewish physics professors in Germany, since under the Nuremberg Laws, Jews were not allowed to work in universities. Stark in particular also tried to install himself as the national authority on "German" physics under the principle of Gleichschaltung (literally, "coordination") applied to other professional disciplines. Under this Nazi-era paradigm, academic disciplines and professional fields followed a strictly linear hierarchy created along ideological lines. In his 1938 paper, "The Pragmatic and the Dogmatic Spirit in Physics", Stark contrasted a "pragmatic spirit" driven by experimentation, against a "dogmatic spirit" dominated by theoretical frameworks. He claimed that pragmatic spirit was exhibited primarily by men of the


id: dianetics-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dianetics-0.md
category: reference
title: Dianetics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dianetics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:44.107872+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dianetics-20260505-0
summary:
Dianetics is a set of pseudoscientific ideas and practices regarding the human mind invented in 1950 by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. Dianetics was originally conceived as a form of psychological treatment, but was rejected by the psychological and medical establishments as pseudoscientific and ineffective. It was the precursor to Scientology and has since been incorporated into it. It involves a process called "auditing", which uses an electrical resistance meter, ostensibly to remove emotional burdens and "cure" people from their troubles. "Auditing" uses techniques from hypnosis that are intended to create dependency and obedience in the auditing subject. Hubbard eventually decided to present Dianetics as a form of spirituality that is part of the Church of Scientology, after several practitioners were arrested for practicing medicine without a license and a prosecution trial was pending against the first Dianetics organization that Hubbard founded in Elizabeth, New Jersey. As well as escaping prosecution, Hubbard also saw the possibility of reducing the tax burden from the sale of Dianetics books and methods. == Premise == The word Dianetics was coined from Greek dia meaning "through" and nous meaning "mind". The pseudoscientific Dianetics ideas seek to explain the metaphysical relationship between the mind


id: dianetics-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dianetics-1.md
category: reference
title: Dianetics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dianetics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:44.107872+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dianetics-20260505-0
summary:
== Concepts == In the book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, Hubbard describes techniques that he suggests can rid people of fears and psychosomatic illnesses. A basic idea in Dianetics is that the mind consists of two parts: the "analytical mind" and the "reactive mind". The "reactive mind", which operates when a person is physically unconscious, acts as a record of shock, trauma, pain, and otherwise harmful memories. Experiences such as these are dubbed "engrams". Dianetics is proposed as a method to erase engrams in the reactive mind to achieve a state of clear. In Dianetics, the unconscious or reactive mind is described as a collection of "mental image pictures", which contain the recorded experience of past moments of unconsciousness, including all sensory perceptions and feelings involved, ranging from prenatal experiences, infancy and childhood, to even the traumatic feelings associated with events from past lives and extraterrestrial cultures. The type of mental image picture created during a period of unconsciousness involves the exact recording of a painful experience. Hubbard called this phenomenon an engram, and defined it as "a moment of 'unconsciousness' containing physical pain or painful emotion and all perceptions and is not available to the analytical


id: dianetics-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dianetics-2.md
category: reference
title: Dianetics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dianetics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:44.107872+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dianetics-20260505-0
summary:
== Therapeutic claims == The slick craftsman of mass-production science-fiction, mustering his talents and energies for a supreme effort, produces [...] a fictional science. Had dianetics been presented as fiction [...] it might have been, like other ingenious science-fiction, good entertainment. In August 1950, amid the success of Dianetics, Hubbard held a demonstration at Los Angeles's Shrine Auditorium where he presented a young woman called Sonya Bianca (a pseudonym) to a large audience, including many reporters and photographers, as "the world's first Clear". Despite Hubbard's claim that she had "full and perfect recall of every moment of her life", Bianca proved unable to answer questions from the audience testing her memory and analytical abilities, including the question of the color of Hubbard's tie. Hubbard explained Bianca's failure to display her promised powers of recall to the audience by saying that he had used the word "now" in calling her to the stage, and thus inadvertently frozen her in "present time", which blocked her abilities. In the late 1950s, Hubbard claimed that several people had reached the state of Clear by the time he presented Bianca as the world's first; these others, Hubbard said, he had successfully cleared in the late


id: dianetics-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dianetics-3.md
category: reference
title: Dianetics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dianetics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:44.107872+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dianetics-20260505-0
summary:
What Hubbard touts as a science of mind lacks one key element that is expected of a science: empirical testing of claims. The key elements of Hubbard's so-called science don't seem testable, yet he repeatedly claims that he is asserting only scientific facts and data from many experiments. It isn't even clear what such "data" would look like. Most of his data is in the form of anecdotes and speculations ... Such speculation is appropriate in fiction, but not in science. The validity and practice of auditing have been questioned by a variety of non-Scientologist commentators. Commenting on the example cited by Winter, the science writer Martin Gardner asserts that "nothing could be clearer from the above dialogue than the fact that the dianetic explanation for the headache existed only in the mind of the therapist, and that it was with considerable difficulty that the patient was maneuvered into accepting it." Other critics and medical experts have suggested that Dianetic auditing is a form of hypnosis. Hubbard, who had previously used hypnosis for entertainment purposes, strongly denied this connection and cautioned against hypnosis in Dianetics auditing. Professor Richard J. Ofshe, a leading expert on false memories, suggests that the feeling


id: dinosaur-of-ta-prohm-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaur_of_Ta_Prohm-0.md
category: reference
title: Dinosaur of Ta Prohm
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaur_of_Ta_Prohm
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:45.294513+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dinosaur-of-ta-prohm-20260505-0
summary:
The "dinosaur of Ta Prohm" is a bas-relief in the Khmer Empire temple-monastery of Ta Prohm. Numerous reliefs of various animals are present in the temple; the "dinosaur" is one of its more ambiguous artworks. The relief first gained modern notoriety in the late 1990s when the lobe-like features running down the animal's back were compared to the back plates of stegosaurian dinosaurs. The relief has since become a popular piece of "evidence" for the fringe belief that non-avian dinosaurs once coexisted with humans. There is no academic consensus on what animal is depicted. The supposed back plates are likely stylized background foliage, present in many of the other reliefs at the temple. Other than this feature, the animal bears little resemblance to stegosaurs and instead possesses marked anatomical differences, such as in the proportions and features of its head and in its lack of a thagomizer (tail spikes). Some of its anatomical features have been compared to chameleons and rhinoceroses. It is not certain that the relief was intended to depict a real animal at all, since some reliefs in the temple depict mythical creatures. Since Ta Prohm is a popular site for film crews, it has also been


id: disc-assessment-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DISC_assessment-0.md
category: reference
title: DISC assessment
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DISC_assessment
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:46.440148+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: disc-assessment-20260505-0
summary:
A DISC assessment is a pseudoscientific personality testing tool based on psychologist William Moulton Marston's DISC emotional and behavioural theory, first published in 1928. These assessments claim to improve job performance by categorizing individuals into four personality traits: dominance, inducement, submission, and compliance. The scientific validity of the DISC assessment has not been demonstrated, and psychologists question its predictive validity. Despite this, the DISC assessment remains widely used in business, coaching and organizational development. == History == The DISC personality theory was first outlined in the book Emotions of Normal People, published in 1928, and written by Polygraph promoter William Moulton Marston, with likely contributions by Olive Byrne and Elizabeth Holloway Marston. Marston never developed a formal assessment tool nor patented his work. As a result, multiple organizations have since interpreted and commercialized the DISC framework in different ways, leading to a variety of DISC-based assessments with differing formats, report styles, and levels of scientific validation. == Types == The first self-assessment based on Marston's DISC theory was created in 1956 by Walter Clarke, an industrial psychologist. In 1956, Clarke created the Activity Vector Analysis, a checklist of adjectives on which he asked people to indicate descriptions that were accurate


id: disclose-tv-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disclose.tv-0.md
category: reference
title: Disclose.tv
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disclose.tv
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:47.580504+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: disclose-tv-20260505-0
summary:
Disclose.tv is a disinformation outlet based in Germany that presents itself as a news aggregator. It is known for promoting conspiracy theories and fake news, including COVID-19 misinformation and anti-vaccine narratives. The website was created in 2007 as a conspiracy forum focused around content such as UFOs and paranormal phenomena. In 2021, it rebranded itself as a news aggregator on its social media platforms and website. Disclose.tv pushes far-right content, conspiracy theories and misleading information together with real news taken from other sources frequently without attribution, and platforms hate speech, including Holocaust denial and neo-Nazism, on its message groups. == History == Archived versions of Disclose.tv were found as far back as March 2007 by Logically, a British anti-disinformation organisation. In its initial form, the website operated as a forum focusing on user-generated content discussing topics such as UFOs, paranormal phenomena and conspiracy theories. The website's name references the concept of "disclosure" in the UFO community, referring to the time they believe the government will confirm the existence of aliens and release information about them. In April 2012, Disclose.tv announced a redesign of its website. During the 2010s, Disclose.tv's content became more political, with users' posts on the site casting


id: disclose-tv-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disclose.tv-1.md
category: reference
title: Disclose.tv
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disclose.tv
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:47.580504+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: disclose-tv-20260505-0
summary:
Disclose.tv presents itself as a news aggregator on its social media platforms, promoting conspiracy theories and misleading information together with real news taken from other sources frequently without attribution. It has misrepresented past events as having taken place in the present, such as reporting on a March 2020 curfew in Bavaria in October 2021. Logically noted that over half of Disclose.tv's eight most popular tweets featured no attribution as of January 2022, and stated that the website's continued uncritical coverage of conspiracy narratives and UFOs since its September 2021 relaunch revealed its links to pseudoscience and conspiracy theories. Dittrich stated that the website often creates content "that doesn't look like it's conspiracy-driven" and is occasionally shared by "apolitical people or people on the left who don't know its true purpose". Mündges said that it was not very common for a Germany-based website to be producing content in another language for an international audience, adding: "It is more common that items from the English-language media, for example the 'Stop the steal' narrative, are taken and translated into German". === Prior to 2021 relaunch === In 2012, Disclose.tv published a story titled "List of All FEMA Concentration Camps in America Revealed", which


id: discovery-institute-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_Institute-0.md
category: reference
title: Discovery Institute
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_Institute
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:48.709313+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: discovery-institute-20260505-0
summary:
The Discovery Institute (DI) is a politically conservative think tank that advocates the pseudoscientific notion of intelligent design (ID). It was founded in 1991 in Seattle as a non-profit offshoot of the Hudson Institute. It has been denounced as a "propaganda mill" by various prominent critics. Its "Teach the Controversy" campaign aims to permit the teaching of anti-evolution, intelligent-design arguments in United States public high school science courses in place of accepted scientific theories, positing that a scientific controversy exists over whether evolution is a reality, when in fact there is none. == History == The institute was cofounded in 1991 by Bruce Chapman and George Gilder as a non-profit educational foundation and think tank. It was started as a branch organization of the Hudson Institute, an Indianapolis-based conservative think tank. It is named after the Royal Navy ship HMS Discovery in which George Vancouver explored Puget Sound in 1792. The organization was incorporated in 1991. === Discovery Institute Press === Discovery Institute Press is the institute's publishing arm and has published intelligent design books by its fellows including David Berlinski's Deniable Darwin & Other Essays (2010), Jonathan Wells' The Myth of Junk DNA (2011) and an edited volume titled


id: discovery-institute-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_Institute-1.md
category: reference
title: Discovery Institute
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_Institute
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:48.709313+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: discovery-institute-20260505-0
summary:
==== Homelessness ==== Christopher Rufo, an activist who later opposed the teaching of critical race theory, wrote frequently on the subject of homelessness while he worked for the Discovery Institute. In his 2018 Discovery Institute-funded policy paper "Seattle Under Siege: How Seattle's Homelessness Policy Perpetuates the Crisis and How We Can Fix It," Rufo said that four groups—"socialist intellectuals", "compassion brigades", the "homeless-industrial complex", and the "addiction evangelists"—had successfully framed the debate on homelessness and diverted funding to their projects. He described how the "compassion brigade" had called for social justice using terms such as "compassion, empathy, bias, inequality, root causes, systemic racism." Rufo brought negative attention to All Home, which at the time was King County, Washington's homelessness agency, by sharing a video of a stripper performing at a conference on homelessness. All Home's director was placed on administrative leave and resigned shortly thereafter. Caitlin Bassett of the Discovery Institute has contributed opinion articles that criticize governmental response to homelessness as wasteful and counterproductive to the goal of ending homelessness. The Discovery Institute opposes the Housing First approach, preferring to prioritize treating homeless people for mental illness or drug addiction. ==== 2020 United States presidential election ==== Scott S.


id: dit-da-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dit_da-0.md
category: reference
title: Dit da
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dit_da
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:51.077410+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dit-da-20260505-0
summary:
Dit da (Chinese: 跌打; pinyin: diē dǎ; Jyutping: dit3 daa2; lit. 'fall [and] hit'), tit da or die da is a traditional Chinese medicine discipline used to treat trauma and injuries such as bone fractures, sprains, and bruises. Methods include bone-setting and occasional use of topical preparations such as the dit da jow. Die da originated among martial artists in Guangdong. In Hong Kong, 跌打 is pronounced as "tid da" in Hong Kong Cantonese. == Background == Before one learns hitting others, one learns being hit. [Hence] before one learns the martial arts, one learns dit-da. Dit da originated in Guangdong, China, and was usually practiced by martial artists who knew aspects of traditional Chinese medicine. Dit da specialists may also use or recommend dit da jow, other Chinese medical therapies, and in modern times, the use of Western medicine if serious injury is involved. Dit da is not commonly practiced in the West, but it is currently practiced in Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. == History == The development of dit-da grew out of study by martial artists in Foshan, the main origin of "Southern-style" Chinese martial arts. This city has supported a rich martial arts tradition


id: dna-teleportation-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_teleportation-0.md
category: reference
title: DNA teleportation
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_teleportation
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:52.216081+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dna-teleportation-20260505-0
summary:
DNA teleportation is a pseudoscientific claim which suggests that DNA can produce electromagnetic signals (EMS) that are measurable when highly diluted in water. The claim suggests these signals can allegedly be recorded, transmitted electronically and re-emitted on another distant pure water sample, where the DNA can replicate through polymerase chain reaction, despite the absence of the original DNA in the new water sample. The idea was introduced by the Nobel laureate Luc Montagnier in 2009. It is similar in principle to water memory, a similar pseudoscientific claim popularised by Jacques Benveniste in 1988. No independent research has been conducted to support the claim and to this day, there is no known or plausible scientific mechanism by which it might work. == Electromagnetic signals from DNA == === Bacterial DNA === In 2009, Montagnier and his collaborators published a paper titled "Electromagnetic signals are produced by aqueous nanostructures derived from bacterial DNA sequences" in which they reported that bacterial DNA can produce an electromagnetic signal (EMS) that is transferred through the cell culture medium. In a medium of T lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell), they cultured bacterial DNA from Mycoplasma pirum and Escherichia coli. After filtering to remove all


id: dna-teleportation-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_teleportation-1.md
category: reference
title: DNA teleportation
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_teleportation
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:52.216081+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dna-teleportation-20260505-0
summary:
== Responses and criticisms == The 2009 publications were immediately followed by scientific comments and criticisms of the credibility of the purported phenomenon, as well as the authenticity of the research. According to chemist Jeff Reimers of the University of Sydney, Australia, "If the results are correct, these would be the most significant experiments performed in the past 90 years, demanding re-evaluation of the whole conceptual framework of modern chemistry." The credibility of the peer-review system of the journal Interdisciplinary Sciences: Computational Life Sciences, in which the 2009 papers were published, was questioned. It was a new journal of which Montagnier is chairman of the editorial board. Gary Schuster, at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, compared it to pathological science. Paul Myers at the University of Minnesota Morris also described it as "pathological science." He described the paper as "one of the more unprofessional write-ups I've ever run across" and criticized the publication process as having an "unbelievable" turnaround time: "another suspicious sign are the dates. This paper was submitted on 03 January 2009, revised on 05 January 2009, and accepted on 06 January 2009", leading him to ask: "Who reviewed this, the author's mother? Maybe someone even closer.


id: doctrine-of-signatures-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctrine_of_signatures-0.md
category: reference
title: Doctrine of signatures
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctrine_of_signatures
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:53.410449+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: doctrine-of-signatures-20260505-0
summary:
The doctrine of signatures, also known as the doctrine of correspondences, is a biomedicinal theory of pseudoscience. It states that herbs or animals have physical or behavioral traits that mirror the ailment it can successfully treat. Theological justifications, such as that of botanist William Cole, were that God would want to show men what plants would be useful for. The doctrine of signatures has a debated origin. Many historians believe it begins with primitive thinking methods, while other historians believe it originated with Dioscorides and was popularized in the 16th and 17th centuries after Jakob Böhme coined the doctrine of signatures in his book The Signature of All Things. This theory is a possible explanation for the ancient discovery of medicinal properties; however, there is no definitive proof as to whether the medicinal property or the connection in physical/behavioral traits was realized first. The theory later became a scientific basis for trying new remedies solely based upon their qualities in an attempt to find new medicines. While there are some homeopathic remedies that are still used today which have been connected to this theory, there are also remedies from this theory which have been found harmful. For instance, birthwort (so-called


id: doctrine-of-signatures-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctrine_of_signatures-1.md
category: reference
title: Doctrine of signatures
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctrine_of_signatures
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:53.410449+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: doctrine-of-signatures-20260505-0
summary:
It is worth noting that it is possible that these are post hoc attributions—the appearance and treatment linked after the medicinal property was discovered. Depending on the article, remedies connected to the doctrine vary in number and consistency. == Scientific, spiritual, and social context == Signatures are often described as post hoc attributions and mnemonics used to remember the properties of a plant rather than the reason it was originally used. There is no scientific or historical evidence that plant shapes and colors have aided in the discovery of their medical uses. In Europe, the idea of doctrine of signatures was linked with Christian beliefs. However, similar theories were created within black magic with sympathetic magic. Similar theories have been observed all over the world in ancient Egypt, China, pre-Columbian America, and the Middle East. This can also explain how varied, and at times contradictory, applications of the doctrine can be because traditional botany is subject to optimal foraging theory. Remedies would, in many cases, be based on the environmental availability of that resource rather than its objective effectiveness. Some sociologists frame the doctrine of signatures as a type of "enchantment", the idea that it is not just what one


id: doktor-koster-s-antigaspills-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doktor_Koster's_Antigaspills-0.md
category: reference
title: Doktor Koster's Antigaspills
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doktor_Koster's_Antigaspills
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:54.558335+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: doktor-koster-s-antigaspills-20260505-0
summary:
Doktor Koster's Antigaspills were an early-20th-century alternative medication intended to treat stomach upset and excessive flatulence. They are best known for being administered to Adolf Hitler by his physician, Theodor Morell, to treat Hitler's stomach ailments. Morrell, regarded as a quack by Hitler's associates, administered a wide variety of unorthodox concoctions and medications to Hitler beginning in 1936. The pill's active ingredients consisted primarily of atropine (an extract of Atropa belladonna) and strychnine. == References ==


id: maurice-doreal-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Doreal-0.md
category: reference
title: Maurice Doreal
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Doreal
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:55.710363+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: maurice-doreal-20260505-0
summary:
Maurice Doreal (1898–1963), born Claude Doggins, was an American occultist and founder of the Brotherhood of the White Temple. Doreal claimed that during a 1925 visit to the Great Pyramids of Giza, he discovered a set of ancient emerald tablets belonging to the Egyptian deity Thoth, whom he re-imagined as a king of Atlantis. Doreal then claimed to have translated the text, which he published as the Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean (not to be confused with the medieval Hermetic text called the Emerald Tablet). == Occult views == In around 1930, Maurice Doreal formed the Brotherhood of the White Temple in Denver, having been involved in Theosophy. He claimed that in 1931, in Los Angeles, he met two Atlanteans who took him to a cave underneath Mount Shasta. Doreal quickly developed a cosmology focused on the inner earth, describing "underground races" he claimed to have learned about from the Atlanteans. Doreal developed theories of an underground serpent race. During the 1950s, Doreal incorporated aliens into his views. He combined these all into a theory that in the second half of the 20th century, the serpent race would ally with the Antichrist. He believed that there were "three types


id: dowsing-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowsing-0.md
category: reference
title: Dowsing
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowsing
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:56.970197+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dowsing-20260505-0
summary:
Dowsing is a type of divination employed in attempts to locate many types of object and material without the use of a technical equipment or scientific apparatus. It can be applied to seek for ground water, buried metals or ores, gemstones, oil, claimed radiations (radiesthesia), gravesites, or malign "earth vibrations". It is also known as divining (especially in water divining), doodlebugging (particularly in the United States, in searching for petroleum or treasure) or water finding, or water witching (in the United States). A Y-shaped twig or rod, or two L-shaped ones, called dowsing rods or divining rods are normally used, and the motion of these are said to reveal the location of the target material. The motion of such dowsing devices is generally attributed to random movement, or to the ideomotor phenomenon, a psychological response where a subject makes motions unconsciously. The scientific evidence shows that dowsing is no more effective than random chance. It is therefore regarded as a pseudoscience. == History == === Early divination and religion === Dowsing originated in ancient times, when it was treated as a form of divination. The Catholic Church banned the practice completely. Protestant Reformer Martin Luther perpetuated the Catholic ban, in


id: dowsing-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowsing-1.md
category: reference
title: Dowsing
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowsing
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:56.970197+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dowsing-20260505-0
summary:
...There are many great contentions between miners concerning the forked twig, for some say that it is of the greatest use in discovering veins, and others deny it. ... All alike grasp the forks of the twig with their hands, clenching their fists, it being necessary that the clenched fingers should be held toward the sky in order that the twig should be raised at that end where the two branches meet. Then they wander hither and thither at random through mountainous regions. It is said that the moment they place their feet on a vein the twig immediately turns and twists, and so by its action discloses the vein; when they move their feet again and go away from that spot the twig becomes once more immobile. ... In the 16th century, German deep mining technology was in enormous demand all over Europe. German miners were licensed to live and work in England, particularly in the Stannaries (tin mines) of Devon and Cornwall and in Cumbria. In other parts of England, the technique was used in the royal mines for calamine. By 1638 German miners were recorded using the technique in silver mines in Wales. The Middle Low German


id: dowsing-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowsing-2.md
category: reference
title: Dowsing
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowsing
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:56.970197+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dowsing-20260505-0
summary:
Traditionally, the most common method used is the dowsing twig, a forked (Y-shaped) branch from a tree or bush. Some dowsers prefer branches from particular trees, and some prefer the branches to be freshly cut. Hazel twigs in Europe and witch-hazel in the United States are traditionally commonly chosen, as are branches from willow or peach trees. The two ends on the forked side are held one in each hand with the third (the stem of the Y) pointing straight ahead. The dowser then walks slowly over the places where the target (for example, minerals or water) may be, and the dowsing rod is expected to dip, incline or twitch when a discovery is made. This method is sometimes known as "willow witching." Some dowsers would hang a golden ring on the edge of the dowsing rod, or split the tip to slide in a silver coin. === Pair of rods === Many modern dowsers use a pair of L-shaped metal rods. One rod is held in each hand, with the short arm of the L held upright, and the long arm pointing forward. The upright arm is often free to rotate inside a tube. When something is "found," the


id: dowsing-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowsing-3.md
category: reference
title: Dowsing
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowsing
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:56.970197+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dowsing-20260505-0
summary:
=== Betz 1990 study === In a 1987–88 study in Munich by Hans-Dieter Betz and other scientists, 500 dowsers were initially tested for their skill, and the experimenters selected the best 43 among them for further tests. Water was pumped through a pipe on the ground floor of a two-story barn. Before each test, the pipe was moved in a direction perpendicular to the water flow. On the upper floor, each dowser was asked to determine the position of the pipe. Over two years, the dowsers performed 843 such tests and, of the 43 pre-selected and extensively tested candidates, at least 37 showed no dowsing ability. The results from the remaining 6 were said to be better than chance, resulting in the experimenters' conclusion that some dowsers "in particular tasks, showed an extraordinarily high rate of success, which can scarcely if at all be explained as due to chance … a real core of dowser-phenomena can be regarded as empirically proven." Five years after the Munich study was published, Jim T. Enright, a professor of physiology who emphasized correct data analysis procedure, contended that the study's results are merely consistent with statistical fluctuations and not significant. He believed the experiments


id: drapetomania-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drapetomania-0.md
category: reference
title: Drapetomania
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drapetomania
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:58.190792+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: drapetomania-20260505-0
summary:
Drapetomania was a proposed mental illness that, in 1851, American physician Samuel A. Cartwright hypothesized as the cause of enslaved Americans fleeing captivity. This hypothesis was based on the belief that slavery was such an improvement upon the lives of slaves that only those suffering from some form of mental illness would wish to escape. Cartwright specifically cited the tendency of slaves to flee the plantations that held them. Since slaves happy with their condition would not want to leave, he inferred that such people had to be sick, impervious to the natural order of things. He published an article about black slaves' illnesses and idiosyncrasies in De Bow's Review. Contemporarily reprinted in the South, Cartwright's article was widely mocked and satirized in the northern United States. The concept has since been debunked as pseudoscience and shown to be part of the edifice of scientific racism. The term derives from the Greek δραπέτης (drapetēs, 'a runaway [slave]') and μανία (mania, 'madness, frenzy'). As late as 1914, the third edition of Thomas Lathrop Stedman's Practical Medical Dictionary included an entry for drapetomania, defined as "vagabondage, dromomania; an uncontrollable or insane impulsion to wander." == Description == Cartwright described the disorder—which, he


id: drug-fraud-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_fraud-0.md
category: reference
title: Drug fraud
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_fraud
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:18:59.358366+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: drug-fraud-20260505-0
summary:
Drug fraud is a type of fraud in which drugs, legal or illegal, are cut or altered in such a way that diminishes their value below that which they are sold for. == Illegal drug fraud == This type of drug fraud occurs when the dealer cuts or commingles the pure drug with a similar substance such as baby powder or powdered milk. When this is sold to the user, the user receives less of a high and so must buy more to get the previous high. There may also be adverse health consequences as a result of the cutting substance, such as a bad trip or overdose. This can also be seen in prescription drugs. == Legal drug fraud == Legal drug fraud occurs when a physician prescribes medication for a patient under false pretenses. This may be because the manufacturers of the drug have paid the doctor a fee to dispense their drug. Another cause may be drug pricing fraud, in which a physician prescribes a patient expensive drugs, that they may or may not need, in order to profit from the receipts. Patients too, may participate in this. A common method is the forging of doctor prescriptions


id: dry-needling-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_needling-0.md
category: reference
title: Dry needling
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_needling
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:00.518749+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dry-needling-20260505-0
summary:
Dry needling, also known as trigger point dry needling and intramuscular stimulation, is a treatment technique used by various healthcare practitioners, including physical therapists, physicians, and chiropractors, among others. Acupuncturists usually maintain that dry needling is adapted from acupuncture, but others consider dry needling as a variation of trigger point injections. It involves the use of either solid filiform needles or hollow-core hypodermic needles for therapy of muscle pain, including pain related to myofascial pain syndrome. Dry needling is mainly used to treat myofascial trigger points, but it is also used to target connective tissue, neural ailments, and muscular ailments. The American Physical Therapy Association defines dry needling as a technique used to treat dysfunction of skeletal muscle and connective tissue, minimize pain, and improve or regulate structural or functional damage. There is conflicting evidence regarding the effectiveness of dry needling. Some results suggest that it is an effective treatment for certain kinds of muscle pain, while other studies have shown no benefit compared to a placebo; however, not enough high-quality, long-term, and large-scale studies have been done on the technique to draw clear conclusions about its efficacy. Currently, dry needling is being practiced in the United States, Canada, Europe,


id: dry-needling-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_needling-1.md
category: reference
title: Dry needling
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_needling
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:00.518749+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dry-needling-20260505-0
summary:
== Technique == The technique for dry needling depends on which tissue is being targeted and the overall objective of the treatment. For example, one of the most common treatment objectives for dry needling, myofascial trigger points (TrPs), differs physiologically from treatments for scar tissue, connective tissue problems, and other medical issues. In the treatment of trigger points for persons with myofascial pain syndrome, dry needling is an invasive procedure in which a filiform needle is inserted into the skin and muscle directly at a myofascial trigger point. A myofascial trigger point consists of multiple, hyperirritable contraction knots related to the production and maintenance of the pain cycle; essentially, myofascial trigger points will generate much local pain upon stimulation or irritation. Deep dry needling for treating trigger points was first introduced by the Czech neurologist Karel Lewit in 1979. Lewit had noticed that the success of injections into trigger points in relieving pain was apparently unconnected to the analgesic used. Dry needling can be divided into categories in terms of depth of penetration: deep and superficial dry needling. Deep dry needling will inactivate myofascial trigger points by provoking a local twitch response (LTR), which is an involuntary spinal cord reflex


id: dry-needling-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_needling-2.md
category: reference
title: Dry needling
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_needling
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:00.518749+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dry-needling-20260505-0
summary:
=== Relation to acupuncture === The debated distinction between dry needling and acupuncture has become a controversy because it relates to an issue of scope of practice of various professions. Acupuncturists claim that dry needling is a form of acupuncture that does not fall in the scope of physical therapists, chiropractors, or the majority of other healthcare professionals; whereas those healthcare professionals claim dry needling is not acupuncture, but rather a procedure that is rooted in biomedical modern sciences. Becoming a certified acupuncturist requires hundreds of hours spent in educational programs, national-level exams, and good professional standing. On the other hand, to be certified in dry needling requires continued education or a certification program that is not yet regulated with strict standards; in addition, there is a general lack of policymakers, evaluation systems, or healthcare standards governing the technique of dry needling. Many physical therapists and chiropractors have asserted that they are not practicing acupuncture when dry needling; however, much of dry needling research has been done concerning acupuncture. They assert that much of the basic physiological and biomechanical knowledge that dry needling utilizes is taught as part of their core physical therapy and chiropractic education and that the specific


id: duluth-model-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duluth_model-0.md
category: reference
title: Duluth model
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duluth_model
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:01.734691+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: duluth-model-20260505-0
summary:
The Duluth model is a pseudoscientific protocol for coordinated intervention of community resources against intimate partner violence (IPV). While it remains the primary means of addressing such violence in many American states, legal, social, and academic critics widely consider the model to be pseudoscientific, less effective compared to other protocols, or biased because it incorrectly categorically rejects women's violence, violence within same-sex relationships, bidirectional abuse,, and theoretically unsound as it was not created through academic study. Academics have demonstrated that it is an extreme, negative, and polarized model. The Domestic Abuse Intervention Project (DAIP) devised the protocol to bring law enforcement, family law, and social work agencies together in a "Coordinated Community Response" ("CCR") to purportedly reduce violence against women and rehabilitate perpetrators of domestic violence. The DAIP developed the curriculum in Duluth, Minnesota, whence its name. The model describes coordinating community agencies to provide a consistent response to female victims of Intimate Partner Violence that has three primary goals: Ensuring survivor safety. Providing a way to hold offenders/abusive partners accountable for their violence. Changing the climate of tolerance for this form of violence. Part of this model is the men's behavior change program Creating a Process of Change for


id: duluth-model-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duluth_model-1.md
category: reference
title: Duluth model
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duluth_model
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:01.734691+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: duluth-model-20260505-0
summary:
== Criticism == Criticism of the Duluth Model has centered on the program's sexist insistence that men are perpetrators who are violent because they have been socialized in a patriarchy that condones male violence, and that women are victims who are violent only in self-defense. Some critics argue that "programs based on the Duluth Model may ignore research linking domestic violence to substance abuse and psychological problems, such as attachment disorders, traced to childhood abuse or neglect, or the absence of a history of adequate socialization and training." Others criticize the Duluth Model as being overly confrontational rather than therapeutic, focusing solely on changing the abuser's actions and attitudes rather than dealing with underlying emotional and psychological issues. Donald Dutton, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia who has studied abusive personalities, states: "The Duluth Model was developed by people who didn't understand anything about therapy." Dutton also observes that "lesbian battering is more frequent than heterosexual battering". Philip W. Cook comments that in the case of homosexual domestic violence, the patriarchy is absent: there is no male dominance of women in same-sex relationships, and in fact female on female abuse is reported more than twice as frequently


id: dunstan-baby-language-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunstan_Baby_Language-0.md
category: reference
title: Dunstan Baby Language
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunstan_Baby_Language
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:02.908958+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dunstan-baby-language-20260505-0
summary:
Dunstan Baby Language is a hypothesis about infantile vocal reflexes as signals, in humans. The hypothesis is that across cultures and linguistic groups there are five sounds, each with a meaning, that are used by infants before the language acquisition period. The hypothesis was developed by Australian former mezzo-soprano, Priscilla Dunstan, and has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show. In a 2023 Nature paper, researchers have not been able to validate Dunstan's theory, and only found infant cries to carry age and identity information. == Dunstan's hypothesis == Between 0–3 months, infants make what Dunstan calls "sound reflexes." According to Dunstan, we all have reflexes, like sneezes, hiccups, and burps, that all have a recognizable pattern when sound is added to the reflex. There are other reflexes that all babies experience, and when sound is added to these, a distinct, preemptive "cry" will occur before the infant breaks into what Dunstan calls the hysterical cry. Dunstan states that these preemptive cries can indicate what the infant requires (e.g., food, comfort, sleep), and they escalate to the hysterical cry if they are not answered. As the infant matures past 3 months in vocalization, the sound reflexes become replaced with more


id: dysaesthesia-aethiopica-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysaesthesia_aethiopica-0.md
category: reference
title: Dysaesthesia aethiopica
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysaesthesia_aethiopica
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:04.101771+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dysaesthesia-aethiopica-20260505-0
summary:
In psychiatry, dysaesthesia aethiopica (literally "Ethiopian bad feeling", "black bad feeling") was an alleged mental illness described by American physician Samuel A. Cartwright in 1851, which proposed a theory for the cause of laziness among slaves. Today, dysaesthesia aethiopica is not recognized as a disease, but instead considered an example of pseudoscience, and part of the edifice of scientific racism. == History == Applied exclusively to African Americans, dysaesthesia aethiopica was characterized by partial insensitivity of the skin and "so great a hebetude of the intellectual faculties, as to be like a person half asleep." Other symptoms included dry, thick, rough skin and "lesions of the body discoverable to the medical observer, which are always present and sufficient to account for the symptoms." Cartwright contended that the existence of dysaesthesia aethiopica was "clearly established by the most direct and positive testimony," but other doctors had failed to notice it because their "attention [had] not been sufficiently directed to the maladies of the negro race." Cartwright said that overseers referred to this condition as "rascality", as if the slaves' clumsiness and erratic actions were intentional, but he disagreed, claiming that it was in fact a physical disease, which he believed was


id: e-meter-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-meter-0.md
category: reference
title: E-meter
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-meter
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:05.250291+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: e-meter-20260505-0
summary:
The E-Meter (also electropsychometer and Hubbard Electrometer) is an electronic device used in Scientology that allegedly "registers emotional reactions". After claims by L. Ron Hubbard that the procedures of auditing, which used the E-Meter, could help heal diseases, the E-Meter became the subject of litigation. Since then, the Church of Scientology publishes disclaimers declaring that the E-Meter "by itself does nothing", is incapable of improving health, and is used solely for spiritual purposes. == History == === Mathison === Volney Mathison built an Electrodermal activity meter based on a Wheatstone bridge, a vacuum tube amplifier, and a large moving-coil meter that projected an image of the needle on the wall. He patented his device in 1954 as an electropsychometer or E-meter, and it came to be known as the "Mathison Electropsychometer". In Mathison's words, the E-meter "has a needle that swings back and forth across a scale when a patient holds on to two electrical contacts". Mathison recorded in his book, Electropsychometry, that the idea of the E-Meter came to him in 1950 while listening to a lecture by L. Ron Hubbard: In 1950 ... I next attended a series of lectures being given by a very controversial figure, who


id: e-meter-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-meter-1.md
category: reference
title: E-meter
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-meter
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:05.250291+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: e-meter-20260505-0
summary:
E-meters are used by Scientology practitioners known as "auditors". Scientology materials refer to the subject as the "preclear". The auditor gives the preclear a series of commands or questions while the preclear holds a pair of cylindrical electrodes ("cans") connected to the meter, and the auditor notes both the verbal response and the activity of the meter. Auditor training includes familiarization with a number of characteristic needle movements, each with a specific significance. Religion scholar Dorthe Refslund Christensen describes the e-meter as "a technical device that could help the auditor locate engrams and areas of change when auditing a preclear". Scientology concepts associated with the E-meter and its use are regarded by the scientific and medical communities as pseudoscience, as the E-meter has never been subjected to clinical trials as a therapeutic tool. Scientologists claim that in the hands of a trained operator, the meter can indicate whether a person has been relieved from the spiritual impediment of past experiences. In accordance with a 1974 federal court order, the Church of Scientology asserts that the E-meter is intended for use only in church-sanctioned auditing sessions; it is not a curative or medical device. The E-meters used by the Church were


id: e-meter-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-meter-2.md
category: reference
title: E-meter
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-meter
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:05.250291+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: e-meter-20260505-0
summary:
=== Electronics === One of E-meter's primary components is a Wheatstone bridge, an electrical circuit configuration invented in 1833 that enables the detection of very small differences between two electrical impedances (in this case, resistances). The E-meter is constructed so that one resistance is the subject's body and the other is a rheostat controlled by the operator. A small voltage from the battery is applied to electrodes held in the subject's hands. As the electrical properties (electrodermal activity) of the subject's body change during the counseling, the resulting changes in the small electric current are displayed in needle movements on a large analog panel meter. The dial face is without numbers because the absolute resistance in ohms is relatively unimportant, while the operator watches primarily for characteristic needle motions. The voltage applied to the electrodes is less than 1.5 V, and the electric current through the subject's body is less than a half a milliampere. In the Scientology E-meter, the large control, known as the "tone arm", adjusts the meter bias, while a smaller one controls the gain. The operator manipulates the tone arm to keep the needle near the center of the dial so its motion is easily observed.


id: e-meter-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-meter-3.md
category: reference
title: E-meter
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-meter
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:05.250291+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: e-meter-20260505-0
summary:
The Church claimed that they had not written any publication that the E-meter could or would heal anything and sued to get the property back. Years of litigation ensued. In the first trial beginning on April 3, 1967, the jury found that the Church misrepresented the E-meter, and the judge ordered the confiscated materials destroyed. However, in 1969 the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia reversed the verdict; the Church, it said, had made substantial showing that Scientology is a religion and the government had done nothing to rebut the claim. The US Court of Appeals wrote: [The Founding Church has] made no attempt to contradict the expert testimony introduced by the Government. They have conceded that the E-meter is of no use in the diagnosis or treatment of disease as such, and have argued that it was never put forward as having such use. Auditing or processing, in their view, treats the spirit of man, not his body, though through the healing of the spirit the body can be affected. They have culled from their literature numerous statements disclaiming any intent to treat disease and recommending that Scientology practitioners send those under their care to doctors


id: e-meter-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-meter-4.md
category: reference
title: E-meter
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-meter
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:05.250291+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: e-meter-20260505-0
summary:
In 1964, the government of Victoria, Australia, held a Board of Inquiry into Scientology which returned its findings in a document colloquially known as the Anderson Report. Psychiatrist Ian Holland Martin, honorary federal secretary of the Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, gave evidence that the E-Meter "used for Scientology" was a "psycho-galvano-meter" and was "dangerous in unqualified hands". He said that if the E-meter "was suggested to possess mysterious powers" to someone who did not understand that it had "been thoroughly discredited as a lie detector" then "that person would be suggestible to ideas foisted on him by the operator". The final report of the inquiry stated that the E-meter enabled Scientology to assume, intensify and retain control over the minds and wills of preclears. Fears of its abilities keep them in constant subjection. Its use can be so manipulated by cunningly phrased questions that almost any desired result can be obtained, and it is used unscrupulously to dominate students and staff alike. All the evil features of scientology are intensified where the E-meter is involved. When used in conjunction with hypnotic techniques, its evil impact is greatly increased. This simple electrical device is not, of course, the


id: ear-candling-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ear_candling-0.md
category: reference
title: Ear candling
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ear_candling
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:06.479579+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ear-candling-20260505-0
summary:
Ear candling, also called ear coning or thermal-auricular therapy, is a pseudoscientific alternative medicine practice claiming to improve general health and well-being by lighting one end of a hollow candle and placing the other end in the ear canal. Medical research has shown that the practice is both dangerous and ineffective and does not functionally remove earwax or toxicants, despite product design contributing to that impression. == Technique == Medical News Today describes the process of ear candling: Ear candles are typically about 10 inches long, hollow, and tapered. A person lights them at their widest end. They are usually made of fabric soaked in wax or a mixture of substances, often paraffin and beeswax. To perform ear candling, a person will lie on their side and insert a candle into the ear. Usually, a square or circle made of paper, tin foil, or plastic acts as a cover to prevent hot wax from dripping onto the face, neck, or hair. Once the candle and covering are secure, a person will light the candle for 10–20 minutes. Wax does not go into the ear during this process. Ear candle makers and supporters claim that the lit candle creates enough warmth


id: earthquake-sensitivity-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake_sensitivity-0.md
category: reference
title: Earthquake sensitivity
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake_sensitivity
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:09.780483+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: earthquake-sensitivity-20260505-0
summary:
Earthquake sensitivity and earthquake sensitive are pseudoscientific terms defined by Jim Berkland to refer to certain people who claim sensitivity to the precursors of impending earthquakes, manifested in "dreams or visions, psychic impressions, or physiological symptoms", the latter including "ear tones" (ringing in the ears), headaches, and agitation. It is claimed that "[a] person with a very sensitive body may also have some subtle reaction to whatever animals react to". Proponents have speculated that these may result from: 1) piezoelectric effects due to changes in the stress of the Earth's crust, 2) low-frequency electromagnetic signals, or 3) from the emission of radon gas. Although proponents suggest the possibility that the claimed effects might work through known physical phenomena, and thus be amenable to scientific study, these claims are pseudoscientific in that no evidence of such effects, nor any theory of how such effects might be perceived, has been presented in the scientific literature. What the scientific literature does have is various reports showing that animals do not show disturbed or altered behavior attributable to earthquake precursors (other than foreshocks). Aside from whether such phenomena can be detected (by any means), the "consistent failure to find reliable earthquake precursors" has led


id: ebola-misinformation-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_misinformation-0.md
category: reference
title: Ebola misinformation
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebola_misinformation
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:11.005459+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ebola-misinformation-20260505-0
summary:
Multiple conspiracy theories, hoaxes, and quack cures have circulated about ebola viruses, regarding the origin of outbreaks, treatments for ebola virus disease, and preventative measures. == Unproven and disproven treatments == During the Western African Ebola virus epidemic (2013-2016), a number of unproven and fake treatments were marketed online in the United States, including snake venom, vitamin C, "Nano Silver", and various homeopathic and herbal remedies, including clove oil, garlic, and ewedu soup. Gary Coody, national health fraud coordinator for the FDA, described the purveyors of these unproven treatments as "like storm-chasing roofers, who go and try to defraud people after a big storm. Some of them may be making an honest mistake; other companies are trying to rip people off." Coody also said the problem with implausible and unproven remedies is not only that they are unlikely to work, but also that such treatments may lead to patients delaying effective and timely medical care in a hospital setting. == Implausible and disproven methods for preventing Ebola == During the 2014 and 2019 outbreaks, a number of hoax remedies for the prevention of Ebola were spread online. One such common thread was the frequent use of essential oils. There is


id: elastic-therapeutic-tape-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elastic_therapeutic_tape-0.md
category: reference
title: Elastic therapeutic tape
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elastic_therapeutic_tape
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:12.213282+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: elastic-therapeutic-tape-20260505-0
summary:
Elastic therapeutic tape, also called kinesiology tape or kinesiology therapeutic tape, Kinesio tape, k-tape, or KT is an elastic cotton strip with an acrylic adhesive that is purported to ease pain and disability from athletic injuries and a variety of other physical disorders. In individuals with chronic musculo­skeletal pain, research suggests that elastic taping may help relieve pain, but not more than other treatment approaches, and no evidence indicates that it can reduce disability in chronic pain cases. No convincing scientific evidence indicates that such products provide any demonstrable benefit in excess of a placebo, with some declaring it a pseudo­scientific treatment. == History == Kenzo Kase, a Japanese–American chiro­practor, developed the product in the 1970s. The company he founded markets variants under the brand name "Kinesio" and takes legal action to prevent the word being used as a genericised trademark. A surge in popularity resulted after the product was donated to Olympic athletes in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics and 2012 London Summer Olympics. The tapes' prominence and mass introduction to the general public have been attributed to Kerri Walsh who wore the tape on her shoulder, and who along with Misty May-Treanor dominated the 2008 beach volleyball event.


id: elastic-therapeutic-tape-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elastic_therapeutic_tape-1.md
category: reference
title: Elastic therapeutic tape
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elastic_therapeutic_tape
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:12.213282+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: elastic-therapeutic-tape-20260505-0
summary:
== Effectiveness == Manufacturers have made a wide variety of claims, including that it provides physical support for muscles, tendons, ligaments, and joints. KT Health's web site at one point claimed the tape "lifts the skin, decompressing the layers of fascia, allowing for greater movement of lymphatic fluid which transports white blood cells throughout the body and removes waste products, cellular debris, and bacteria". This increase in the inter­stitial space purportedly reduces pressure on the body's nociceptors, which detect pain, and stimulates mechano­receptors, to improve overall joint pro­prio­ception. Critics say these claims are not supported by evidence. In the 2012 article "Scientists sceptical as athletes get all taped up", Reuters reported that "In a review of all the scientific research so far, published in the Sports Medicine journal in February, researchers found 'little quality evidence to support the use of Kinesio tape over other types of elastic taping in the management or prevention of sports injuries". Some researchers claim that what athletes are experiencing is just a placebo effect. In July 2012, Steven Novella writing in Science-Based Medicine in the article "Olympic Pseudo­science", examined the use of KT in the larger context of "sports-related pseudo­science". Novella says "The world of


id: electroacupuncture-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroacupuncture-0.md
category: reference
title: Electroacupuncture
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroacupuncture
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:13.345193+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: electroacupuncture-20260505-0
summary:
Electroacupuncture is a form of acupuncture where a small electric current is passed between pairs of acupuncture needles. The Cochrane Collaboration, a group of evidence-based medicine (EBM) reviewers, reviewed acupuncture and electroacupuncture for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Because of the small number and poor quality of studies, they found no evidence to recommend its use for this condition. The reviewers concluded: "Although the results of the study on electroacupuncture show that electroacupuncture may be beneficial to reduce symptomatic knee pain in patients with RA 24 hours and 4 months post treatment, the reviewers concluded that the poor quality of the trial, including the small sample size preclude its recommendation. The reviewers further conclude that acupuncture has no effect on ESR, CRP, pain, patient's global assessment, number of swollen joints, number of tender joints, general health, disease activity and reduction of analgesics. These conclusions are limited by methodological considerations such as the type of acupuncture (acupuncture vs electroacupuncture), the site of intervention, the low number of clinical trials and the small sample size of the included studies." A 2016 systematic review and meta-analysis found inconclusive evidence that electroacupuncture was effective for nausea and vomiting and hyperemesis gravidarum during pregnancy. The


id: electrohomeopathy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrohomeopathy-0.md
category: reference
title: Electrohomeopathy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrohomeopathy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:14.530601+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: electrohomeopathy-20260505-0
summary:
Electrohomeopathy, also called electrohomoeopathy, electropathy or the Mattei cancer cure, is a historical proposed alternative to miasma theory and then-increasingly popular germ theory, as well as associated techniques. Invented in the 19th century by Count Cesare Mattei, the name is derived from a combination of electro (for electric bio-energy), homeo (Greek for "similar" or "like") and pathy (from the Greek word "pathos," which means "suffering"); it is an herbal medicine system that relies on the claimed healing properties of plants. The theory never saw significant mainstream success and the ideas have been characterized as quackery and described as "utter idiocy". == History and criticism == Electrohomeopathy was devised by Cesare Mattei (1809–1896) in the latter part of the 19th century. Mattei, a nobleman living in a castle in the vicinity of Bologna, studied natural science, anatomy, physiology, pathology, chemistry and botany. He ultimately focused on the supposed therapeutic power of "electricity" in botanical extracts. Mattei made bold, unsupported claims for the efficacy of his treatments, including the claim that his treatments offered a nonsurgical alternative to cancer. His treatment regimens were met with scepticism by medical orthodoxy: The electrohomeopathic system is an invention of Count Mattei who prates of "red,"


id: electromagnetic-hypersensitivity-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_hypersensitivity-0.md
category: reference
title: Electromagnetic hypersensitivity
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_hypersensitivity
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:15.755092+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: electromagnetic-hypersensitivity-20260505-0
summary:
Electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) is a claimed sensitivity to electromagnetic fields, to which adverse symptoms are attributed. EHS has no scientific basis and is not a recognized medical diagnosis, although it is generally accepted that the experience of EHS symptoms is of psychosomatic origin. Claims are characterized by a "variety of non-specific symptoms, which afflicted individuals attribute to exposure to electromagnetic fields." Attempts to justify the claim that EHS is caused by exposure to electromagnetic fields have amounted to pseudoscience. Those self-diagnosed with EHS report adverse reactions to electromagnetic fields at intensities well below the maximum levels permitted by international radiation safety standards. Provocation trials have found that such claimants are unable to distinguish between exposure and non-exposure to electromagnetic fields. A systematic review of medical research in 2011 found no convincing scientific evidence for symptoms being caused by electromagnetic fields. Since then, several double-blind experiments have shown that people who report electromagnetic hypersensitivity are unable to detect the presence of electromagnetic fields and are as likely to report ill health following a sham exposure as they are following exposure to genuine electromagnetic fields, suggesting the cause in these cases is the nocebo effect. As of 2005, the WHO recommended that


id: electromagnetic-hypersensitivity-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_hypersensitivity-1.md
category: reference
title: Electromagnetic hypersensitivity
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_hypersensitivity
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:15.755092+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: electromagnetic-hypersensitivity-20260505-0
summary:
== Prevalence == In 1997, before Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G technology, a group of scientists attempted to estimate the number of people reporting "subjective symptoms" from electromagnetic fields for the European Commission. They estimated that electromagnetic sensitivity occurred in "less than a few cases per million of the population" (based on centres of occupational medicine in UK, Italy and France) or up to "a few tenths of a per cent of the population" (based on self-aid groups in Denmark, Ireland and Sweden). In 2005, the UK Health Protection Agency reviewed this and several other studies for prevalence figures and concluded that "the differences in prevalence were at least partly due to the differences in available information and media attention around electromagnetic hypersensitivity that exist in different countries" and that "Similar views have been expressed by other commentators". The authors noted that most of the studies focused on computer monitors (VDUs), as such the "findings cannot apply in full" to other forms of EMF exposure such as radio waves from mobile phones/base stations. In 2007, a UK survey aimed at a randomly selected group of 20,000 people found a prevalence of 4% for symptoms self-attributed to electromagnetic exposure. A 2013 study


id: electronic-harassment-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_harassment-0.md
category: reference
title: Electronic harassment
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_harassment
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:16.923803+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: electronic-harassment-20260505-0
summary:
Electronic harassment, electromagnetic torture, and psychotronic torture is a conspiracy theory describing the hostile use of mundane electromagnetic devices, such as radio or microwaves, against self-identified "targeted individuals" (TIs). They believe that malicious actors are transmitting sounds and thoughts into people's heads, affecting their bodies, and harassing them generally. The delusion often concerns government agents or crime rings and alleges that the "perpetrators" use electromagnetic radiation (such as the microwave auditory effect), radar, and surveillance techniques to carry out their goals. Some TIs claim to be victims of gang stalking, and many have created or joined support and advocacy groups. Multiple medical professionals have concluded that these experiences are hallucinations, the result of delusional disorders, or psychosis. == Experiences == The experiences of people who describe themselves as undergoing electronic harassment using esoteric technology, and who call themselves "targeted individuals" ("T.I."), vary, but experiences often include hearing voices in their heads calling them by name, often mocking them or others around them, as well as physical sensations like burning. They have also described being under physical surveillance by one or more people. Many of these people act and function otherwise normally and included among them are people who are successful


id: electronic-harassment-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_harassment-1.md
category: reference
title: Electronic harassment
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_harassment
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:16.923803+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: electronic-harassment-20260505-0
summary:
== Conspiracy theories == Mind control conspiracy advocates believe they have found references to secret weapons in government programs such as "Project Pandora," a DARPA research effort into biological and behavioral effects of microwave radiation commissioned after the Moscow Signal incident, when the U.S. embassy in Moscow was bombarded with microwaves by the Soviets beginning in 1953. It was discovered that the Soviets' intent was eavesdropping and electronic jamming rather than mind control. Project Pandora studied the effects of occupational radiation exposure, and the project's scientific review committee concluded that microwave radiation could not be used for mind control. Conspiracy advocates also frequently cite the 2002 Air Force Research Laboratory patent for using microwaves to send spoken words into someone's head. Although there is no evidence that mind control using microwaves exists, rumors of continued classified research fuel the worries of people who believe they are being targeted. In 1987, a U.S. National Academy of Sciences report commissioned by the Army Research Institute noted psychotronics as one of the "colorful examples" of claims of psychic warfare that first surfaced in anecdotal descriptions, newspapers, and books during the 1980s. The report cited alleged psychotronic weapons such as a "hyperspatial nuclear howitzer"


id: electronic-voice-phenomenon-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_voice_phenomenon-0.md
category: reference
title: Electronic voice phenomenon
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_voice_phenomenon
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:18.072267+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: electronic-voice-phenomenon-20260505-0
summary:
Within ghost hunting and parapsychology, electronic voice phenomena (EVP) are sounds found on electronic recordings that are interpreted as spirit voices. Parapsychologist Konstantīns Raudive, who popularized the idea in the 1970s, described EVP as typically brief, usually the length of a word or short phrase. Enthusiasts consider EVP to be a form of paranormal phenomenon often found in recordings with static or other background noise. Scientists regard EVP as a form of auditory pareidolia (interpreting random sounds as voices in one's own language) and a pseudoscience promulgated by popular culture. Prosaic explanations for EVP include apophenia (perceiving patterns in random information), equipment artifacts, and hoaxes. == History == As the Spiritualist religious movement became prominent in the 1840s–1940s with a distinguishing belief that the spirits of the dead can be contacted by mediums, new technologies of the era, including photography, were employed by spiritualists in an effort to demonstrate contact with a spirit world. So popular were such ideas that Thomas Edison was asked in an interview with Scientific American to comment on the possibility of using his inventions to communicate with spirits. He replied that if the spirits were only capable of subtle influences, a sensitive recording device would


id: electronic-voice-phenomenon-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_voice_phenomenon-1.md
category: reference
title: Electronic voice phenomenon
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_voice_phenomenon
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:18.072267+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: electronic-voice-phenomenon-20260505-0
summary:
=== Interest in the 21st century and late 20th century === In 1982, Sarah Estep founded the American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena (AA-EVP) in Severna Park, Maryland, a nonprofit organization with the purpose of increasing awareness of EVP, and of teaching standardized methods for capturing it. Estep began her exploration of EVP in 1976, and says she has made hundreds of recordings of messages from deceased friends, relatives, and extraterrestrials whom she speculated originated from other planets or dimensions. The term Instrumental Trans-Communication (ITC) was coined by Ernst Senkowski in the 1970s to refer more generally to communication through any sort of electronic device such as tape recorders, fax machines, television sets or computers between spirits or other discarnate entities and the living. One particularly famous claimed incidence of ITC occurred when the image of EVP enthusiast Friedrich Jürgenson (whose funeral was held that day) was said to have appeared on a television in the home of a colleague, which had been purposefully tuned to a vacant channel. ITC enthusiasts also look at the TV and video camera feedback loop of the Droste effect. In 1979, parapsychologist D. Scott Rogo described an alleged paranormal phenomenon in which people report


id: electronic-voice-phenomenon-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_voice_phenomenon-2.md
category: reference
title: Electronic voice phenomenon
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_voice_phenomenon
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:18.072267+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: electronic-voice-phenomenon-20260505-0
summary:
==== Psychology and perception ==== Auditory pareidolia is a situation created when the brain incorrectly interprets random patterns as being familiar patterns. In the case of EVP it could result in an observer interpreting random noise on an audio recording as being the familiar sound of a human voice. The propensity for an apparent voice heard in white noise recordings to be in a language understood well by those researching it, rather than in an unfamiliar language, has been cited as evidence of this, and a broad class of phenomena referred to by author Joe Banks as Rorschach Audio has been described as a global explanation for all manifestations of EVP. In a 2019 investigation of a supposed haunted painting in a West Virginia museum, paranormal researcher Kenny Biddle investigated the claims made by the museum owner and ghost hunters that an EVP recording clearly saying the woman's name, "Annie", is really the voice of the woman in the portrait. The name Annie is written on the back of the portrait, which primes anyone listening for the name, to know what name to listen for. The EVP was created using a Radio Shack radio "modified to allow it to continually


id: electronic-voice-phenomenon-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_voice_phenomenon-3.md
category: reference
title: Electronic voice phenomenon
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_voice_phenomenon
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:18.072267+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: electronic-voice-phenomenon-20260505-0
summary:
== Organizations that show interest in EVP == There are a number of organizations dedicated to studying EVP and instrumental transcommunication, or which otherwise express interest in the subject. Individuals within these organizations may participate in investigations, author books or journal articles, deliver presentations, and hold conferences where they share experiences. In addition, organizations exist which dispute the validity of the phenomena on scientific grounds. The Association TransCommunication (ATransC), formerly the American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena (AA-EVP), and the International Ghost Hunters Society conduct ongoing investigations of EVP and ITC including collecting examples of purported EVP available over the internet. The Rorschach Audio Project, initiated by sound artist Joe Banks, which presents EVP as a product of radio interference combined with auditory pareidolia and the Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Biopsychocybernetics Research, a non-profit organization dedicated to studying anomalous phenomena related to neurophysiological conditions. According to the AA-EVP it is "the only organized group of researchers we know of specializing in the study of ITC". Parapsychologists and spiritualists have an ongoing interest in EVP. Many spiritualists experiment with a variety of techniques for spirit communication which they believe provide evidence of the continuation of life. According to the National Spiritualist Association


id: electronic-voice-phenomenon-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_voice_phenomenon-4.md
category: reference
title: Electronic voice phenomenon
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_voice_phenomenon
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:18.072267+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: electronic-voice-phenomenon-20260505-0
summary:
=== Theatre and music === In Nyctivoe, a 2001 vampire-inspired play by Dimitris Lyacos, the male character as well as his deceased companion are speaking from a recording device amidst a static/white noise background. In With the people from the bridge, a 2014 play by Dimitris Lyacos based on the idea of the return of the dead, the voice of the female character NCTV is transmitted from a television monitor amidst a static/white noise background. EVP is the subject of Vyktoria Pratt Keating's song "Disembodied Voices on Tape" from her 2003 album Things that Fall from the Sky, produced by Andrew Giddings of Jethro Tull. Laurie Anderson's "Example #22", from her 1981 album Big Science, interposes spoken sentences and phrases in German with sung passages in English representing EVP. During the outro to "Rubber Ring" by The Smiths, a sample from an EVP recording is repeated. The phrase "You are sleeping, you do not want to believe," is a 'translation' of the 'spirit voices' from a 1970s flexitape. The original recording is from the 1971 record which accompanied Raudive's book 'Breakthrough', and which was re-issued as a flexi-disc in the 1980s free with The Unexplained magazine. Bass Communion's 2004 album


id: electropoise-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electropoise-0.md
category: reference
title: Electropoise
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electropoise
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:19.294552+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: electropoise-20260505-0
summary:
The Electropoise was a fake medical instrument patented and sold in the United States of America by Hercules Sanche, who also invented and sold other fake instruments which were later termed as "electroquackery" and included such devices as the "Oxydonor" which were claimed to remedy a range of ailments. == History == The instruments were widely advertised in popular magazines and the company, Electrolibration, opened numerous offices far from their headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama including New York and London. The President of Electropoise, John N. Webb, admitting that he was not a man of science stated that his hands were full handling the business. It was sold for about twenty-five dollars. Other successors like Oxydonor were sold at ten to thirty dollars. Even during its heyday, a period when electricity was viewed with awe, some physicians called attention to the nature of the fraud but their efforts had little impact on the advertisement and sale. A letter to the editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1897 by a physician named George N. Kreider states that "One of the most glaring frauds of this decade has been an appliance known as 'Electropoise,' advertised in Harper's Monthly and


id: emdrive-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EmDrive-0.md
category: reference
title: EmDrive
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EmDrive
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:20.530876+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: emdrive-20260505-0
summary:
The EmDrive is a controversial device first proposed in 2001, purported by its inventors to be a reactionless drive. While no mechanism for operation was proposed, claims about the EmDrive appear to violate the law of conservation of momentum and other laws of physics. The concept has at times been referred to as a resonant cavity thruster. Physicists and engineers generally regard the EmDrive concept as pseudoscience. Neither person who claims to have invented the EmDrive committed to details about the device beyond showing prototypes they have built. While the lack of a published design or mechanism makes it hard to say whether a given object is an example of an EmDrive, over the years prototypes based on its public descriptions have been constructed and tested but results have been mixed to negative and often minor or attributed to errors. In 2016, Harold White's group at NASA observed a small apparent thrust from one such test, however subsequent studies suggested this thrust was a measurement error caused by thermal gradients. In 2018 and 2021, Martin Tajmar's group at the Dresden University of Technology replicated and refuted White's results, observing apparent thrusts similar to those measured by his team, and then


id: emdrive-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EmDrive-1.md
category: reference
title: EmDrive
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EmDrive
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:20.530876+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: emdrive-20260505-0
summary:
=== EmDrive === In 2001, Shawyer founded Satellite Propulsion Research Ltd, to work on the EmDrive, which he said used a resonant cavity to produce thrust without propellant. The company was backed by a SMART award grant from the UK Department of Trade and Industry. In December 2002, he loosely described a prototype which he alleged had produced a thrust of 0.02 newtons (0.072 ozf) powered by an 850 W cavity magnetron. He reported that the device could operate for only a few dozen seconds before the magnetron failed from overheating, however details were never published or replicated. ==== Second device and New Scientist article ==== In October 2006, Shawyer claimed to have conducted tests on a new water-cooled prototype with increased thrust. He reported plans to have the device ready to use in space by May 2009 and to make the resonant cavity a superconductor, neither of which materialized. New Scientist magazine featured the EmDrive on the cover of 8 September 2006 issue. The article portrayed the device as plausible and emphasized the arguments of those who held that point of view. Egan, a popular science fiction author, distributed a public letter stating that "a sensationalist bent and a


id: emdrive-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EmDrive-2.md
category: reference
title: EmDrive
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EmDrive
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:20.530876+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: emdrive-20260505-0
summary:
== Theoretical inconsistencies == All proposed theories for how the EmDrive works violate the conservation of momentum, which states any interaction cannot have a net force (i.e., the net sum of all forces is zero); a consequence of the conservation of momentum is Newton's third law, where for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Also, because force × velocity = power, any such device would violate conservation of energy when moving at a high enough velocity. The conservation of momentum is a symmetry of nature. An often-cited example of apparent nonconservation of momentum is the Casimir effect, in the standard case where two parallel plates are attracted to each other. However the plates move in opposite directions, so no net momentum is extracted from the vacuum and, moreover, energy must be put into the system to take the plates apart again. Assuming homogeneous electric and magnetic fields, it is impossible for the EmDrive, or any other device, to extract a net momentum transfer from either a classical or quantum vacuum. Extraction of a net momentum "from nothing" has been postulated in an inhomogeneous vacuum, but this remains highly controversial as it will violate Lorentz invariance. Both Harold


id: emdrive-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EmDrive-3.md
category: reference
title: EmDrive
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EmDrive
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:20.530876+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: emdrive-20260505-0
summary:
=== Dresden University of Technology === In July 2015, an aerospace research group at the Dresden University of Technology (TUD) under Martin Tajmar reported results for an evaluation of an RF resonant tapered cavity similar to the EmDrive. Testing was performed first on a knife-edge beam balance able to detect force at the micronewton level, atop an antivibration granite table at ambient air pressure; then on a torsion pendulum with a force resolution of 0.1 mN, inside a vacuum chamber at ambient air pressure and in a hard vacuum at 400 μPa (4×10−6 mbar). They used a conventional ISM band 2.45 GHz 700 W oven magnetron, and a small cavity with a low Q factor (20 in vacuum tests). They observed small positive thrusts in the positive direction and negative thrusts in the negative direction, of about 20 μN in a hard vacuum. However, when they rotated the cavity upwards as a "null" configuration, they observed an anomalous thrust of hundreds of micronewtons, much larger than the expected result of zero thrust. This indicated a strong source of noise which they could not identify. This led them to conclude that they could not confirm or refute claims about the device.


id: emdrive-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EmDrive-4.md
category: reference
title: EmDrive
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EmDrive
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:20.530876+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: emdrive-20260505-0
summary:
The largest error source is believed to come from the thermal expansion of the thruster's heat sink; as it expands this would lead to a change in the centre of gravity causing the resonant cavity to move. White's team attempted to model the thermal effect on the overall displacement by using a superposition of the displacements caused by "thermal effects" and "impulsive thrust" with White saying "That was the thing we worked the hardest to understand and put in a box". Despite these efforts, White's team were unable to fully account for the thermal expansion. In an interview with Aerospace America, White comments that "although maybe we put a little bit of a pencil mark through [thermal errors] ... they are certainly not black-Sharpie-crossed-out." Their method of accounting for thermal effects has been criticized by Millis and Davies, who highlight that there is a lack of both mathematical and empirical detail to justify the assumptions made about those effects. For example, they do not provide data on temperature measurement over time compared to device displacement. The paper includes a graphical chart, but it is based on a priori assumptions about what the shapes of the "impulsive thrust" and "thermal effects"


id: emotional-freedom-techniques-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_Freedom_Techniques-0.md
category: reference
title: Emotional Freedom Techniques
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_Freedom_Techniques
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:21.733406+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: emotional-freedom-techniques-20260505-0
summary:
Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) is a technique that stimulates acupressure points by pressuring, tapping or rubbing while focusing on situations that represent personal fear or trauma. EFT draws on various theories of alternative medicine – including acupuncture, neuro-linguistic programming, energy medicine, and Thought Field Therapy (TFT). EFT also combines elements of exposure therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy and somatic stimulation. It is best known through Gary Craig's EFT Handbook, published in the late 1990s, and related books and workshops by a variety of teachers. EFT and similar techniques are often discussed under the umbrella term "energy psychology". Advocates claim that the technique may be used to treat a wide variety of physical and psychological disorders, and as a simple form of self-administered therapy. The Skeptical Inquirer describes the foundations of EFT as "a hodgepodge of concepts derived from a variety of sources, [primarily] the ancient Chinese philosophy of chi, which is thought to be the 'life force' that flows throughout the body." The existence of this life force is "not empirically supported". EFT has no benefit as a therapy beyond the placebo effect or any known effective psychological techniques that may be provided in addition to the purported "energy" technique. It


id: energo-chromo-kinese-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energo-Chromo-Kinese-0.md
category: reference
title: Energo-Chromo-Kinese
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energo-Chromo-Kinese
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:22.904585+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: energo-chromo-kinese-20260505-0
summary:
Energo-Chromo-Kinese, also named ECK, is a pseudo-scientific and esoteric-oriented new religious movement founded in October 1987 in Villefranche-sur-Mer by Patrick Véret, a former acupuncturist. == History and organization == ECK uses many associations and societies (including Connaissance ontologique universelle et recherche biologique énergétique (COURBE), Energo 8 international, Energo conseils, Jéricho 3000, Association pour la recherche en médecine énergétique and SOS Spasmophilie) and is particularly active in the therapeutic and medical fields. Centers and schools were subsequently established to teach the beliefs of the group, which won over business executives and major corporations, but especially doctors, dentists and kinesiotherapists. Customers who attend these four-degree courses become "kinergists". The doctrine is a "gnostic pantheism" and is explained in two books written by Patrick Véret: La Médecine énergétique and La spasmophilie enfin vaincue, respectively written in 1981 and 1985. According to French cult consultant Jean-Marie Abgrall, ECK doctrines "represent an amalgam (or a synthesis, according to its proponents) of various theories referring to human "energy" — mainly Chinese medicine and Vedic medicine. According to ECK, the human body has seven energy centers that vibrate on the same frequencies as certain colors or certain sounds." On 22 February 1993, the French branch of the


id: energy-esotericism-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_(esotericism)-0.md
category: reference
title: Energy (esotericism)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_(esotericism)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:24.097387+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: energy-esotericism-20260505-0
summary:
Proponents and practitioners of various esoteric forms of spirituality and alternative medicine refer to a variety of claimed experiences and phenomena as being due to an energy or force that defies measurement or experimentation, and thus are distinct from uses of the term energy in science. Claims related to energy therapies are most often anecdotal, rather than being based on repeatable empirical evidence, thus not following the scientific method. There is no scientific evidence for the existence of such energy, and physics educators criticize the use of the term energy to describe ideas in esotericism and spirituality as unavoidably confusing. == History == The concept of esoteric energy has appeared in various cultures and spiritual traditions throughout history. Although interpretations differ, many traditions describe it as a vital force that animates living beings and permeates the cosmos. These ideas often overlap with religious, medical, and mystical frameworks, influencing practices ranging from healing to spiritual enlightenment. In ancient civilizations, esoteric energy was frequently associated with breath, spirit, or divine power. The ancient Egyptians referred to ka, a vital essence that sustained life and represented a person’s spiritual double. In ancient Greece, the Stoics developed the concept of pneuma, a universal breath


id: energy-esotericism-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_(esotericism)-1.md
category: reference
title: Energy (esotericism)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_(esotericism)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:24.097387+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: energy-esotericism-20260505-0
summary:
That's all that energy is: a measurement of work capability. But in popular culture, 'energy' has somehow become a noun. "Energy" is often spoken of as if it is a thing unto itself, like a region of glowing power, that can be contained and used. Here's a good test. When you hear the word "energy" used, substitute the phrase "measurable work capability". Does the usage still make sense? Remember, energy itself is not the thing being measured: energy is the measurement of work performed or of potential... Thus, this New Age concept of the body having an "energy field" is fatally doomed. There is no such thing as an energy field; they are two unrelated concepts. Despite the lack of scientific support, spiritual writers and thinkers have maintained ideas about energy and continue to promote them either as useful allegories or as fact. The field of energy medicine purports to manipulate energy, but there is no credible evidence to support this. == Conceptual frameworks == Esoteric traditions have developed various conceptual models to describe the nature, flow, and function of energy within the human body, the natural world, and the cosmos. These frameworks often include subtle bodies, energy centers, and


id: energy-field-disturbance-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_field_disturbance-0.md
category: reference
title: Energy field disturbance
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_field_disturbance
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:25.257627+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: energy-field-disturbance-20260505-0
summary:
Energy field disturbance is a pseudoscientific concept rooted in alternative medicine. Supporters of this concept believe it concerns the disruptance of a metaphysical biofield that permeates the body, resulting in poor emotional or physiological health. This concept is often related to therapeutic touch. == NANDA diagnosis and controversy == The North American Nursing Diagnosis Association (NANDA) previously recognized the diagnosis "Disturbed Energy Field" in 1994, prior to implementation of a rule requiring a minimum requirement by evidence in the literature prior to accepting a new diagnosis. Later, NANDA has reported it received feedback questioning the validity of the diagnosis, including criticism from skeptic James Randi. Based on this feedback, NANDA said it would reevaluate this diagnosis based on current scientific evidence. "Disturbed Energy Field" was removed from the NANDA taxonomy in the 10th edition of Nursing Diagnoses: Definitions & Classification 2015-2017, with the explanation that "...all literature support currently provided for this diagnosis is regarding intervention rather than for the nursing diagnosis itself" (p. 13). In the 11th edition of NANDA International Nursing Diagnoses: Definitions & Classification, 2018-2020, the diagnosis returned under the name of "Imbalanced energy field", it is inside Domain 4, Class 3. == Reception == The alleged


id: energy-medicine-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_medicine-0.md
category: reference
title: Energy medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:26.409139+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: energy-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
Energy medicine is a branch of alternative medicine based on a pseudo-scientific belief that healers can channel "healing energy" into patients and effect positive results. This esoteric concept of "energy" used by proponents of energy medicine is unrelated to the scientific concept of energy. The field is defined by shared beliefs and practices relating to mysticism and esotericism in the wider alternative medicine sphere rather than any unified terminology, leading to terms such as energy healing, vibrational medicine, and similar terms being used synonymously. Practitioners may classify their practice as hands-on, hands-off, or distant, wherein the patient and healer are in different locations. Many approaches to energy healing exist: for example, "biofield energy healing", "spiritual healing", "contact healing", "distant healing", therapeutic touch, Reiki, and Qigong. Reviews of the scientific literature on energy healing have concluded that no evidence supports its clinical use. The theoretical basis of energy healing has been criticised as implausible; research and reviews supportive of energy medicine have been faulted for containing methodological flaws and selection bias, and positive therapeutic results have been determined to result from known psychological mechanisms, such as the placebo effect. Some claims of those purveying "energy medicine" devices are known to be


id: energy-medicine-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_medicine-1.md
category: reference
title: Energy medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:26.409139+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: energy-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
There are various schools of energy healing, including biofield energy healing, spiritual healing, contact healing, distant healing, Pranic Healing, therapeutic touch, Reiki, and Qigong among others. Spiritual healing occurs largely among practitioners who do not see traditional religious faith as a prerequisite for effecting cures. Faith healing by contrast takes place within a traditional or non-denominational religious context such as with some televangelists. The Buddha is often quoted by practitioners of energy medicine, but he did not practise "hands on or off" healing. Energy healing techniques such as therapeutic touch have found recognition in the nursing profession. In 2005–2006, the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association approved the diagnosis of "energy field disturbance" in patients, reflective of what has been variously called a "postmodern" or "anti-scientific" approach to nursing care. This approach has been strongly criticised. Believers in these techniques have proposed quantum mystical invocations of non-locality to try to explain distant healing. They have also proposed that healers act as a channel passing on a kind of bioelectromagnetism which shares similarities to vitalistic pseudosciences such as orgone or qi. Writing in the Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, James Oschman introduced the concept of healer-sourced electromagnetic fields which change in


id: energy-medicine-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_medicine-2.md
category: reference
title: Energy medicine
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_medicine
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:26.409139+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: energy-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
== Bioresonance therapy == Bioresonance therapy (including MORA therapy and BICOM) is a pseudoscientific medical practice in which it is proposed that electromagnetic waves can be used to diagnose and treat human illness. === History and method === Bioresonance therapy was invented (in Germany) in 1977 by Franz Morell and his son-in-law, engineer Erich Rasche. Initially, they marketed it as "MORA-Therapie", for MOrell and RAsche. Some of the machines contain an electronic circuit measuring skin-resistance, akin to the E-meter used by Scientology, which the bioresonance creators sought to improve; Franz Morell had links with Scientology. Practitioners claim to be able to detect a variety of diseases and addictions. Some practitioners also claim they can treat diseases using this therapy without drugs, by stimulating a change of "bioresonance" in the cells, and reversing the change caused by the disease. The devices would need to isolate and pinpoint pathogens' responses from the mixture of responses the device receives via the electrodes. These transformed signals transmitted over the same electrodes has a healing effect, claim practitioners. === Scientific evaluation === Lacking any scientific explanation of how bioresonance therapy might work, researchers have classified bioresonance therapy as pseudoscience. Some studies did not show effects


id: energy-polarizer-controversy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Polarizer_controversy-0.md
category: reference
title: Energy Polarizer controversy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Polarizer_controversy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:27.629079+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: energy-polarizer-controversy-20260505-0
summary:
During the 1980s, the Holden Dealer Team (HDT), a semi-official Australian racing outfit and car tuning partner of Holden, faced controversy after fitting cars with epoxy-resin boxes containing crystals and magnets they called "Energy Polarizers". These devices were pseudoscientifically claimed to improve performance by "aligning molecules". In 1980 Peter Brock formed Holden Dealer Team Special Vehicles, a car tuning company for Holden vehicles, and produced "homologation specials" based on the Holden Commodore. On 20 February 1987 HDT unveiled the HDT Director, based on the Holden Commodore (VL), with the option to install Energy Polarizer devices for AU$480. Brock described the boxes as "a magic cure" that "made a shit house car good". His belief in the devices originated from the influence of the Melbourne-based chiropractor Eric Dowker, who had helped Brock give up alcohol and cigarettes and influenced a belief in crystal healing and orgone energy. 173 units were sold with the Energy Polarizer. Due to the controversy and the HDT team's installation of new rear suspension without prior permission or testing, Holden ended the relationship in 1987, later founding Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) with Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) as its performance division. The Australian Skeptics awarded Peter Brock the


id: enfj-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENFJ-0.md
category: reference
title: ENFJ
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENFJ
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:28.828769+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: enfj-20260505-0
summary:
ENFJ (Extraversion, Intuition, Feeling, Judgement) is an abbreviation used in the publications of the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) to refer to one of 16 personality types. The MBTI assessment was developed from the work of prominent psychiatrist Carl G. Jung in his book Psychological Types. Jung proposed a psychological typology based on the theories of cognitive functions that he developed through his clinical observations. From Jung's work, others developed psychological typologies. Jungian personality assessments include the MBTI assessment, developed by Isabel Briggs Myers and Katharine Cook Briggs, and the Keirsey Temperament Sorter, developed by David Keirsey. Keirsey referred to ENFJs as Teachers, one of the four types belonging to the temperament he called the Idealists. ENFJs account for about 2–5% of the population. == The MBTI instrument == E – Extraversion preferred to introversion: ENFJs often feel motivated by their interaction with people. They tend to enjoy a wide circle of acquaintances, and they gain energy in social situations. They tend to turn to external sources when making decisions, and want approval from others. (whereas introverts expend energy). N – Intuition preferred to sensing: ENFJs tend to be more abstract than concrete. They focus their attention on the big picture


id: enneagram-of-personality-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enneagram_of_Personality-0.md
category: reference
title: Enneagram of Personality
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enneagram_of_Personality
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:29.956388+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: enneagram-of-personality-20260505-0
summary:
The Enneagram of Personality, or simply the Enneagram, is a pseudoscientific model of the human psyche which is principally understood and taught as a typology of nine interconnected personality types. The origins and history of ideas associated with the Enneagram of Personality are disputed. Contemporary approaches are principally derived from the teachings of the Bolivian psycho-spiritual teacher Oscar Ichazo from the 1950s and the Chilean psychiatrist Claudio Naranjo from the 1970s. Naranjo's theories were also influenced by earlier teachings about personality by George Gurdjieff and the Fourth Way tradition in the first half of the 20th century. As a typology, the Enneagram defines nine personality types (sometimes called "enneatypes"), which are represented by the points of a geometric figure called an enneagram, which indicate some of the principal connections between the types. There have been different schools of thought among Enneagram teachers and their understandings are not always in agreement. The Enneagram of Personality is promoted in both business management and spirituality contexts through seminars, conferences, books, magazines, and DVDs. In business contexts, it is often promoted as a means to gain insights into workplace interpersonal dynamics; in spirituality it is commonly presented as a path to states of enlightenment


id: enneagram-of-personality-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enneagram_of_Personality-1.md
category: reference
title: Enneagram of Personality
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enneagram_of_Personality
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:29.956388+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: enneagram-of-personality-20260505-0
summary:
=== Three triads of type patterns === The nine Enneagram personality type patterns are grouped into various triads of three types in which each of the types have multiple common personality issues. The most well-known of these triad groupings is also associated with the three "centers of intelligence" as taught by G. I. Gurdjieff. These three centers are traditionally known as the intellectual, emotional, and instinctual centers. Although each person is understood to always have all three centers active in their personality structure, certain personality issues are more associated with one of the centers depending on a person's dominant type pattern. In Enneagram of Personality teachings each of these centers has a more particular or stronger association with one of the triads of personality types as follows: The intellectual center is particularly associated with types 5, 6, and 7. People with one of these dominant type patterns are largely motivated by "thinking" issues related to fear. The emotional center is particularly associated with types 2, 3, and 4. People with one of these dominant type patterns are largely motivated by "feeling" and "image" issues related to anxiety and depression. The instinctual center is particularly associated with types 8, 9, and


id: enneagram-of-personality-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enneagram_of_Personality-2.md
category: reference
title: Enneagram of Personality
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enneagram_of_Personality
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:29.956388+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: enneagram-of-personality-20260505-0
summary:
== Research and criticism == While Enneagram teachings have attained a degree of popularity, they have been categorized by many professionals as a pseudoscience due to their subjectivity and inability to be tested scientifically, and described as "an assessment method of no demonstrated reliability or validity". In 2011, the scientific skeptic Robert Todd Carroll included the Enneagram in a list of pseudoscientific theories that "can't be tested because they are so vague and malleable that anything relevant can be shoehorned to fit the theory". A 2020 review of Enneagram empirical work found mixed results for the model's reliability and validity. The study noted that the ipsative version of the Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator (scores on one dimension decrease scores on another dimension) had troubles with validity, whereas the non-ipsative version of the test has been found to have better internal consistency and test-retest reliability. It was found that 87% of individuals were able to accurately predict their Enneagram type (before taking the test) by being read descriptions of each type. In a Delphi poll of 101 doctoral-level members of psychological organizations such as the American Psychological Association, the Enneagram was among five psychological treatments and tests which were rated by


id: epilepsy-surgery-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epilepsy_surgery-0.md
category: reference
title: Epilepsy surgery
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epilepsy_surgery
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:31.127122+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: epilepsy-surgery-20260505-0
summary:
Epilepsy surgery involves a neurosurgical procedure where an area of the brain involved in seizures is either resected, ablated, disconnected or stimulated. The goal is to eliminate seizures or significantly reduce seizure burden. Approximately 60% of all people with epilepsy (0.4% of the population of industrialized countries) have focal epilepsy syndromes. In 20% to 30% of these patients, the condition is not adequately controlled with adequate trials of two anticonvulsive drugs, termed drug resistant epilepsy, or refractory epilepsy. Such patients are potential candidates for surgical epilepsy treatment. First line therapy for epilepsy involves treatment with anticonvulsive drugs, also called antiepileptic drugs– most patients will respond to trials of one or two different medications. The goal of treatment is the elimination of seizures, since uncontrolled seizures carry significant risks, including injury and sudden unexpected death in epilepsy. In patients with refractory epilepsy, surgery is considered the only curative option. Epilepsy surgery has been performed for more than a century, but its use dramatically increased in the 1980s and 1990s, reflecting advancement in technique and improved efficacy in selected patients. == Evaluation == The pre-surgical evaluation for epilepsy is designed to locate the "epileptic focus" or the "epileptogenic zone" (the location where


id: epilepsy-surgery-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epilepsy_surgery-1.md
category: reference
title: Epilepsy surgery
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epilepsy_surgery
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:31.127122+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: epilepsy-surgery-20260505-0
summary:
== Temporal lobe resection == Temporal lobe resection acts as a treatment option for patients with temporal lobe epilepsy, or those whose seizure focus is in the temporal lobe. Temporal lobe seizures are the most common type (approximately 30% of diagnoses) of seizures for teens and young adults. The procedure involves resecting, or cutting away, brain tissue within the region of the temporal lobe in order to remove the seizure focus. Specific evaluation for temporal lobe resection requires convergent clinical, MRI, and EEG data in order to precisely pinpoint the focal area and boundaries of the focal area. The surgery has produced successful outcomes, controlling seizures in as much as 70 percent of temporal lobe epilepsy patients. Follow-up studies suggest that the procedure also has produced positive long-term effects that illustrate 63 percent of patients still remaining seizure-free. Although the procedure produces positive outcomes for patients regarding seizure control, it can also produce negative outcomes such as memory impairment, visual disturbance, and cognitive dysfunction. Hemispheric dominance can determine the likelihood of certain complications of surgery in the temporal lobe; for the majority of right-handed people, the left hemisphere is dominant and is associated with the brain's language centers (most notably


id: list-of-esoteric-healing-articles-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_esoteric_healing_articles-0.md
category: reference
title: List of esoteric healing articles
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_esoteric_healing_articles
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:32.317550+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: list-of-esoteric-healing-articles-20260505-0
summary:
Esoteric healing refers to numerous types of alternative medicine which aim to heal disease and disability, using esoteric means, either through faith and human will, or by using pseudoscientific processes. It was first published in the 1950s and was initially inspired by Djwal Khul and Alice Bailey. == Healing == Alice Bailey § Esoteric healing Christian Science § Healing practices Crystal healing Dianetics Energy medicine Faith healing Gifts of healing Johrei Laying on of hands Liu Zi Jue Musica universalis Prana Prayer § Prayer healing Psychic surgery Qi § Role in traditional Chinese medicine Qigong Quantum healing Radionics Reiki Royal touch Therapeutic touch ThetaHealing Universal Medicine Word of Faith § Healing == See also == Energy (esotericism) Folk healer Healing revival Inner Healing Movement Long Healing Prayer Quackery Quantum mysticism Scientific skepticism Shamanism Traditional medicine World Healing Day == References ==


id: ethiopid-race-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopid_race-0.md
category: reference
title: Ethiopid race
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopid_race
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:33.479750+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ethiopid-race-20260505-0
summary:
Ethiopid (also spelled Aethiopid) is an outdated racial classification of humans indigenous to Northeast Africa, who were typically classified as part of the Caucasian race – the Hamitic sub-branch, or in rare instances the Negroid race. The racial classification was mainly made up of the Afroasiatic-speaking populations of the Horn of Africa, but to an extent included certain Nilo-Saharan populations of the Nile Valley and the Great Lakes region. == Center of distribution == According to John Baker (1974), in their stable form, their center of distribution was considered to be the Horn of Africa, among that region's Hamito-Semitic-speaking populations. Baker described them as being of medium height, with a dolicocephalic or mesocephalic skull (see cephalic index), an essentially Caucasoid facial form, an orthognathic profile (no prognathism) and a rather prominent, narrow nose, often ringlety hair, and an invariably brown skin, with either a reddish or blackish tinge. == Dividing humankind into races == The concept of dividing humankind into three races called Caucasoid, Mongoloid, and Negroid (originally named "Ethiopian") was introduced in the 1780s by members of the Göttingen school of history and further developed by Western scholars in the context of racist ideologies during the age of colonialism.


id: eugenics-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics-0.md
category: reference
title: Eugenics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:34.922682+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: eugenics-20260505-0
summary:
Eugenics is a largely discredited set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter the frequency of various human phenotypes by inhibiting the fertility of those considered inferior, often through forced sterilization, or promoting that of those considered superior. The contemporary history of eugenics began in the late 19th century, when a popular eugenics movement emerged in the United Kingdom, which spread to most European countries (e.g., Sweden and Germany), and many other countries, including the United States, Canada, and Australia. Historically, the idea of eugenics has been used to argue for a broad array of practices ranging from prenatal care for mothers deemed genetically desirable to the forced sterilisation and murder of those deemed unfit. To population geneticists, the term has included the avoidance of inbreeding without altering allele frequencies; for example, British-Indian scientist J. B. S. Haldane wrote in 1940 that "the motor bus, by breaking up inbred village communities, was a powerful eugenic agent." Debate as to what qualifies as eugenics continues today. A progressive social movement promoting eugenics had originated in the 19th century, with diverse support, but by the mid 20th century


id: eugenics-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics-1.md
category: reference
title: Eugenics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:34.922682+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: eugenics-20260505-0
summary:
The term eugenics and its modern field of study were first formulated by Francis Galton in 1883, directly drawing on the recent work delineating natural selection by his half-cousin Charles Darwin. He published his observations and conclusions chiefly in his influential book Inquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development. Galton himself defined it as "the study of all agencies under human control which can improve or impair the racial quality of future generations". The first to systematically apply Darwinism theory to human relations, Galton believed that various desirable human qualities were also hereditary ones, although Darwin strongly disagreed with this elaboration of his theory. Eugenics became an academic discipline at many colleges and universities and received funding from various sources. Organisations were formed to win public support for and to sway opinion towards responsible eugenic values in parenthood, including the British Eugenics Education Society of 1907 and the American Eugenics Society of 1921. Both sought support from leading clergymen and modified their message to meet religious ideals. In 1909, the Anglican clergymen William Inge and James Peile both wrote for the Eugenics Education Society. Inge was an invited speaker at the 1921 International Eugenics Conference, which was also endorsed by


id: eugenics-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics-2.md
category: reference
title: Eugenics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:34.922682+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: eugenics-20260505-0
summary:
The reputation of eugenics started to decline in the 1930s, a time when Ernst Rüdin used eugenics as a justification for the racial policies of Nazi Germany. Adolf Hitler had praised and incorporated eugenic ideas in Mein Kampf in 1925 and emulated eugenic legislation for the sterilisation of "defectives" that had been pioneered in the United States once he took power. Some common early 20th century eugenics methods involved identifying and classifying individuals and their families. This included racial groups (such as the Roma and Jews in Nazi Germany), the poor, mentally ill, blind, deaf, developmentally disabled, promiscuous women, and homosexuals as "degenerate" or "unfit". This led to segregation, institutionalisation, sterilisation, and mass murder. The Nazi policy of identifying German citizens deemed unfit and then systematically murdering them with poison gas, referred to as the Aktion T4 campaign, paved the way for the Holocaust. By the end of World War II, many eugenics laws were abandoned, having become associated with Nazi Germany. H. G. Wells, who had called for "the sterilisation of failures" in 1904, stated in his 1940 book The Rights of Man: Or What Are We Fighting For? that among the human rights, which he believed should be


id: eugenics-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics-3.md
category: reference
title: Eugenics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:34.922682+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: eugenics-20260505-0
summary:
=== Objections to scientific validity === Amanda Caleb, Professor of Medical Humanities at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, says "Eugenic laws and policies are now understood as part of a specious devotion to a pseudoscience that actively dehumanises to support political agendas and not true science or medicine." The first major challenge to conventional eugenics based on genetic inheritance was made in 1915 by Thomas Hunt Morgan. He demonstrated the event of genetic mutation occurring outside of inheritance involving the discovery of the hatching of a fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) with white eyes from a family with red eyes, demonstrating that major genetic changes occurred outside of inheritance. Morgan criticised the view that traits such as intelligence or criminality were hereditary, because these traits were subjective. Pleiotropy occurs when one gene influences multiple, seemingly unrelated phenotypic traits, an example being phenylketonuria, which is a human disease that affects multiple systems but is caused by one gene defect. Andrzej Pękalski, from the University of Wroclaw, argues that eugenics can cause harmful loss of genetic diversity if a eugenics programme selects a pleiotropic gene that could possibly be associated with a positive trait. Pękalski uses the example of a coercive government eugenics


id: eugenics-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics-4.md
category: reference
title: Eugenics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:34.922682+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: eugenics-20260505-0
summary:
The novel Brave New World by the English author Aldous Huxley (1931), is a dystopian social science fiction novel which is set in a futuristic World State, whose citizens are environmentally engineered into an intelligence-based social hierarchy. Various works by the author Robert A. Heinlein mention the Howard Foundation, a group which attempts to improve human longevity through selective breeding. Among Frank Herbert's works, the Dune series, starting with the eponymous 1965 novel, describes selective breeding by a powerful sisterhood, the Bene Gesserit, to produce a supernormal male being, the Kwisatz Haderach. The Star Trek franchise features a race of genetically engineered humans which is known as "Augments", the most notable of them being Khan Noonien Singh. These "supermen" were the cause of the Eugenics Wars, a dark period in Earth's fictional history, before they were deposed and exiled. Spin-offs like Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds present the Eugenics Wars as the main reason why genetic enhancement is illegal in the United Federation of Planets. Naoki Urasawa's manga Monster and its anime adaptation of the same name mention "The Eugenics Experiment" conducted in the premises of 511 Kinderheim, a clandestine East German orphanage where


id: excited-delirium-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excited_delirium-0.md
category: reference
title: Excited delirium
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excited_delirium
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:36.061055+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: excited-delirium-20260505-0
summary:
Excited delirium (ExDS), also known as agitated delirium (AgDS), is a widely rejected pseudoscientific diagnosis characterized as a potentially fatal state of extreme agitation and delirium. It has disproportionately been diagnosed postmortem in black men who were physically restrained by law enforcement personnel at the time of death. Mainstream medicine does not recognise the label as a diagnosis. It is not listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or the International Classification of Diseases, and is not recognized by the World Health Organization, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Emergency Medicine, or the National Association of Medical Examiners. The American College of Emergency Physicians, which was an outlier in supporting the diagnosis, changed its position in 2023, stating: The term excited delirium should not be used among the wider medical and public health community, law enforcement organizations, and ACEP members acting as expert witnesses testifying in relevant civil or criminal litigation. A 2017 investigative report by Reuters found that excited delirium had been listed as a factor in autopsy reports, court records or other sources in at least 276 deaths that followed taser use since 2000. The Taser manufacturing firm Axon


id: excited-delirium-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excited_delirium-1.md
category: reference
title: Excited delirium
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excited_delirium
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:36.061055+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: excited-delirium-20260505-0
summary:
=== Position of the American College of Emergency Physicians === Prior to 2009, excited delirium was only recognized by medical examiners, not physicians. However, in 2009, a 19-person task force from American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) wrote a white paper suggesting that excited delirium should be considered as a valid syndrome, which physicians can use for diagnoses. This suggestion was adopted by the ACEP later in 2009. In 2017, investigative reporters from Reuters reported that three of the 19 members of the 2009 task force were paid consultants for Axon, the manufacturer of Tasers. Axon frequently blames excited delirium for stun-gun-related deaths. In 2020, the American Psychiatric Association expressed concern about the ACEP's adoption of excited delirium as a genuine syndrome, due to factors such as disproportionate application to African-Americans: The concept of "excited delirium" (also referred to as "excited delirium syndrome" (ExDs)) has been invoked in a number of cases to explain or justify injury or death to individuals in police custody, and the term excited delirium is disproportionately applied to Black men in police custody. Although the American College of Emergency Physicians has explicitly recognized excited delirium as a medical condition, the criteria are unclear and to


id: excited-delirium-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excited_delirium-2.md
category: reference
title: Excited delirium
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excited_delirium
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:36.061055+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: excited-delirium-20260505-0
summary:
=== Association with racism === In 2003, the NAACP argued that excited delirium is used to explain the deaths of minorities more often than whites, and the American Psychiatric Association also notes that "the term excited delirium is disproportionately applied to Black men in police custody". The American Civil Liberties Union argued in 2007 that the diagnosis served "as a means of white-washing what may be excessive use of force and inappropriate use of control techniques by officers during an arrest." Several academic commentators have noted that medical personnel and law enforcement personnel apply diagnoses of excited delirium in a manner which disproportionately disadvantages African Americans. Excited delirium has also been used to diagnose Indigenous people after violent police encounters. In 1999, in Victoria British Columbia, Canada, Anthany Dawson, a member of the Musgamagw Tsawataineuk Nation, was beaten and punched repeatedly by the police before dying in an ambulance. Initially, police statements relayed to the public that overdose was his cause of death, though there was no evidence of drug use at the time of the statements’ release. Later, toxicology reports only found a small amount of marijuana from the previous evening before his death. In the media, Dawson was


id: excited-delirium-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excited_delirium-3.md
category: reference
title: Excited delirium
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Excited_delirium
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:36.061055+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: excited-delirium-20260505-0
summary:
=== Association with police restraint === Amnesty International found that the syndrome was cited in 75 of the 330 deaths following police use of a taser on suspects between 2001 and 2008, and a Florida-based study found it was listed as a cause of death in over half of all deaths in police custody, though many Florida districts do not use it at all. According to an article in the Harvard Civil Rights–Civil Liberties Law Review, since 2000, over one thousand people in the United States have died shortly after being tased, with the deaths sharing several commonalities: "the deceased often were mentally ill or under the influence of drugs at the time of death, they tend to have been shocked multiple times by officers during arrest, and they often share an exceptionally rare cause of death, 'excited delirium.'" While diagnosis is habitually of men under police restraint, medical preconditions and symptoms attributed to the syndrome are far more varied. Males account for more documented diagnoses than females. Often law enforcement has used tasers or physical measures in these cases, and death most frequently occurs after the person is forcefully restrained. Critics of excited delirium have stated that the condition


id: expanding-earth-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expanding_Earth-0.md
category: reference
title: Expanding Earth
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expanding_Earth
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:37.253793+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: expanding-earth-20260505-0
summary:
The expanding Earth or growing Earth was a hypothesis attempting to explain the position and relative movement of continents by increase in the volume of Earth. With the recognition of plate tectonics in 20th century, the idea has been abandoned and considered a pseudoscience. == Different forms of the hypothesis == === Expansion with constant mass === In 1834, during the second voyage of HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin investigated stepped plains featuring raised beaches in Patagonia which indicated to him that a huge area of South America had been "uplifted to its present height by a succession of elevations which acted over the whole of this space with nearly an equal force". While his mentor Charles Lyell had suggested forces acting near the crust on smaller areas, Darwin hypothesized that uplift at this continental scale required "the gradual expansion of some central mass" [of the Earth] "acting by intervals on the outer crust" with the "elevations being concentric with form of globe (or certainly nearly so)". In 1835 he extended this concept to include the Andes Mountains as part of a curved enlargement of the Earth's crust due to "the action of one connected force". Not long afterwards, he abandoned


id: expanding-earth-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expanding_Earth-1.md
category: reference
title: Expanding Earth
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expanding_Earth
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:37.253793+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: expanding-earth-20260505-0
summary:
== Main arguments against Earth expansion == The hypothesis had never developed a plausible and verifiable mechanism of action. During the 1960s, the theory of plate tectonics— based initially on the assumption that Earth's size remains constant, and relating the subduction zones to burying of lithosphere at a scale comparable to seafloor spreading—became the accepted explanation in the Earth Sciences. The scientific community finds that significant evidence contradicts the Expanding Earth theory, and that the evidence used for it is explained better by plate tectonics: Measurements with modern high-precision geodetic techniques and modeling of the measurements by the horizontal motions of independent rigid plates at the surface of a globe of free radius, were proposed as evidence that Earth is not currently increasing in size to within a measurement accuracy of 0.2 mm per year. The main author of the study stated "Our study provides an independent confirmation that the solid Earth is not getting larger at present, within current measurement uncertainties". The motions of tectonic plates and subduction zones measured by a large range of geological, geodetic and geophysical techniques helps verify plate tectonics. Imaging of lithosphere fragments within the mantle is evidence for lithosphere consumption by subduction. Paleomagnetic


id: extrasensory-perception-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extrasensory_perception-0.md
category: reference
title: Extrasensory perception
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extrasensory_perception
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:38.440536+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: extrasensory-perception-20260505-0
summary:
Extrasensory perception (ESP), also known as a sixth sense, or cryptaesthesia, is a claimed paranormal ability pertaining to reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses, but sensed with the mind. The term was adopted by Duke University botanist J. B. Rhine to denote psychic abilities such as telepathy, psychometry, clairvoyance and their trans-temporal operation as precognition or retrocognition. Second sight is an alleged form of extrasensory perception, whereby a person perceives information, in the form of a vision, about future events before they happen (precognition), or about things or events at remote locations (remote viewing). There is no good evidence that second sight exists. Reports of second sight are known only from anecdotes. Second sight and ESP are classified as pseudosciences. == History == In the 1930s, at Duke University in North Carolina, J. B. Rhine and his wife Louisa E. Rhine conducted an investigation into extrasensory perception. While Louisa Rhine concentrated on collecting accounts of spontaneous cases, J. B. Rhine worked largely in the laboratory, carefully defining terms such as ESP and psi (parapsychology) and designing experiments to test them. A simple set of black and white cards was developed, originally called Zener cards – now


id: extrasensory-perception-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extrasensory_perception-1.md
category: reference
title: Extrasensory perception
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extrasensory_perception
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:38.440536+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: extrasensory-perception-20260505-0
summary:
Parapsychology is the study of paranormal psychic phenomena, including ESP. Parapsychology has been criticized for continuing investigation despite being unable to provide convincing evidence for the existence of any psychic phenomena after more than a century of research. The scientific community rejects ESP due to the absence of an evidence base, the lack of a theory which would explain ESP and the lack of positive experimental results; it considers ESP to be pseudoscience. The scientific consensus does not view extrasensory perception as a scientific phenomenon. Skeptics have pointed out that there is no viable theory to explain the mechanism behind ESP, and that there are historical cases in which flaws have been discovered in the experimental design of parapsychological studies. There are many criticisms pertaining to experiments involving extrasensory perception, particularly surrounding methodological flaws. These flaws are not unique to a single experimental design, and are effective in discrediting much of the positive research surrounding ESP. Many of the flaws seen in the Zener cards experiment are present in the Ganzfeld experiment as well. First is the stacking effect, an error that occurs in ESP research. Trial-by-trial feedback given in studies using a "closed" ESP target sequence (e.g., a deck


id: extraterrestrial-ufo-hypothesis-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraterrestrial_UFO_hypothesis-0.md
category: reference
title: Extraterrestrial UFO hypothesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraterrestrial_UFO_hypothesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:39.670231+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: extraterrestrial-ufo-hypothesis-20260505-0
summary:
The extraterrestrial UFO hypothesis or extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH), synonymous with interplanetary aircraft and alien UFO technologies, proposes that some unidentified flying objects (UFOs) are best explained as being physical spacecraft occupied by intelligent extraterrestrial organisms (non-human aliens) from other planets, or probes designed by extraterrestrials. The scientific community has shown very little support for the ETH, and has largely accepted the explanation that reports of UFOs are the result of people misinterpreting common objects or phenomena, or are the work of hoaxers. == Usage of the term == The term extraterrestrial hypothesis in printed material was used by Janine and Jacques Vallée in their 1966 book. It was used in a publication by French engineer Aimé Michel in 1967, by James E. McDonald (University of Arizona) in March 1968 and again by McDonald and James Harder (University of Berkeley) in July 1968. Skeptic Philip J. Klass used it in his 1968 book UFOs--Identified. Some UFO historians credit Edward Condon c.1969 with popularizing the term and its abbreviation ETH. == Chronology == === Antecedent pre-UFO extraterrestrialism === The concept of a Universe decentralized from Earth renaissanced from classical origin by Nicolas Copernicus (1543) gave impetus to debate on extraterrestrial life and


id: extraterrestrial-ufo-hypothesis-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraterrestrial_UFO_hypothesis-1.md
category: reference
title: Extraterrestrial UFO hypothesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraterrestrial_UFO_hypothesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:39.670231+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: extraterrestrial-ufo-hypothesis-20260505-0
summary:
==== The 1947 flying saucer wave in America ==== On June 24, 1947, at about 3:00 p.m. local time, pilot Kenneth Arnold reported seeing nine unidentified aircraft flying near Mount Rainier. When no aircraft emerged that seemed to account for what he had seen, Arnold quickly considered the possibility of the objects being extraterrestrial. On July 7, 1947, two stories came out where Arnold was raising the topic of possible extraterrestrial origins, both as his opinion and those who had written to him. In an Associated Press story, Arnold said he had received quantities of fan mail eager to help solve the mystery. Some of them "suggested the discs were visitations from another planet." When the 1947 flying saucer wave hit the United States, there was much speculation in the newspapers about what they might be in news stories, columns, editorials, and letters to the editor. For example, on July 10, U.S. Senator Glen Taylor of Idaho commented, "I almost wish the flying saucers would turn out to be space ships from another planet," because the possibility of hostility "would unify the people of the earth as nothing else could." On July 8, R. DeWitt Miller was quoted by UP


id: extraterrestrial-ufo-hypothesis-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraterrestrial_UFO_hypothesis-2.md
category: reference
title: Extraterrestrial UFO hypothesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraterrestrial_UFO_hypothesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:39.670231+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: extraterrestrial-ufo-hypothesis-20260505-0
summary:
A 1948 Top Secret USAF Europe document (at right) states that Swedish air intelligence informed them that at least some of their investigators into the ghost rockets and flying saucers concluded they possibly had extraterrestrial origins. West Germany, in conjunction with other European countries, conducted a secret study from 1951 to 1954, also concluding that UFOs were extraterrestrial. This study was revealed by German rocketry pioneer Hermann Oberth, who headed the study and who also made many public statements supporting the ETH in succeeding years. At the study's conclusion in 1954, Oberth declared: "These objects (UFOs) are conceived and directed by intelligent beings of a very high order. They do not originate in our solar system, perhaps not in our galaxy." Soon afterwards, in an October 24, 1954, article in The American Weekly, Oberth wrote: "It is my thesis that flying saucers are real and that they are space ships from another solar system. I think that they possibly are manned by intelligent observers who are members of a race that may have been investigating our earth for centuries..." The CIA started their own internal scientific review the following day. Some CIA scientists were also seriously considering the ETH. An


id: extraterrestrial-ufo-hypothesis-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraterrestrial_UFO_hypothesis-3.md
category: reference
title: Extraterrestrial UFO hypothesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraterrestrial_UFO_hypothesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:39.670231+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: extraterrestrial-ufo-hypothesis-20260505-0
summary:
== Critical responses and positions of the ETH == People have had a long-standing curiosity about extraterrestrial life. Aliens are the subject of numerous urban legends, including claims that they have long been present on earth or that they may be able to assist humans in resolving certain issues. There is no scientific proof to back up these assertions, hence we cannot declare with certainty whether or not aliens exist. In spite of ardent believers that various UFO sightings are verifiable evidence for the ET hypothesis, no rigorous analysis has ever concluded as much. === U.S. military investigation and debunkery === On July 9, 1947, Army Air Forces Intelligence began a secret study of the best saucer reports, including that of Arnold's. A follow-up study by the Air Materiel Command intelligence and engineering departments at Wright Field, Ohio led to the formation of the U.S. Air Force's Project Sign at the end of 1947, the first official U.S. military UFO study. In 1948, Project Sign concluded without endorsing any unified explanation for all UFO reports, and the ETH was rejected by USAF Chief of Staff General Hoyt Vandenberg, citing a lack of physical evidence. Vandenberg dismantled Project Sign, and with


id: extraterrestrial-ufo-hypothesis-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraterrestrial_UFO_hypothesis-4.md
category: reference
title: Extraterrestrial UFO hypothesis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraterrestrial_UFO_hypothesis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:39.670231+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: extraterrestrial-ufo-hypothesis-20260505-0
summary:
Despite worldwide radar systems and Earth-orbiting satellites, UFOs are alleged to flit in and out of the atmosphere, leaving little to no evidence. Space aliens are alleged to be overwhelmingly humanoid, and are allegedly able to exist on Earth without much difficulty often lacking "space suits", even though extra-solar planets would likely have different atmospheres, biospheres, gravity and other factors, and extraterrestrial life would likely be very different from Earthly life. The number of reported UFOs and of purported encounters with UFO-inhabitants outstrips the number of expeditions that an alien civilization (or civilizations) could statistically be expected to mount. The behavior of extraterrestrials reported during alleged abductions is often inconsistent and irrational. UFOs are isolated in time and space: like the Cheshire Cat, they seem to appear and disappear at will, leaving only vague, ambiguous and mocking evidence of their presence Reported UFOs are often far too small to support a crew traveling through space, and their reported flight behavior is often not representative of a craft under intelligent control (erratic flight patterns, sudden course changes). The distance between planets makes interstellar travel impractical, particularly because of the amount of energy that would be required for interstellar travel using conventional


id: eye-movement-desensitization-and-reprocessing-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_movement_desensitization_and_reprocessing-0.md
category: reference
title: Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_movement_desensitization_and_reprocessing
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:40.858329+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: eye-movement-desensitization-and-reprocessing-20260505-0
summary:
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a form of psychotherapy designed to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It was devised by Francine Shapiro in 1987. EMDR involves talking about traumatic memories while engaging in side-to-side eye movements or other forms of bilateral stimulation. It is also used for some other psychological conditions. EMDR is recommended for the treatment of PTSD by various government and medical bodies citing varying levels of evidence, including the World Health Organization, the UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, and the US Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense. The American Psychological Association does not endorse EMDR as a first-line treatment, but indicates that it is probably effective for treating adult PTSD. Systematic analyses published since 2013 generally indicate that EMDR treatment efficacy for adults with PTSD is equivalent to trauma-focused cognitive and behavioral therapies (TF-CBT), such as prolonged exposure therapy (PE) and cognitive processing therapy (CPT). However, bilateral stimulation does not substantially contribute to treatment effectiveness, if at all. The predominant therapeutic factors in EMDR and TF-CBT are exposure and various components of cognitive-behavioral therapy. Because eye movements and other bilateral stimulation techniques do not


id: eye-movement-desensitization-and-reprocessing-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_movement_desensitization_and_reprocessing-1.md
category: reference
title: Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_movement_desensitization_and_reprocessing
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:40.858329+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: eye-movement-desensitization-and-reprocessing-20260505-0
summary:
A 2021 systematic review and meta-analysis found EMDR to have a moderate benefit in treating depression, but the number and quality of the studies were low. Positive effects have also been shown for certain anxiety disorders, but the number of studies was low and the risk of bias high. The American Psychological Association describes EMDR as "ineffective" for the treatment of panic disorder. EMDR has been found to cause strong effects on dissociative identity disorder patients, leading to recommendations for adjusted use. A 2023 systematic review of evidence found EMDR's effectiveness in treating mental health conditions of children and adolescents who have been sexually abused is limited. == Professional practice guidelines == The Institute of Medicine's 2008 report on the treatment of PTSD found insufficient evidence to recommend EMDR, and criticized many of the available studies for methodological flaws including allegiance bias and insufficient controls. The Dutch National Steering Committee on Mental Health Care has released multidisciplinary guidelines which describe "insufficient scientific evidence" to support EMDR in the acute period following a stressful event (2008), but recommend EMDR's use in chronic PTSD (2003). The World Health Organization's 2013 report on stress-related conditions found insufficient evidence to support EMDR for acute


id: faith-healing-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_healing-0.md
category: reference
title: Faith healing
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_healing
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:41.997043+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: faith-healing-20260505-0
summary:
Faith healing is the practice of prayer and gestures (such as laying on of hands) that are believed by some to elicit divine intervention in spiritual and physical healing, especially the Christian practice. Believers assert that the healing of disease and disability can be brought about by religious faith through prayer or other rituals that, according to adherents, can stimulate a divine presence and power. Religious belief in divine intervention does not depend on empirical evidence of an evidence-based outcome achieved via faith healing. Virtually all scientists and philosophers dismiss faith healing as pseudoscience. Claims that "a myriad of techniques" such as prayer, divine intervention, or the ministrations of an individual healer can cure illness have been popular throughout history. There have been claims that faith can cure blindness, deafness, cancer, HIV/AIDS, developmental disorders, anemia, arthritis, corns, defective speech, multiple sclerosis, skin rashes, total body paralysis, and various injuries. Recoveries have been attributed to many techniques commonly classified as faith healing. It can involve prayer, a visit to a religious shrine, or simply a strong belief in a supreme being. Many Christians interpret the Christian Bible, especially the New Testament, as teaching belief in, and the practice of, faith healing.


id: faith-healing-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_healing-1.md
category: reference
title: Faith healing
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_healing
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:41.997043+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: faith-healing-20260505-0
summary:
healing by human "natural means [...] through the practice of medicine" which emphasizes that the theological virtue of "charity demands that we not neglect natural means of healing people who are ill" and the cardinal virtue of prudence forewarns not "to employ a technique that has no scientific support (or even plausibility)". healing by divine grace "interceded on behalf of the sick through the invocation of the name of the Lord Jesus, asking for healing through the power of the Holy Spirit, whether in the form of the sacramental laying on of hands and anointing with oil or of simple prayers for healing, which often include an appeal to the saints for their aid". The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that "the Holy Spirit gives to some a special charism of healing" but also that "the most intense prayers do not always obtain the healing of all illnesses" by which it cites Paul the Apostle as a biblical example of someone who found meaning in their own suffering. In 2000, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued "Instruction on prayers for healing," with specific norms regarding prayer meetings for healing, which presents the Catholic Church's doctrines on


id: faith-healing-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_healing-2.md
category: reference
title: Faith healing
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_healing
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:41.997043+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: faith-healing-20260505-0
summary:
In some Pentecostal and Charismatic Evangelical churches, a special place is thus reserved for faith healings with laying on of hands during worship services or for campaigns of evangelization. Faith healing or divine healing is considered to be an inheritance of Jesus acquired by his death and resurrection. Biblical inerrancy ensures that the miracles and healings described in the Bible are still relevant and may be present in the life of the believer. At the beginning of the 20th century, the new Pentecostal movement drew participants from the Holiness movement and other movements in America that already believed in divine healing. By the 1930s, several faith healers drew large crowds and established worldwide followings. The first Pentecostals in the modern sense appeared in Topeka, Kansas, in a Bible school conducted by Charles Fox Parham, a holiness teacher and former Methodist pastor. Pentecostalism achieved worldwide attention in 1906 through the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles led by William Joseph Seymour. Smith Wigglesworth was also a well-known figure in the early 20th century. A former English plumber turned evangelist, Wigglesworth lived simply and read nothing but the Bible from the time his wife taught him to read. He traveled around the


id: faith-healing-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_healing-3.md
category: reference
title: Faith healing
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_healing
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:41.997043+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: faith-healing-20260505-0
summary:
If we are sick, and ask the Lord to heal us, and to do all for us that is necessary to be done, according to my understanding of the Gospel of salvation, I might as well ask the Lord to cause my wheat and corn to grow, without my plowing the ground and casting in the seed. It appears consistent to me to apply every remedy that comes within the range of my knowledge, and to ask my Father in Heaven, in the name of Jesus Christ, to sanctify that application to the healing of my body. But suppose we were traveling in the mountains, ... and one or two were taken sick, without anything in the world in the shape of healing medicine within our reach, what should we do? According to my faith, ask the Lord Almighty to ... heal the sick. This is our privilege, when so situated that we cannot get anything to help ourselves. Then the Lord and his servants can do all. But it is my duty to do, when I have it in my power. We lay hands on the sick and wish them to be healed, and pray the Lord to heal


id: faith-healing-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_healing-4.md
category: reference
title: Faith healing
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_healing
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:41.997043+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: faith-healing-20260505-0
summary:
... available scientific evidence does not support claims that faith healing can actually cure physical ailments... One review published in 1998 looked at 172 cases of deaths among children treated by faith healing instead of conventional methods. These researchers estimated that if conventional treatment had been given, the survival rate for most of these children would have been more than 90 percent, with the remainder of the children also having a good chance of survival. A more recent study found that more than 200 children had died of treatable illnesses in the United States over the past thirty years because their parents relied on spiritual healing rather than conventional medical treatment. The American Medical Association considers that prayer as therapy should not be a medically reimbursable or deductible expense. Belgian philosopher and skeptic Etienne Vermeersch coined the term Lourdes effect as a criticism of the magical thinking and placebo effect possibilities for the claimed miraculous cures as there are no documented events where a severed arm has been reattached through faith healing at Lourdes. Vermeersch identifies ambiguity and equivocal nature of the miraculous cures as a key feature of miraculous events. === Negative impact on public health === Reliance on


id: faith-healing-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_healing-5.md
category: reference
title: Faith healing
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_healing
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:41.997043+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: faith-healing-20260505-0
summary:
=== Fraud === Skeptics of faith healers point to fraudulent practices either in the healings themselves (such as plants in the audience with fake illnesses), or concurrent with the healing work supposedly taking place and claim that faith healing is a quack practice in which the "healers" use well known non-supernatural illusions to exploit credulous people in order to obtain their gratitude, confidence and money. James Randi's The Faith Healers investigates Christian evangelists such as Peter Popoff, who claimed to heal sick people on stage in front of an audience. Popoff pretended to know private details about participants' lives by receiving radio transmissions from his wife who was off-stage and had gathered information from audience members prior to the show. According to this book, many of the leading modern evangelistic healers have engaged in deception and fraud. The book also questioned how faith healers use funds that were sent to them for specific purposes. Physicist Robert L. Park and doctor and consumer advocate Stephen Barrett have called into question the ethics of some exorbitant fees. There have also been legal controversies. For example, in 1955 at a Jack Coe revival service in Miami, Florida, Coe told the parents of a


id: faith-healing-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_healing-6.md
category: reference
title: Faith healing
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_healing
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:41.997043+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: faith-healing-20260505-0
summary:
=== Criminal convictions related to faith healing === In 2008, 15-month-old Ava Worthington of Oregon died of bronchial pneumonia and a bloodstream infection after her parents Raylene and Carl Worthington, members of Followers of Christ Church, allowed a cystic growth to grow on her neck for months while anointing her, giving her diluted wine, praying, and fasting over her. Her father was charged with manslaughter and eventually convicted of criminal mistreatment in 2009. In 2008, 11-year-old Kara Neumann of Wisconsin died of diabetic ketoacidosis stemming from undiagnosed juvenile-onset diabetes after her parents Leilani and Dale Neumann refused to take her to the hospital and prayed over her instead. Both parents, nondenominational Pentecostals, were convicted of second-degree reckless homicide in 2009. In 2009, newborn David Hickman of Oregon died of staph pneumonia after he was born at home to parents Dale and Shannon Hickman. The Hickmans watched the baby turn gray and struggle to breathe and did not seek medical intervention. Members of the Followers of Christ Church, both Hickmans were convicted of second-degree manslaughter in 2017 and were sentenced 6 years and 3 months in prison. In 2012, 16-year-old Austin Sprout Creswell of Oregon died of appendicitis after his parents


id: falun-buddha-society-singapore-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Buddha_Society_(Singapore)-0.md
category: reference
title: Falun Buddha Society (Singapore)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Buddha_Society_(Singapore)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:44.315962+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: falun-buddha-society-singapore-20260505-0
summary:
The Falun Buddha Society (Singapore) (Chinese: 新加坡法輪佛學會) is a religious organization in Singapore. Falun Gong, which originated in mainland China, was introduced to Singapore in 1994, leading to the establishment of the first Falun Buddha Society outside of China. Falun Gong practitioners in Singapore typically engage in activities aimed at informing the public about Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) and its core principles. They are often seen conducting related activities in sports stadiums, Singapore Botanic Gardens, and various public parks, with some local residents also participating. == History == In July 1996, the Falun Buddha Society (Singapore) was officially established as a legally registered association, becoming the first Falun Buddha Society outside of China. As of 2001, Falun Gong had approximately 1,000 members in Singapore. In 2004, the Singapore edition of The Epoch Times, a Falun Gong-affiliated media outlet, was launched. As of 2020, Falun Gong in Singapore had approximately 500 to 1,000 members. As of March 2021, the Falun Buddha Society of Singapore maintained 26 main practice sites. == Controversies == Between 2000 and 2006, Falun Gong practitioners in Singapore were prosecuted six times under various charges. The Singapore government has been accused by associates of Falun


id: falun-gong-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong-0.md
category: reference
title: Falun Gong
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:45.563084+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: falun-gong-20260505-0
summary:
Falun Gong, also called Falun Dafa, is a new religious movement founded by Li Hongzhi in China in the early 1990s. Falun Gong has its global headquarters in Dragon Springs, a 173-hectare (427-acre) compound in Deerpark, New York, United States, near the residence of Li. Falun Gong emerged from the qigong movement in China in 1992, combining meditation, qigong exercises, and moral teachings rooted in Buddhist and Taoist traditions. While initially supported by some government agencies in China, Falun Gong's rapid growth and independence from state control led several top officials in China to perceive it as a threat, resulting in periodic acts of harassment in the late 1990s. On 25 April 1999, over 10,000 Falun Gong practitioners gathered peacefully outside the central government compound in Beijing, seeking official recognition of the right to practice their faith without interference. In July 1999, the government of China implemented a ban on Falun Gong, categorizing it as an "illegal organization". Mass arrests, widespread torture and abuses followed. In 2008, U.S. government reports cited estimates that as much as half of China's labor camp population was made up of Falun Gong practitioners. In 2009, human rights groups estimated that at least 2,000 Falun


id: falun-gong-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong-1.md
category: reference
title: Falun Gong
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:45.563084+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: falun-gong-20260505-0
summary:
According to the Falun Gong, the Falun Gong aspires to enable the practitioner to ascend spiritually through moral rectitude and the practice of a set of exercises and meditation. The three stated tenets of the belief are truthfulness (Chinese: 真; pinyin: Zhēn), compassion (Chinese: 善; pinyin: Shàn), and forbearance (Chinese: 忍; pinyin: Rěn). These principles have been repeated by Falun Gong members to outsiders as a tactic for evading deeper inquiry, and followers have been instructed by Li to lie about the practice. Together these principles are regarded as the fundamental nature of the cosmos, the criteria for differentiating right from wrong, and are held to be the highest manifestations of the Tao. Adherence to and cultivation of these virtues is regarded as a fundamental part of Falun Gong practice. According to Li, humanity was once in harmony with these concepts (which are the fundamental characteristics of the universe) but descended to the ordinary level, in which humanity is a state characterized by unpleasantness, filthiness, and degradation. In Zhuan Falun (轉法輪), the foundational text published in 1995, Li Hongzhi writes, "It doesn't matter how mankind's moral standard changes [...] The nature of the cosmos doesn't change, and it is the


id: falun-gong-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong-2.md
category: reference
title: Falun Gong
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:45.563084+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: falun-gong-20260505-0
summary:
In addition to its moral philosophy, Falun Gong consists of four standing exercises and one sitting meditation. The exercises are regarded as secondary to moral elevation, though are still an essential component of Falun Gong cultivation practice. The first exercises, called "Buddha Stretching a Thousand Arms", are intended to facilitate the free flow of energy through the body and open up the meridians. The second exercise, "Falun Standing Stance", involves holding four static poses—each of which resembles holding a wheel—for an extended period. The objective of this exercise is to "enhances wisdom, increases strength, raises a person's level, and strengthens divine powers". The third, "Penetrating the Cosmic Extremes", involves three sets of movements, which aim to enable the expulsion of bad energy (e.g., pathogenic or black qi) and the absorption of good energy into the body. Through practice of this exercise, the practitioner aspires to cleanse and purify the body. The fourth exercise, "Falun Cosmic Orbit", seeks to circulate energy freely throughout the body. Unlike the first through fourth exercises, the fifth exercise is performed in the seated lotus position. Called "Reinforcing Supernatural Powers", it is a meditation intended to be maintained as long as possible. Falun Gong exercises can


id: falun-gong-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong-3.md
category: reference
title: Falun Gong
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:45.563084+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: falun-gong-20260505-0
summary:
Falun Gong differentiates itself from Buddhist monastic traditions in that it places great importance on participation in the secular world. Falun Gong practitioners are required to maintain regular jobs and family lives, to observe the laws of their respective governments, and are instructed not to distance themselves from society. An exception is made for Buddhist Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunīs, who are permitted to continue a monastic lifestyle while practicing Falun Gong. As part of its emphasis on ethical behavior, Falun Gong's teachings prescribe a strict personal morality for practitioners. They are expected to do good deeds, and conduct themselves with patience and forbearance when encountering difficulties. For instance, Li stipulates that a practitioner of Falun Gong must "not hit back when attacked, not talk back when insulted." In addition, they must "abandon negative thoughts and behaviors", such as greed, deception, jealousy, etc. The teachings contain injunctions against smoking and the consumption of alcohol, as these are considered addictions that are detrimental to health and mental clarity. Practitioners of Falun Gong are forbidden to kill living things—including animals for the purpose of obtaining food—though they are not required to adopt a vegetarian diet. In addition to these things, practitioners of Falun Gong


id: falun-gong-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong-4.md
category: reference
title: Falun Gong
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:45.563084+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: falun-gong-20260505-0
summary:
=== Dharma-ending period === Li situates his teaching of Falun Gong amidst the "Dharma-ending period" (Mo Fa, 末法), described in Buddhist scriptures as an age of moral decline when the teachings of Buddhism would need to be rectified. The current era is described in Falun Gong's teachings as the "Fa rectification" period (zhengfa, which might also be translated as "to correct the dharma"), a time of cosmic transition and renewal. The process of Fa rectification is necessitated by the moral decline and degeneration of life in the universe, and in the post-1999 context, the persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese government has come to be viewed as a tangible symptom of this moral decay. Through the process of the Fa rectification, life will be reordered according to the moral and spiritual quality of each, with good people being saved and ascending to higher spiritual planes, and bad ones being eliminated or cast down. In this paradigm, Li assumes the role of rectifying the Dharma by disseminating through his moral teachings. Some scholars, such as Maria Hsia Chang and Susan Palmer, have described Li's rhetoric about the "Fa rectification" and providing salvation "in the final period of the Last Havoc"


id: falun-gong-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong-5.md
category: reference
title: Falun Gong
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:45.563084+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: falun-gong-20260505-0
summary:
The Epoch Media Group, along with Shen Yun, a dance troupe known for its ubiquitous advertising and unsettling performances, make up the outreach effort of Falun Gong, a relatively new spiritual practice that combines ancient Chinese meditative exercises, mysticism and often ultraconservative cultural worldviews. Falun Gong's founder has referred to Epoch Media Group as "our media", and the group's practice heavily informs The Epoch Times' coverage, according to former employees who spoke with NBC News. The Epoch Times, digital production company NTD and the heavily advertised dance troupe Shen Yun make up the nonprofit network that Li calls "our media". Financial documents paint a complicated picture of more than a dozen technically separate organizations that appear to share missions, money and executives. Though the source of their revenue is unclear, the most recent financial records from each organization paint a picture of an overall business thriving in the Trump era. According to scholar James R. Lewis writing in 2018, Falun Gong adherents have attempted to control English Wikipedia articles covering the group and articles related to it. Lewis highlights Falun Gong's extensive internet presence, and how editors who have to date contributed to English Wikipedia entries associated with Falun Gong


id: falun-gong-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong-6.md
category: reference
title: Falun Gong
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:45.563084+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: falun-gong-20260505-0
summary:
Spiritual authority is vested exclusively in the teachings of Li Hongzhi. Volunteer "assistants" or "contact persons" do not hold authority over other practitioners, regardless of how long they have practiced Falun Gong. Li stipulates that practitioners of Falun Gong cannot collect money or charge fees, conduct healings, or teach or interpret doctrine for others. There is no system of membership within the practice and no rituals of worship. Falun Gong operates through a global, networked, and largely virtual online community. In particular, electronic communications, email lists and a collection of websites are the primary means of coordinating activities and disseminating Li's teachings. Outside Mainland China, the organisation stated that they have followers in more than 100 countries. Li's teachings are principally spread through the Internet. In most mid- to large-sized cities, Falun Gong practitioners organize regular group meditation or study sessions in which they practice Falun Gong exercises and read Li's writings. The exercise and meditation sessions are described as informal groups of practitioners who gather in public parks—usually in the morning—for one to two hours. Group study sessions typically take place in the evenings in private residences or university or high school classrooms, and are described by David Ownby


id: falun-gong-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong-7.md
category: reference
title: Falun Gong
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:45.563084+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: falun-gong-20260505-0
summary:
"The purpose of setting up the dates was obvious", Huang said. Her now-husband, a former Dragon Springs resident, confirmed the account. Huang said she was told by Dragon Springs officials her visa had expired and was told to go back to Taiwan after months of dating a nonpractitioner in the compound. She later learned that her visa had not expired when she was told to leave the country. Acquired by Falun Gong in 2000, the site is closed to visitors and features guarded gates, has been a point of contention for some Deer Park residents concerned. In 2019, Falun Gong requested to expand the site, wishing to add a 920-seat concert hall, a new parking garage, a wastewater treatment plant and a conversion of meditation space into residential space large enough to bring the total residential capacity to 500 people. These plans met with opposition from the Delaware Riverkeeper Network regarding the wastewater treatment facility and the elimination of local wetlands, impacting local waterways such as the Basher Kill and Neversink River. Local residents opposed the expansion because it would increase traffic and reduce the rural character of the area. Falun Gong adherents living in the area have claimed that


id: falun-gong-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong-8.md
category: reference
title: Falun Gong
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:45.563084+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: falun-gong-20260505-0
summary:
=== 1992–1996 === Li Hongzhi introduced Falun Gong to the public on 13 May 1992, in Changchun, Jilin Province. Several months later, in September 1992, Falun Gong was admitted as a branch of qigong under the administration of the state-run China Qigong Scientific Research Society (CQRS). Li was recognized as a qigong master, and was authorized to teach his practice nationwide. Like many qigong masters at the time, Li toured major cities in China from 1992 to 1994 to teach the practice. He was granted a number of awards by PRC governmental organizations. According to academic David Ownby, Li became an "instant star of the qigong movement", and Falun Gong was embraced by the government as an effective means of lowering health care costs, promoting Chinese culture, and improving public morality. In December 1992, for instance, Li and several Falun Gong students participated in the Asian Health Expo in Beijing, where he reportedly "received the most praise [of any qigong school] at the fair, and achieved very good therapeutic results", according to the fair's organizer. The event helped cement Li's popularity, and journalistic reports of Falun Gong's healing powers spread. In 1993, Li received a letter of appreciation from the


id: falun-gong-20260505-9
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong-9.md
category: reference
title: Falun Gong
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:45.563084+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: falun-gong-20260505-0
summary:
=== 1996–1999 === Falun Gong's departure from the state-run CQRS corresponded to a wider shift in the government's attitudes towards qigong practices. As qigong's detractors in government grew more influential, authorities began attempting to rein in the growth and influence of these groups, some of which had amassed tens of millions of followers. In the mid-1990s the state-run media began publishing articles critical of qigong. Falun Gong was initially shielded from the mounting criticism, but following its withdrawal from the CQRS in March 1996, it lost this protection. On 17 June 1996, the Guangming Daily, an influential state-run newspaper, published a polemic against Falun Gong in which its central text, Zhuan Falun, was described as an example of "feudal superstition". The author wrote that the history of humanity is a "struggle between science and superstition", and called on Chinese publishers not to print "pseudo-scientific books of the swindlers". The article was followed by at least twenty more in newspapers nationwide. Soon after, on 24 July, the CCP's Central Propaganda Department banned all publication of Falun Gong books (though the ban was not consistently enforced). The state-administered Buddhist Association of China also began issuing criticisms of Falun Gong, urging lay Buddhists


id: falun-gong-20260505-10
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong-10.md
category: reference
title: Falun Gong
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:45.563084+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: falun-gong-20260505-0
summary:
=== Tianjin and Zhongnanhai protests === By the late 1990s, the Chinese government's relationship to the growing Falun Gong movement had become increasingly tense. Reports of discrimination and surveillance by the Public Security Bureau were escalating, and Falun Gong practitioners were routinely organizing sit-in demonstrations responding to media articles they deemed to be unfair. The conflicting investigations launched by the Ministry of the Public Security on one side and the State Sports Commission and Qiao Shi on the other spoke of the disagreements among China's elites on how to regard the growing practice. In April 1999, an article critical of Falun Gong was published in Tianjin Normal University's Youth Reader magazine. The article was authored by physicist He Zuoxiu who, as Porter and Gutmann indicate, is a relative of Politburo member and public security secretary Luo Gan. The article cast qigong, and Falun Gong in particular, as superstitious and harmful for youth. Falun Gong practitioners responded by picketing the offices of the newspaper requesting a retraction of the article. Unlike past instances in which Falun Gong protests were successful, on 22 April the Tianjin demonstration was broken up by the arrival of three hundred riot police. Some of the practitioners


id: falun-gong-20260505-11
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong-11.md
category: reference
title: Falun Gong
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:45.563084+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: falun-gong-20260505-0
summary:
On 20 July 1999, security forces abducted and detained thousands of Falun Gong practitioners who they identified as leaders. Two days later, on 22 July, the PRC Ministry of Civil Affairs outlawed the Falun Dafa Research Society as an illegal organization that was "engaged in illegal activities, advocating superstition and spreading fallacies, hoodwinking people, inciting and creating disturbances, and jeopardizing social stability". The same day, the Ministry of Public Security issued a circular forbidding citizens from practicing Falun Gong in groups, possessing Falun Gong's teachings, displaying Falun Gong banners or symbols, or protesting against the ban. The aim of the ensuing campaign was to "eradicate" the group through a combination of means which included the publication and distribution of propaganda which denounced it and the imprisonment and coercive thought reform of its practitioners, sometimes resulting in deaths. In October 1999, four months after the imposition of the ban, legislation was passed in order to outlaw "heterodox religions" and sentence Falun Gong devotees to prison terms. Hundreds of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners are estimated to have been extrajudicially imprisoned, and practitioners who are currently in detention are reportedly subjected to forced labor, psychiatric abuse, torture, and other coercive methods of


id: falun-gong-20260505-12
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong-12.md
category: reference
title: Falun Gong
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:45.563084+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: falun-gong-20260505-0
summary:
Xinhua News Agency, the official news organization of the Chinese government, declared that Falun Gong is "opposed to the Communist Party of China and the central government, preaches idealism, theism and feudal superstition". Xinhua also asserted that "the so-called 'truth, kindness and forbearance' principle preached by [Falun Gong] has nothing in common with the socialist ethical and cultural progress we are striving to achieve", and it also argued that it was necessary to crush Falun Gong in order to preserve the "vanguard role and purity" of the Chinese Communist Party. Other articles which appeared in the state-run media in the first days and weeks after the ban was imposed posited that Falun Gong must be defeated because its "theistic" philosophy was at odds with the Marxist–Leninist paradigm and the secular values of materialism. Willy Wo-Lap Lam writes that Jiang Zemin's campaign against Falun Gong may have been used to promote allegiance to himself; Lam quotes one party veteran as saying "by unleashing a Mao-style movement [against Falun Gong], Jiang is forcing senior cadres to pledge allegiance to his line". The Washington Post reported that sources indicated not all of the Politburo Standing Committee shared Jiang's view that Falun Gong should


id: falun-gong-20260505-13
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong-13.md
category: reference
title: Falun Gong
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:45.563084+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: falun-gong-20260505-0
summary:
=== Conversion programs === According to James Tong, the regime aimed at both coercive dissolution of the Falun Gong denomination and "transformation" of the practitioners. By 2000, the CCP escalated its campaign by sentencing practitioners who returned to Falun Dafa activities after previous detention to "re-education through labor" in an effort to have them renounce their beliefs and "transform" their thoughts. Terms were also arbitrarily extended by police, while some practitioners had ambiguous charges levied against them, such as "disrupting social order", "endangering national security", or "subverting the socialist system". According to Bejesky, the majority of long-term Falun Gong detainees are processed administratively through this system instead of the criminal justice system. Upon completion of their re-education sentences, those practitioners who refused to recant were then incarcerated in "legal education centers" set up by provincial authorities to "transform minds". Much of the conversion program relied on Mao-style techniques of indoctrination and thought reform, where Falun Gong practitioners were organized to view anti-Falun Gong television programs and enroll in Marxism and materialism study sessions. Traditional Marxism and materialism were the core content of the sessions. According to Yanfei Sun of China’s state-run Zhejiang University, conversion programs also included study of Buddhist


id: falun-gong-20260505-14
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong-14.md
category: reference
title: Falun Gong
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:45.563084+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: falun-gong-20260505-0
summary:
In May 2008 two United Nations Special Rapporteurs reiterated requests for the Chinese authorities to respond to the allegations, and to explain a source for the organs that would account for the sudden increase in organ transplants in China since 2000. Chinese officials have responded by denying the organ harvesting allegations, and insisting that China abides by World Health Organization principles that prohibit the sale of human organs without written consent from donors. Responding to a U.S. House of Representatives Resolution calling for an end to abusing transplant practices against religious and ethnic minorities, a Chinese embassy spokesperson said "the so-called organ harvesting from death-row prisoners is totally a lie fabricated by Falun Gong." In August 2009, Manfred Nowak, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, said, "The Chinese government has yet to come clean and be transparent ... It remains to be seen how it could be possible that organ transplant surgeries in Chinese hospitals have risen massively since 1999, while there are never that many voluntary donors available." In 2014, investigative journalist Ethan Gutmann published the result of his own investigation. Gutmann conducted extensive interviews with former detainees in Chinese labor camps and prisons, as well as former


id: falun-gong-20260505-15
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong-15.md
category: reference
title: Falun Gong
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:45.563084+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: falun-gong-20260505-0
summary:
=== Media campaign === The Chinese government's campaign against Falun Gong was driven by large-scale propaganda through television, newspapers, radio and internet. The propaganda campaign focused on allegations that Falun Gong jeopardized social stability, was deceiving and dangerous, was anti-science and threatened progress, and argued that Falun Gong's moral philosophy was incompatible with a Marxist social ethic. China scholars Daniel Wright and Joseph Fewsmith stated that for several months after Falun Gong was outlawed, China Central Television's evening news contained little but anti-Falun Gong rhetoric, and that the government operation was "a study in all-out demonization". Falun Gong was compared to "a rat crossing the street that everyone shouts out to squash" by Beijing Daily; other officials said it would be a "long-term, complex and serious" struggle to "eradicate" Falun Gong. State propaganda initially used the appeal of scientific rationalism to argue that Falun Gong's worldview was in "complete opposition to science" and communism. For example, the People's Daily asserted on 27 July 1999, that the fight against Falun Gong "was a struggle between theism and atheism, superstition and science, idealism and materialism". Other editorials declared that Falun Gong's "idealism and theism" are "absolutely contradictory to the fundamental theories and


id: falun-gong-20260505-16
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong-16.md
category: reference
title: Falun Gong
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:45.563084+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: falun-gong-20260505-0
summary:
==== In the education system ==== Anti-Falun Gong propaganda efforts have also permeated the Chinese education system. Following Jiang's 1999 ban of Falun Gong, then-Minister of Education Chen Zhili launched an active campaign to promote the CCP's line on Falun Gong within all levels of academic institutions, including graduate schools, universities and colleges, middle schools, primary schools, and kindergartens. Her efforts included a "Cultural Revolution-like pledge" in Chinese schools that required faculty members, staff, and students to publicly denounce Falun Gong. Teachers who did not comply with Chen's program were dismissed or detained; uncooperative students were refused academic advancement, expelled from school, or sent to "transformation" camps to alter their thinking. Chen also worked to spread the anti-Falun Gong academic propaganda movement overseas, using domestic educational funding to donate aid to foreign institutions, encouraging them to oppose Falun Gong. === Falun Gong's response to the persecution === Falun Gong's response to the persecution in China began in July 1999 with appeals to local, provincial, and central petitioning offices in Beijing. It soon progressed to larger demonstrations, with hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners traveling daily to Tiananmen Square to perform Falun Gong exercises or raise banners in defense of the practice.


id: falun-gong-20260505-17
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong-17.md
category: reference
title: Falun Gong
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:45.563084+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: falun-gong-20260505-0
summary:
== Falun Gong outside China == Li Hongzhi began teaching Falun Gong internationally in March 1995. His first stop was in Paris where, at the invitation of the Chinese ambassador, he held a lecture seminar at the PRC embassy. This was followed by lectures in Sweden in May 1995. Between 1995 and 1999, Li gave lectures in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Switzerland, and Singapore. Falun Gong's growth outside China largely corresponded to the migration of students from mainland China to the West in the early-to-mid-1990s. Falun Gong associations and clubs began appearing in Europe, North America and Australia, with activities centered mainly on university campuses. Translations of Falun Gong teachings began appearing in the late 1990s. As the practice began proliferating outside China, Li was beginning to receive recognition in the United States and elsewhere in the western world. In May 1999, Li was welcomed to Toronto with greetings from the city's mayor and the provincial lieutenant governor, and in the two months that followed also received recognition from the cities of Chicago and San Jose. Although the practice was beginning to attract an overseas constituency in the 1990s, it remained relatively unknown outside China until


id: falun-gong-20260505-18
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong-18.md
category: reference
title: Falun Gong
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:45.563084+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: falun-gong-20260505-0
summary:
== International reception == Since 1999, numerous Western governments and human rights organizations have expressed condemnation of the Chinese government's suppression of Falun Gong. Since 1999, members of the United States Congress have made public pronouncements and introduced several resolutions in support of Falun Gong. In 2010, U.S. House of Representatives Resolution 605 called for "an immediate end to the campaign to persecute, intimidate, imprison, and torture Falun Gong practitioners", condemned the Chinese authorities' efforts to distribute "false propaganda" about the practice worldwide, and expressed sympathy to persecuted Falun Gong practitioners and their families. Adam Frank writes that in reporting on the Falun Gong, the Western tradition of casting the Chinese as "exotic" took dominance, and that while the facts were generally correct in Western media coverage, "the normalcy that millions of Chinese practitioners associated with the practice had all but disappeared." David Ownby wrote that alongside these tactics, the "cult" label applied to Falun Gong by the Chinese authorities never entirely went away in the minds of some Westerners, and the stigma still plays a role in wary public perceptions of Falun Gong. To counter the support of Falun Gong in the West, the Chinese government expanded their efforts


id: falun-gong-outside-mainland-china-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong_outside_mainland_China-0.md
category: reference
title: Falun Gong outside mainland China
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong_outside_mainland_China
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:46.820716+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: falun-gong-outside-mainland-china-20260505-0
summary:
Falun Gong, a new religious movement that combines meditation with the moral philosophy articulated by founder Li Hongzhi, first began spreading widely in China in 1992. Li's first lectures outside mainland China took place in Paris in 1995. At the invitation of the Chinese ambassador to France, he lectured on his teachings and practice methods to the embassy staff and others. From that time on, Li gave lectures in other major cities in Europe, Asia, Oceania, and North America. He has resided permanently in the United States since 1998. Falun Gong is now practiced in some 70 countries worldwide, and the teachings have been translated to over 40 languages. The international Falun Gong community is estimated to number in the hundreds of thousands, though participation estimates are imprecise on account of a lack of formal membership. Led by Li Hongzhi, who is viewed by adherents as a deity-like figure, Falun Gong practitioners operate a variety of organizations in the United States and elsewhere, including the dance troupe Shen Yun. They are known for their opposition to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), espousing anti-evolutionary views, opposition to homosexuality and feminism, and rejection of modern medicine, among other views described as "ultra-conservative".


id: falun-gong-outside-mainland-china-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong_outside_mainland_China-1.md
category: reference
title: Falun Gong outside mainland China
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong_outside_mainland_China
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:46.820716+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: falun-gong-outside-mainland-china-20260505-0
summary:
Falun Gong embraces a minimal organizational structure, and does not have a rigid hierarchy, physical places of worship, fees, or formal membership. As a matter of doctrinal significance, Falun Gong is intended to be "formless," having little to no material or formal organization. Practitioners of Falun Gong are forbidden to solicit donations or charge fees for the practice, and are similarly forbidden to teach or interpret the teachings for others. In the absence of membership or initiation rituals, a Falun Gong practitioner can be anyone who chooses to identify themselves as such. Students participate in the practice and follow its teachings as much or as little as they like, and practitioners do not instruct others on what to believe or how to behave. Falun Gong can be said to be highly centralized in the sense that neither spiritual nor practical authority is dispersed. Li Hongzhi's spiritual authority within the practice is absolute, yet the organization of Falun Gong works against totalistic control. Li does not intervene in the personal lives of practitioners, who have little to no contact with Li, except through the study of his teachings. Volunteer "assistants" or "contact persons" coordinate local activities, but they do not hold


id: falun-gong-outside-mainland-china-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong_outside_mainland_China-2.md
category: reference
title: Falun Gong outside mainland China
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong_outside_mainland_China
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:46.820716+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: falun-gong-outside-mainland-china-20260505-0
summary:
== Demographics == Ownby confirms estimates that Falun Gong is practiced by hundreds of thousands of people outside China, with the largest communities found in Taiwan and in North American cities with large Chinese populations, such as New York City, San Francisco, Vancouver, and Toronto. Demographic surveys by sociologist Susan Palmer and David Ownby in North American communities found that 90% of practitioners were ethnic Chinese (in Europe, there are proportionally more Caucasians). The average age was approximately 42. Among survey respondents, 56% were female and 44% male; 80% were married. The surveys found the respondents to be highly educated: 9% held PhDs, 34% had master's degrees, and 24% had a bachelor's degree. Most of the Falun Gong practitioners in North America were among the Chinese students who emigrated in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. In Craig Burgdoff's ethnographic research of Ohio practitioners, he found that 85–90% were Chinese graduate students or their family members. Similar results for North American practitioners were borne out by Scott Lowe, a professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. In a 2003 Internet survey, Lowe found that the Chinese respondents living in Western nations were "uniformly well educated,


id: falun-gong-outside-mainland-china-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong_outside_mainland_China-3.md
category: reference
title: Falun Gong outside mainland China
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong_outside_mainland_China
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:46.820716+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: falun-gong-outside-mainland-china-20260505-0
summary:
=== Legal initiatives === Lawyers acting on behalf of Falun Gong practitioners have filed dozens of largely symbolic lawsuits around the world against CCP General Secretary Jiang Zemin, CCP Political and Legal Affairs chief Luo Gan, and other Chinese officials alleging genocide and crimes against humanity. According to International Advocates for Justice, Falun Gong has filed the largest number of human rights lawsuits in the 21st century and the charges are among the most severe international crimes defined by international criminal laws. As of 2006, 54 civil and criminal lawsuits were under way in 33 countries. In some instances, courts have refused to adjudicate Falun Gong cases against Chinese officials on the grounds of sovereign immunity. In November 2009, however, Jiang Zemin and Luo Gan were indicted by a Spanish court on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity for their involvement in the persecution of Falun Gong. One month later, an Argentine judge concluded that Jiang and Luo had adopted a "genocidal strategy" in pursuing the eradication of Falun Gong, and asked Interpol to seek their arrest. In May 2011, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of Falun Gong practitioners against technology giant Cisco. The suit alleges, based mainly


id: falun-gong-outside-mainland-china-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong_outside_mainland_China-4.md
category: reference
title: Falun Gong outside mainland China
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong_outside_mainland_China
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:46.820716+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: falun-gong-outside-mainland-china-20260505-0
summary:
=== Parades === In contrast to marches, which focus on bringing attention to the persecution in China, celebratory Falun Gong parades usually incorporate traditional-style Chinese dances, costumes, song, exercise demonstrations, drumming, floats, and banners. Practitioners regularly hold parades or public exhibitions of Chinese cultural performances to coincide with May 13, the anniversary of the practice's first public teaching in China. Practitioners also utilize various parade venues around the world to publicize their group and its message. === Arts and culture === A number of Falun Gong practitioners and organizations outside China are engaged in the promotion of classical visual and performing arts. Practitioners frame Falun Gong as being part of the wider cultural tradition that gave rise to Chinese arts, which they describe as having been persecuted and attacked under CCP rule. Falun Gong devotees trained in the visual arts have held exhibitions of their works as a means of representing their beliefs and practice, and raising awareness of the persecution in China. These include Zhang Cuiying, an Australian painter who was imprisoned in China for practicing Falun Gong, and Zhang Kunlun, a Canadian citizen and former professor who was also imprisoned in China. Zhang Kunlun is part of a


id: falun-gong-outside-mainland-china-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong_outside_mainland_China-5.md
category: reference
title: Falun Gong outside mainland China
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong_outside_mainland_China
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:46.820716+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: falun-gong-outside-mainland-china-20260505-0
summary:
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s campaign against Falun Gong has extended to diaspora communities, including through the use of media, espionage and monitoring of Falun Gong practitioners, harassment and violence against practitioners, diplomatic pressure applied to foreign governments, and hacking of overseas websites. According to a defector from the Chinese consulate in Sydney, Australia, "The war against Falun Gong is one of the main tasks of the Chinese mission overseas." In 2004 the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution condemning the attacks on Falun Gong practitioners in the United States by agents of the CCP. The resolution reported that party affiliates have "pressured local elected officials in the United States to refuse or withdraw support for the Falun Gong spiritual group," that Falun Gong spokespeople have had their houses have been broken into, and individuals engaged in peaceful protest actions outside embassies have been physically assaulted. The overseas campaign against Falun Gong is described in documents issued by China's Overseas Chinese Affairs Office (OCAO). In a report from a 2007 meeting of OCAO directors at the national, provincial, and municipal level, the office stated that it "coordinates the launching of anti-'Falun Gong' struggles overseas." OCAO exhorts overseas Chinese


id: falun-gong-outside-mainland-china-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong_outside_mainland_China-6.md
category: reference
title: Falun Gong outside mainland China
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong_outside_mainland_China
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:46.820716+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: falun-gong-outside-mainland-china-20260505-0
summary:
=== Blacklisting === Chinese authorities reportedly maintain lists of high-profile overseas Falun Gong practitioners, and they use these blacklists to impose travel and visa restrictions on practitioners. Chen Yonglin, the defector from the Chinese consulate in Sydney, said in 2005 that approximately 800 Australian Falun Gong practitioners had been blacklisted (Chen claimed he sought to remove most of these names). In order to prevent potential protests during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, authorities imposed a blacklist on overseas Falun Gong practitioners, preventing them from traveling to China. Chinese authorities tolerated Bibles and other religious items at the Olympics, with the exception of Falun Gong materials. Ahead of the Olympic Games, Chinese public security bodies reportedly requested lists of Japanese Falun Gong practitioners from the government of Japan. The request was denied. In June 2002, when Jiang Zemin visited Iceland, Icelandic authorities complied with requests from the Chinese government to deny entry to Falun Gong practitioners who sought to enter the country to protest. Using a blacklist provided by China, hundreds of Falun Gong practitioners were turned away by the national airline or detained if they managed to make it to the country. The blacklisting ignited protests by Icelandic citizens and members


id: falun-gong-outside-mainland-china-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong_outside_mainland_China-7.md
category: reference
title: Falun Gong outside mainland China
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong_outside_mainland_China
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:46.820716+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: falun-gong-outside-mainland-china-20260505-0
summary:
=== Diplomatic and commercial pressure === Representatives of the party-state, typically acting through China's overseas diplomatic mission, have applied diplomatic and commercial pressure on foreign governments, media organizations, and private enterprises with regards to Falun Gong. In North America, Chinese agents have reportedly visited newspaper offices to "extol the virtues of Communist China and the evils of Falun Gong." There have also been instances where international media organizations have cancelled programing or print articles about Falun Gong in response to requests from the Chinese government. In 2008, for instance, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation succumbed to pressure from the Chinese embassy in Ottawa to pull a documentary on Falun Gong hours before it was set to air. In 2009–2010, the Washington Post commissioned a feature article on Falun Gong. The article was killed "immediately after the Chinese embassy became aware of it," according to the journalist. Chinese diplomats also exhort politicians not to support or recognize Falun Gong, and threaten that expressions of support for Falun Gong will jeopardize trade relations with China. In 2002, the Wall Street Journal reported that hundreds of American municipalities had received letters from Chinese diplomatic missions urging them to shun or persecute Falun Gong, using


id: falun-gong-outside-mainland-china-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong_outside_mainland_China-8.md
category: reference
title: Falun Gong outside mainland China
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falun_Gong_outside_mainland_China
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:46.820716+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: falun-gong-outside-mainland-china-20260505-0
summary:
Western governments and human rights organizations have expressed condemnation of the suppression in China and sympathized with Falun Gong's plight. Since 1999, members of the United States Congress have made public pronouncements and introduced several resolutions in support of Falun Gong. In 2010, House Resolution 605 described Falun Gong as a set of "spiritual, religious, and moral teachings for daily life, meditation, and exercise, based upon the principles of truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance," called for "an immediate end to the campaign to persecute, intimidate, imprison, and torture Falun Gong practitioners," condemned the Chinese authorities' efforts to distribute "false propaganda" about the practice worldwide, and expressed sympathy to persecuted Falun Gong practitioners and their families. United Nations Special Rapporteurs on Torture, Extrajudicial executions, Violence against Women and Freedom of Religion or Belief have issued numerous reports condemning the persecution of Falun Gong in China, and relayed hundreds of cases of concern to Chinese authorities. In 2003, for instance, The Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings wrote that reports from China "describe harrowing scenes in which detainees, many of whom are followers of the Falun Gong movement, die as a result of severe ill-treatment, neglect or medical attention. The cruelty and brutality of


id: family-constellations-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Constellations-0.md
category: reference
title: Family Constellations
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Constellations
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:48.004278+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: family-constellations-20260505-0
summary:
Family Constellations, also known as Systemic Constellations and Systemic Family Constellations, is a pseudoscientific therapeutic method which draws on elements of family systems therapy, existential phenomenology and Zulu beliefs and attitudes to family. Family Constellations diverges significantly from conventional forms of cognitive, behaviour and psychodynamic psychotherapy. The method has been described by physicists as an example of quantum mysticism, and its founder Bert Hellinger incorporated the existing pseudoscientific concept of morphic resonance into his explanation of it. Positive outcomes from the therapy have been attributed to conventional explanations such as suggestion, empathy, and the placebo effect. Practitioners claim that present-day problems and difficulties may be influenced by traumas suffered in previous generations of the family, even if those affected are unaware of the original event. Hellinger referred to the relation between present and past problems that are not caused by direct personal experience as systemic entanglements, said to occur when unresolved trauma has afflicted a family through an event such as murder, suicide, death of a mother in childbirth, early death of a parent or sibling, war, natural disaster, emigration, or abuse. A constellation session is a one-time event, with no follow-up. It may take place in front of a


id: fasciablaster-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FasciaBlaster-0.md
category: reference
title: FasciaBlaster
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FasciaBlaster
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:49.154294+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: fasciablaster-20260505-0
summary:
The FasciaBlaster is a device invented by entrepreneur Ashley Black primarily as a self-massage method to help reduce cellulite. There is no evidence it is effective, and claims made by Black about fascia have been characterized as pseudoscience. The FasciaBlaster is marketed as expected to cause bruising, and some users have reported various injuries in addition to bruising following use. == Overview == The FasciaBlaster is a hand-held bar with plastic claw-like parts intended to be applied to the skin and then used to massage the fascia underneath the skin, to reduce cellulite and stiffness. The device was invented by entrepreneur Ashley Black. As of 2017, Black was not a licensed physical therapist. She initially marketed the tool as the Lumpbuster in 2012 for her work as a health and wellness trainer. Black has marketed bruises caused by the FasciaBlaster as an indication of treatment effectiveness, and has described the bruising injuries from the device as similar to the pseudoscientific practice known as cupping. A physiotherapist speaking with the Evening Standard in 2018 about the FasciaBlaster stated "anything that causes pain should only be used under the guidance of a doctor, physiotherapist or other trained medical professional." The FasciaBlaster was


id: female-hysteria-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_hysteria-0.md
category: reference
title: Female hysteria
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_hysteria
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:50.306581+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: female-hysteria-20260505-0
summary:
Female hysteria was once a common medical diagnosis for women. It was described as exhibiting a wide array of symptoms, including anxiety, shortness of breath, fainting, nervousness, exaggerated and impulsive sexual desire, insomnia, fluid retention, heaviness in the abdomen, irritability, loss of appetite for food or sex, sexually impulsive behavior, and a "tendency to cause trouble for others". It is no longer recognized by medical authorities as a medical disorder. Its diagnosis and treatment were routine for hundreds of years in Western Europe. In extreme cases, the woman may have been forced to enter an insane asylum or to undergo surgical hysterectomy. In Western medicine, hysteria was considered both common and chronic among women. Though it was categorized as a disease at the time, modern day analyses suggest that hysteria's symptoms can be explained by the normal fluctuations of women's sexuality. == Early history == The history of hysteria diagnoses can be traced to ancient times. Dating back to 1900 BC in ancient Egypt, the first descriptions of hysteria within the female body were found recorded on the Kahun Papyri. In this culture, the womb was thought capable of affecting much of the rest of the body, but "there is


id: female-hysteria-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_hysteria-1.md
category: reference
title: Female hysteria
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_hysteria
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:50.306581+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: female-hysteria-20260505-0
summary:
Because of retention of the sexual fluid, the heart and surrounding areas are enveloped in a morbid and moist exudation: this is especially true of the more lascivious females, inclined to venery, passionate women who are most eager to experience physical pleasure; if she is of this type she cannot ever be relieved by any aid except that of her parents who are advised to find her a husband. Having done so the man's strong and vigorous intercourse alleviated the frenzy. There was continued debate about whether it was morally acceptable for a physician to remove excess female seed through genital manipulation of the female patient; Pieter van Foreest (Forestus) and Giovanni Matteo da Grado (Gradus) insisted on using midwives as intermediaries, and regarded the treatment as the last resort. == 18th century == In the 18th century, hysteria slowly became associated with mechanisms in the brain rather than the uterus. This is also when it was noted both men and women could contract hysteria. French physician Philippe Pinel freed hysteria patients detained in Paris' Salpêtrière sanatorium on the basis that kindness and sensitivity were needed to formulate good care. Another French physician, Francois de Sauvages de La Croix believed


id: female-hysteria-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_hysteria-2.md
category: reference
title: Female hysteria
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_hysteria
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:50.306581+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: female-hysteria-20260505-0
summary:
== 20th century == In the 1910s, psychiatrist L. E. Emerson was heavily involved in treating patients of hysteria at the Boston Psychopathic Hospital. Emerson published case studies on his patients, who were often "young, single, native-born, and white" and either had been raped or had a lack of healthy sexual relationships. One of his more famous works was a case study of a woman called "Miss A". In the study, Emerson summarized the patient's experience with sexual violence, which he said that most women with hysteria had encountered. Miss A practiced self-harm, which Emerson deduced to be a release for the sexual assault she had previously experienced and a substitute for masturbation. Another case study was of Sally Hollis, a woman who often viewed her experience with sexual assault in terms of her own failures and female aggression. Believing the roots of hysteria lay in sexual conflict, Emerson noted the theme of lack of sexual knowledge amongst these women, viewing them as repressed. Their sexual ignorance ranged from lack of knowledge about menstruation to conception to the process of giving birth. Some women purposefully sought out the "hysteric" diagnosis because they believed it could provide an answer to what


id: female-hysteria-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_hysteria-3.md
category: reference
title: Female hysteria
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_hysteria
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:50.306581+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: female-hysteria-20260505-0
summary:
The 1995 film Safe explores the harmful effects of sexism in healthcare on the psychological and physical health of women and girls. It explores the connections between mental illness, the misdiagnosis of mental illness when physical conditions proved difficult to diagnose, feminism, and healthcare disparities that result from deep-rooted sexism in the medical industry. == See also == == References == == Further reading == Augsburg, Tanya (1996). Private Theatres Onstage (Hysteria and the Female Medical Subject). UMI. Bronfen, Elisabeth (2014). The Knotted Subject: Hysteria and Its Discontents. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-1-4008-6473-7. Greenhalgh, Ally (6 December 2022). "Medicine and Misogyny: The Misdiagnosis of Women". Confluence. Hedva, Johanna (2020). "Sick Woman Theory" (PDF). Herman, Judith Lewis (1992). Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence—from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-08730-3. Jackson, Zakiyyah Iman (2020). Becoming Human. doi:10.18574/nyu/9781479890040.001.0001. ISBN 978-1-4798-3455-6. S2CID 261359346. Kapsalis, Terri (2008). The Hysterical Alphabet. WhiteWalls. ISBN 978-0-945323-16-7. Katz, James D.; Seaman, Rachel; Diamond, Shari (May 2008). "Exposing Gender Bias in Medical Taxonomy: Toward Embracing a Gender Difference Without Disenfranchising Women". Women's Health Issues. 18 (3): 151–154. doi:10.1016/j.whi.2008.03.002. PMID 18457752. Libbrecht, Katrien (1995). Hysterical Psychosis: A Historical Survey. London: Transaction Publishers. ISBN 1-56000-181-X. Micale, Mark


id: feng-shui-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_shui-0.md
category: reference
title: Feng shui
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_shui
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:51.449274+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: feng-shui-20260505-0
summary:
Feng shui ( or ) is a traditional form of geomancy that originated in ancient China. The term feng shui means, literally, "wind-water" (i.e., fluid). From ancient times, landscapes and bodies of water were thought to direct the flow of the universal qi – "cosmic current" or energy – through places and structures. More broadly, feng shui includes astronomical, astrological, architectural, cosmological, geographical, and topographical dimensions. Historically, and in many parts of the contemporary Chinese world, feng shui has been used to determine the orientation of buildings, dwellings, and spiritually significant structures such as tombs. Feng shui's global uptake during the modern era has been complex. Its host of modern detractors has been very diverse, ranging from 16th-century Jesuit missionaries to the Chinese communist revolutionaries of the 20th century. Regarding its adoption within contemporary Western societies, one scholar writes that "feng shui tends to be reduced to interior design for health and wealth. It has become increasingly visible through 'feng shui consultants' and corporate architects who charge large sums of money for their analysis, advice and design." In Western philosophy of science, feng shui is generally regarded as non-scientific, while some scientific skeptics have more narrowly classified it as a


id: feng-shui-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_shui-1.md
category: reference
title: Feng shui
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_shui
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:51.449274+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: feng-shui-20260505-0
summary:
From at least the Han dynasty, feng shui was formally integrated into Chinese imperial governance, with court officials conducting geomantic assessments for the siting of palaces, capital cities, and imperial tombs. The practice reached its institutional peak during the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1912) dynasties, when the Qintianjian (欽天監, Imperial Astronomical Bureau) employed specialists in feng shui alongside astronomers and calendar-makers. Major imperial projects including the Forbidden City and the Ming tombs were designed in accordance with feng shui principles, with the Forbidden City's north–south axial alignment and the placement of the artificial hill of Jingshan to its north reflecting classical geomantic conventions. The imperial court's control over geomantic knowledge served both practical and political functions, as the proper siting of state structures was understood as a demonstration of the ruling dynasty's claim to the Mandate of Heaven. === Later history === After the Song dynasty, divination began to decline as a political institution and instead became an increasingly private affair. Many feng shui experts and diviners sold their services to the public market, allowing feng shui to quickly grow in popularity. During the Late Qing dynasty, feng shui became immensely popular. Widespread destitution and increasing government despotism led to


id: feng-shui-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_shui-2.md
category: reference
title: Feng shui
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_shui
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:51.449274+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: feng-shui-20260505-0
summary:
East: The Azure Dragon (Spring equinox)—Niao (Bird 鳥), α Scorpionis South: The Vermilion Bird (Summer solstice)—Huo (Fire 火), α Hydrae West: The White Tiger (Autumn equinox)—Mǎo (Hair 毛), η Tauri (the Pleiades) North: The Black Tortoise (Winter solstice)—Xū (Emptiness, Void 虛), α Aquarii, β Aquarii The diagrams are also linked with the sifang (four directions) method of divination used during the Shang dynasty. The sifang is much older, however. It was used at Niuheliang, and figured large in Hongshan culture's astronomy. And it is this area of China that is linked to Yellow Emperor (Huangdi) who allegedly invented the south-pointing spoon (see compass). == Traditional feng shui == Traditional feng shui is an ancient system based upon the observation of heavenly time and earthly space. Literature, as well as archaeological evidence, provide some idea of the origins and nature of feng shui techniques. Aside from books, there is also a strong oral history. In many cases, masters have passed on their techniques only to selected students or relatives. Modern practitioners of feng shui draw from several branches in their own practices. === Form branch === The Form Branch is the oldest branch of feng shui. Qing Wuzi in the Han


id: feng-shui-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_shui-3.md
category: reference
title: Feng shui
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_shui
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:51.449274+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: feng-shui-20260505-0
summary:
=== Conflict resolution === A core aspect of feng shui has been its understanding of polarity. As opposed to western dualism, in which concepts are completely oppositional and irreconcilable, Chinese polarity sees opposing concepts as constantly changing and inseparable. The result is an emphasis on continual compromise and balance in order to maintain harmony. Feng shui has been observed to play an important role in the mediation of rural conflict. Through its amoral explanation of differential fortunes, feng shui provides a universal set of cosmic rules communities seek to abide by. This can promote community unity while also creating numerous points of polarization. Through the hiring of feng shui experts, disputes between villagers can be peaceably resolved without losing face. In addition, these impersonal cosmic rules help regulate local jealousies over wealth and prestige. === Community mobilization and political protest === As early as the Tang dynasty, the Chinese state recognized the disruptive power popular expressions of feng shui had over government authority. At the community level, feng shui could play an important role in community mobilization and political protest. By elevating a cosmological explanations of events, feng shui allowed for the expression of otherwise impermissible political opinions. During the


id: feng-shui-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_shui-4.md
category: reference
title: Feng shui
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_shui
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:51.449274+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: feng-shui-20260505-0
summary:
After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, feng shui was officially considered a "feudalistic superstitious practice" and a "social evil" according to the state's ideology and was discouraged and even banned outright at times. Feng shui remained popular in Hong Kong, and also in the Republic of China (Taiwan), where traditional culture was not suppressed. During the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) feng shui was classified as one of the so-called Four Olds that were to be wiped out. Feng shui practitioners were beaten and abused by Red Guards and their works burned. After the death of Mao Zedong and the end of the Cultural Revolution, the official attitude became more tolerant but restrictions on feng shui practice are still in place in today's China. It is illegal in the PRC today to register feng shui consultation as a business and similarly advertising feng shui practice is banned. There have been frequent crackdowns on feng shui practitioners on the grounds of "promoting feudalistic superstitions" such as one in Qingdao in early 2006 when the city's business and industrial administration office shut down an art gallery converted into a feng shui practice. Some officials who had consulted feng shui


id: feng-shui-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_shui-5.md
category: reference
title: Feng shui
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_shui
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:51.449274+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: feng-shui-20260505-0
summary:
...feng shui has become an aspect of interior decorating in the Western world and alleged masters of feng shui now hire themselves out for hefty sums to tell people such as Donald Trump which way his doors and other things should hang. Feng shui has also become another New Age "energy" scam with arrays of metaphysical products...offered for sale to help you improve your health, maximize your potential, and guarantee fulfillment of some fortune cookie philosophy. Skeptics charge that evidence for its effectiveness is based primarily upon anecdote and users are often offered conflicting advice from different practitioners, though feng shui practitioners use these differences as evidence of variations in practice or different branches of thought. A critical analyst concluded that "Feng shui has always been based upon mere guesswork." Another objection was to the compass, a traditional tool for choosing favorable locations for property or burials. Critics point out that the compass degrees are often inaccurate because solar winds disturb the electromagnetic field of the Earth. Magnetic North on the compass will be inaccurate because true magnetic north fluctuates. The psychologist Stuart Vyse has called feng shui "a very popular superstition." The American magicians Penn and Teller dedicated an


id: fight-the-new-drug-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fight_the_New_Drug-0.md
category: reference
title: Fight the New Drug
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fight_the_New_Drug
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:52.670615+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: fight-the-new-drug-20260505-0
summary:
Fight the New Drug (FTND) is an American nonprofit (describing itself as secular), and non-legislative anti-pornography organization that is based in Utah. The group has roots dating back to 2006, being incorporated in 2008 and receiving nonprofit status in March 2009. FTND describes pornography as analogous to a drug and argues that it is a public health crisis. It describes itself as asking people to "consider before consuming", rather than advocating anti-pornography legislation. == Activities == The group works with people aged 18 to 24 through presentations and video campaigns, and through student outreach activities in public school districts within Utah. In a 2015 campaign, FTND posted 100 billboards in the San Francisco Bay Area stating "Porn Kills Love". In March 2018, the Kansas City Royals held a FTND anti-pornography seminar for players during their spring training, and in November of that year, FTND released a three-part documentary film entitled Brain, Heart, World. In addition, the group promotes its campaign via a social media presence, branded merchandise, such as T-shirts, and marketing kits. == Support == A number of public figures have endorsed the group: these include Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff; sports personalities Terry Crews and Lamar Odom; actress


id: first-earth-battalion-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Earth_Battalion-0.md
category: reference
title: First Earth Battalion
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Earth_Battalion
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:53.872808+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: first-earth-battalion-20260505-0
summary:
The First Earth Battalion was the name proposed by Lieutenant Colonel Jim Channon, a U.S. soldier who had served in Vietnam, for his idea of a new military of supersoldiers to be organized along New Age lines. A book of the same name was published in 1982. == The Men Who Stare at Goats == According to the book The Men Who Stare at Goats by journalist Jon Ronson, Channon spent time in the 1970s with many of the people in California credited with starting the Human Potential Movement, and subsequently wrote an operations manual for a First Earth Battalion. The manual was a 125-page mixture of drawings, graphs, maps, polemical essays, and point-by-point redesigns of every aspect of military life. Channon imagined a new battlefield uniform that would include pouches for ginseng regulators, divining tools, foodstuffs to enhance night vision, and a loudspeaker that would automatically emit "indigenous music and words of peace." A movie based on the book—released in Autumn 2009—starring George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey, fictionalized the First Earth Battalion as the New Earth Army. == Beliefs == Channon believed the Army could be the principal moral and ethical basis on which politics


id: five-second-rule-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-second_rule-0.md
category: reference
title: Five-second rule
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-second_rule
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:54.977721+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: five-second-rule-20260505-0
summary:
The five-second rule, or sometimes the three-second rule, is a food hygiene urban legend that states a defined time window after which it is not safe to eat food (or sometimes to use cutlery) after it has been dropped on the floor or on the ground and thus exposed to contamination. While the amount of microbes transferred to a dropped food does increase over time, and in some situations floors may be relatively clean of pathogens, the scientific consensus is opposed to such a general applied rule, and the origin of the idea is unclear. It is speculated to have originated from legends about Genghis Khan. It was first mentioned in print in 1995. == History == The origins of the five-second rule are unclear. Food scientist Pawl Dawson and microbiologist Brian Sheldon have traced the origins to legends surrounding Genghis Khan in the 15th century. He is rumored to have implemented the "Khan Rule" at his banquets. "If food fell on the floor, it could stay there as long as Khan allowed," and the idea was that "food prepared for Khan was so special that it would be good for anyone to eat no matter what." The first known


id: flat-earth-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Earth-0.md
category: reference
title: Flat Earth
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Earth
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:56.188495+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: flat-earth-20260505-0
summary:
Flat Earth is an archaic and scientifically disproven conception of the Earth's shape as a plane or disk. Many ancient societies subscribed to a flat-Earth cosmography. The model has undergone a recent resurgence as a conspiracy theory in the 21st century. The idea of a spherical Earth appeared in ancient Greek philosophy with Pythagoras (6th century BC). However, the early Greek cosmological view of a flat Earth persisted among most pre-Socratics (6th–5th century BC). In the early 4th century BC, Plato wrote about a spherical Earth. By about 330 BC, his former student Aristotle had provided strong empirical evidence for a spherical Earth. Knowledge of the Earth's global shape gradually began to spread beyond the Hellenistic world. By the early period of the Christian Church, the spherical view was widely held, with some notable exceptions. In contrast, ancient Chinese scholars consistently describe the Earth as flat, and this perception remained unchanged until their encounters with Jesuit missionaries in the 17th century. Muslim scholars in early Islam maintained that the Earth is flat. However, since the 9th century, Muslim scholars have tended to believe in a spherical Earth. It is a historical myth that medieval Europeans generally thought the Earth was


id: flat-earth-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Earth-1.md
category: reference
title: Flat Earth
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Earth
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:56.188495+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: flat-earth-20260505-0
summary:
If you take a lighted candle and set it in a room, you may expect it to light up the entire interior, unless something should hinder, though the room be quite large. But if you take an apple and hang it close to the flame, so near that it is heated, the apple will darken nearly half the room or even more. However, if you hang the apple near the wall, it will not get hot; the candle will light up the whole house; and the shadow on the wall where the apple hangs will be scarcely half as large as the apple itself. From this you may infer that the Earth-circle is round like a ball and not equally near the sun at every point. But where the curved surface lies nearest the sun's path, there will the greatest heat be; and some of the lands that lie continuously under the unbroken rays cannot be inhabited. ==== East Asia ==== In ancient China, the prevailing belief was that the Earth was flat and square, while the heavens were round, an assumption virtually unquestioned until the introduction of European astronomy in the 17th century. The English sinologist Cullen emphasizes the


id: flat-earth-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Earth-2.md
category: reference
title: Flat Earth
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Earth
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:56.188495+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: flat-earth-20260505-0
summary:
Pythagoras in the 6th century BC and Parmenides in the 5th century BC stated that the Earth is spherical, and this view spread rapidly in the Greek world. Around 330 BC, Aristotle maintained on the basis of physical theory and observational evidence that the Earth was spherical, and reported an estimate of its circumference. The Earth's circumference was first determined around 240 BC by Eratosthenes. By the 2nd century AD, Ptolemy had derived his maps from a globe and developed the system of latitude, longitude, and climes. His Almagest was written in Greek and only translated into Latin in the 11th century from Arabic translations. Lucretius (1st century BC) opposed the concept of a spherical Earth, because he considered that an infinite universe had no center towards which heavy bodies would tend. Thus, he thought the idea of animals walking around topsy-turvy under the Earth was absurd. By the 1st century AD, Pliny the Elder was in a position to say that everyone agreed on the spherical shape of Earth, though disputes continued regarding the nature of the antipodes, and how it is possible to keep the ocean in a curved shape. ==== South Asia ==== The Vedic texts depict


id: flat-earth-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Earth-3.md
category: reference
title: Flat Earth
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Earth
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:56.188495+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: flat-earth-20260505-0
summary:
Some historians do not view Augustine's scriptural commentaries as endorsing any particular cosmological model, endorsing instead the view that Augustine shared the common view of his contemporaries that the Earth is spherical, in line with his endorsement of science in De Genesi ad litteram. C. P. E. Nothaft, responding to writers like Leo Ferrari who described Augustine as endorsing a flat Earth, says that "...other recent writers on the subject treat Augustine's acceptance of the Earth's spherical shape as a well-established fact". While it always remained a minority view, from the mid-fourth to the seventh centuries AD, the flat-Earth view experienced a revival, around the time when Diodorus of Tarsus founded the exegetical school known as the School of Antioch, which sought to counter what he saw as the pagan cosmology of the Greeks with a return to the traditional cosmology. The writings of Diodorus did not survive, but are reconstructed from later criticism. This revival primarily took place in the East Syriac world (with little influence on the Latin West) where it gained proponents such as Ephrem the Syrian and in the popular hexaemeral homilies of Jacob of Serugh. Chrysostom, one of the four Great Church Fathers of the


id: flat-earth-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Earth-4.md
category: reference
title: Flat Earth
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Earth
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:56.188495+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: flat-earth-20260505-0
summary:
Some authorities have suggested that the sphericity of the Earth was among the aspects of Vergilius's teachings that Boniface and Zachary considered objectionable. Others have considered this unlikely, and take the wording of Zachary's response to indicate at most an objection to belief in the existence of humans living in the antipodes. In any case, there is no record of any further action having been taken against Vergilius. He was later appointed bishop of Salzburg and was canonised in the 13th century. A possible non-literary but graphic indication that people in the Middle Ages believed that the Earth (or perhaps the world) was a sphere is the use of the orb (globus cruciger) in the regalia of many kingdoms and of the Holy Roman Empire. It is attested from the time of the Christian late-Roman emperor Theodosius II (423) throughout the Middle Ages and in western Europe, the use of a physical orb is attested since at least the time of Emperor Henry II (d. 1024). A contemporary chronicler describes the imperial orb given to Henry II by Pope Benedict VIII as shaped like a golden apple surmounted by a cross and representing the earth with its rotundity. Such a


id: flat-earth-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Earth-5.md
category: reference
title: Flat Earth
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Earth
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:56.188495+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: flat-earth-20260505-0
summary:
In the 17th century, a historical myth was created that asserted that the predominant cosmological doctrine during the Middle Ages was that the Earth was flat. The myth gained currency in the 19th century. An early proponent of this myth was the American writer Washington Irving, who maintained that Christopher Columbus had to overcome the opposition of churchmen to gain sponsorship for his voyage of exploration. Later significant advocates of this view were John William Draper and Andrew Dickson White, who used it as a major element in their advocacy of the thesis that there was a long-lasting and essential conflict between science and religion. Some studies of the historical connections between science and religion have demonstrated that theories of their mutual antagonism ignore examples of their mutual support. Subsequent studies of medieval science have shown that most scholars in the Middle Ages, including those read by Christopher Columbus, maintained that the Earth was spherical. == Modern flat Earth beliefs == In the modern era, the pseudoscientific belief in a flat Earth originated with the English writer Samuel Rowbotham with the 1849 pamphlet Zetetic Astronomy. Lady Elizabeth Blount established the Universal Zetetic Society in 1893, which published journals. In 1956,


id: flood-geology-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_geology-0.md
category: reference
title: Flood geology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_geology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:57.530514+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: flood-geology-20260505-0
summary:
Flood geology (also creation geology or diluvial geology) is a pseudoscientific attempt to interpret and reconcile geological features of the Earth in accordance with a literal belief in the Genesis flood narrative, the flood myth in the Hebrew Bible. In the early 19th century, diluvial geologists hypothesized that specific surface features provided evidence of a worldwide flood which had followed earlier geological eras; after further investigation they agreed that these features resulted from local floods or from glaciers. In the 20th century, young-Earth creationists revived flood geology as an overarching concept in their opposition to evolution, assuming a recent six-day Creation and cataclysmic geological changes during the biblical flood, and incorporating creationist explanations of the sequences of rock strata. In the early stages of development of the science of geology, fossils were interpreted as evidence of past flooding. The "theories of the Earth" of the 17th century proposed mechanisms based on natural laws, within a timescale set by the Ussher chronology. As modern geology developed, geologists found evidence of an ancient Earth and evidence inconsistent with the notion that the Earth had developed in a series of cataclysms, like the Genesis flood. In early 19th-century Britain, "diluvialism" attributed landforms and


id: flood-geology-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_geology-1.md
category: reference
title: Flood geology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_geology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:57.530514+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: flood-geology-20260505-0
summary:
=== Theories of the Earth === In his influential Principles of Philosophy of 1644, René Descartes applied his mechanical physical laws to envisage swirling particles forming the Earth as a layered sphere. This natural philosophy was recast in biblical terms by the theologian Thomas Burnet, whose Sacred Theory of the Earth published in the 1680s proposed complex explanations based on natural laws, and explicitly rejected the simpler approach of invoking miracles as incompatible with the methodology of natural philosophy (the precursor to science). Burnet maintained that less than 6,000 years ago the Earth had emerged from chaos as a perfect sphere, with paradise on land over a watery abyss. This crust had dried out and cracked, and its collapse caused the biblical deluge, forming mountains as well as caverns where the water retreated. He made no mention of fossils but inspired other diluvial theories that did. In 1695, John Woodward's An Essay Toward a Natural History of the Earth viewed the Genesis flood as dissolving rocks and soil into a thick slurry that caught up all living things, which, when the waters settled, formed strata according to the relative density of these materials, including fossils of the organisms. When it


id: flood-geology-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_geology-2.md
category: reference
title: Flood geology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_geology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:57.530514+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: flood-geology-20260505-0
summary:
"Although the Mosaic account of the creation of the world is an inspired writing, and consequently rests on evidence wholly independent of human observation and experience, still it is interesting, and in many respects important, to know that it coincides with the various phenomena observable in the mineral kingdom." This sentence was removed after the second edition, and Jameson's position changed as shown by his notes in successive editions, but it influenced British views of Cuvier's concept. In 1819, George Bellas Greenough, first president of The Geological Society, issued A Critical Examination of the First Principles of Geology stating that unless erratic boulders deposited hundreds of miles from their original sources had been moved by seas, rivers, or collapsing lakes, "the only remaining cause, to which these effects can be ascribed, is a Debacle or Deluge." ==== Buckland and the English school of geologists ==== Conservative geologists in Britain welcomed Cuvier's theory to replace Werner's Neptunism, and the Church of England clergyman William Buckland became the foremost proponent of flood geology as he sought to get the new science of geology accepted on the curriculum of the University of Oxford. In 1818, he was visited by Cuvier, and in his


id: flood-geology-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_geology-3.md
category: reference
title: Flood geology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_geology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:57.530514+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: flood-geology-20260505-0
summary:
But if the supposed impetuous torrent excavated valleys, and transported masses of rocks to a distance from their original repositories, then must the soil have been swept from off the earth to the destruction of the vegetable tribes. Moses does not record such an occurrence. On the contrary, in his history of the dove and the olive-leaf plucked off, he furnishes a proof that the flood was not so violent in its motions as to disturb the soil, nor to overturn the trees which it supported. When Sedgwick visited Paris at the end of 1826 he found hostility to diluvialism: Alexander von Humboldt ridiculed it "beyond measure", and Louis-Constant Prévost "lectured against it". In the summer of 1827 Sedgwick and Roderick Murchison travelled to investigate the geology of the Scottish Highlands, where they found "so many indications of local diluvial operations" that Sedgwick began to change his mind about it being worldwide. When George Poulett Scrope published his investigations into the Auvergne in 1827, he did not use the term "diluvium". He was followed by Murchison and Charles Lyell whose account appeared in 1829. All three agreed that the valleys could well have been formed by rivers acting over a


id: flood-geology-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_geology-4.md
category: reference
title: Flood geology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_geology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:57.530514+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: flood-geology-20260505-0
summary:
=== Scriptural geologists, and later commentary === Scriptural geologists were a heterogeneous group of writers in the early 19th century who claimed "the primacy of literalistic biblical exegesis" and a short young Earth time scale. Their views were marginalised and ignored by the scientific community of their time. They generally lacked any background in geology and had little influence even in church circles. Many of them quoted obsolete geological writings. Among the most prominent, Granville Penn argued in 1822 that "mineral geology" rejected revelation, while true "Mosaical geology" showed that God had created primitive rock formations directly, in correspondence with the laws which God then made to produce subsequent effects. A first revolution on the third day of creation deepened the oceans so water rushed in, and in the deluge 1,656 years afterwards a second revolution sank land areas and raised the sea bed to cause a swirling flood which moved soil and fossil remains into stratified layers, after which God created new vegetation. As Genesis appeared to show that the rivers of Eden had survived this catastrophe, he argued that the verses concerned were an added "parenthesis" which should be disregarded. In 1837 George Fairholme expressed disappointment about disappearing


id: flood-geology-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_geology-5.md
category: reference
title: Flood geology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_geology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:57.530514+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: flood-geology-20260505-0
summary:
=== George McCready Price === White's visions prompted several books by one of her followers, George McCready Price, leading to the 20th-century revival of flood geology. After years selling White's books door-to-door, Price took a one-year teacher-training course and taught in several schools. When shown books on evolution and the fossil sequence which contradicted his beliefs, he found the answer in White's "revealing word pictures" which suggested how the fossils had been buried. He studied textbooks on geology and "almost tons of geological documents", finding "how the actual facts of the rocks and fossils, stripped of mere theories, splendidly refute this evolutionary theory of the invariable order of the fossils, which is the very backbone of the evolution doctrine". In 1902, he produced a manuscript proposing geology based on Genesis, in which the sequence of fossils resulted from the different responses of animals to the encroaching flood. He agreed with White on the origins of coal and oil and conjectured that mountain ranges (including the Alps and Himalayas) formed from layers deposited by the flood which had then been "folded and elevated to their present height by the great lateral pressure that accompanied its subsidence". He then found a report


id: flood-geology-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_geology-6.md
category: reference
title: Flood geology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_geology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:57.530514+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: flood-geology-20260505-0
summary:
saying that geology was the same as evolution assuming "that life has been on the earth only for a few thousand years, [and] therefore the flood must account for geological strata" misunderstanding "the physical and chemical conditions under which rocks are formed" ignoring recent discoveries such as radiometric dating that undermined their assumptions Kulp accused Price of ignorance and deception, concluding that "this unscientific theory of flood geology has done and will do considerable harm to the strong propagation of the gospel among educated people". Price said nothing during the presentation and discussion. When invited to speak, he "said something very brief which missed what everyone was waiting for". Further publications made the ASA's opposition to flood geology clear. === Morris and Whitcomb === In 1942, Irwin A. Moon's Sermons from Science persuaded engineer Henry M. Morris of the importance of harmonising science and the Bible, and introduced him to the concepts of a vapor canopy causing the flood and its geological effects. About a year later Morris found Price's New Geology a "life-changing experience", and joined the DGS. His book That You Might Believe (1946) for college students included Price's flood geology. Morris had joined the ASA in 1949,


id: flood-geology-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_geology-7.md
category: reference
title: Flood geology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_geology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:57.530514+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: flood-geology-20260505-0
summary:
==== The Genesis Flood (1961) ==== The Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company of Philadelphia published Whitcomb and Morris's The Genesis Flood in February 1961. The authors took as their premise biblical infallibility: "the basic argument of this volume is that the Scriptures are true". For Whitcomb, Genesis describes a worldwide flood which covered all the high mountains, Noah's Ark with a capacity equivalent to eight freight-trains, flood waters from a canopy and the deeps, and subsequent dispersal of animals from Mount Ararat to all the continents via land bridges. He disputed the views published by Ramm and Arthur Custance. Morris then confronted readers with the dilemma of whether to believe Scripture or to accept the interpretations of trained geologists, and instead of the latter proposed "a new scheme of historical geology"—true both to Scripture and to "God's work" revealed in nature. This was essentially Price's The New Geology of 1923 updated for the 1960s, though with few direct references to Price. Like Price before him, Morris argued that most fossil-bearing strata had formed during a global deluge, disputing uniformitarianism, multiple ice ages, and the geologic column. He explained the apparent fossil sequence as the outcome of marine organisms dying in


id: flood-geology-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_geology-8.md
category: reference
title: Flood geology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_geology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:57.530514+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: flood-geology-20260505-0
summary:
The teaching of evolution, reintroduced in 1963 by the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study textbooks, was prohibited by laws in some states. These bans were contested; the Epperson v. Arkansas case which began late in 1965 was decided in 1968 by the United States Supreme Court ruling that such laws violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Some creationists thought a legal decision requiring religious neutrality in schools should shield their children from teachings hostile to their religion; Nell J. Segraves and Jean E. Sumrall (a friend of Lammerts who was also associated with the CRS and the Bible-Science Association) petitioned the California State Board of Education to require that school biology texts designate evolution as a theory. In 1966 Max Rafferty as California State Superintendent of Public Instruction suggested that they demand equal time for creation, as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 allowed teachers to mention religion as long as they did not promote specific doctrines. Their first attempt failed, but in 1969 controversy arose over a proposed Science Framework for California Schools. Anticipating success, they and others in the Bible-Science Association formed Creation Science, Inc., to produce textbooks. A compromise acceptable to


id: flood-geology-20260505-9
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_geology-9.md
category: reference
title: Flood geology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_geology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:57.530514+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: flood-geology-20260505-0
summary:
== Creationist arguments for a global flood == === Fossils === The geologic column and the fossil record are used as major pieces of evidence in the modern scientific explanation of the development and evolution of life on Earth as well as a means to establish the age of Earth. Young Earth creationists such as Morris and Whitcomb in their 1961 book, The Genesis Flood, say that the age of the fossils depends on the amount of time credited to the geologic column, which they ascribe to be about one year. Some flood geologists dispute geology's assembled global geologic column since index fossils are used to link geographically isolated strata to other strata across the map. Fossils are often dated by their proximity to strata containing index fossils whose age has been determined by its location on the geologic column. Oard and others say that the identification of fossils as index fossils has been too error-prone for index fossils to be used reliably to make those correlations, or to date local strata using the assembled geologic scale. Other creationists accept the existence of the geological column and believe that it indicates a sequence of events that might have occurred during


id: flood-geology-20260505-10
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_geology-10.md
category: reference
title: Flood geology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_geology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:57.530514+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: flood-geology-20260505-0
summary:
=== Runaway subduction === In the 1960s and 1970s a simple creationist model proposed that, "The Flood split the land mass into the present continents." Steve Austin and other creationists proposed a preliminary model of catastrophic plate tectonics (CPT) in 1994. Their work built on earlier papers by John Baumgardner and Russell Humphreys in 1986. Baumgardner proposed a model of mantle convection that allows for runaway subduction, and Humphrey associated mantle convection with rapid magnetic reversals in Earth history. Baumgardner's proposal holds that the rapid plunge of former oceanic plates into the mantle (caused by an unknown trigger mechanism) increased local mantle pressures to the point that its viscosity dropped several magnitudes according to known properties of mantle silicates. Once initiated, sinking plates caused the spread of low viscosity throughout the mantle, resulting in runaway mantle convection and catastrophic tectonic motion which dragged continents across the surface of the Earth. Once the former ocean plates (which are thought to be denser than the mantle) reached the bottom of the mantle, an equilibrium resulted. Pressures dropped, viscosity increased, runaway mantle convection stopped, leaving the surface of the Earth rearranged. Proponents point to subducted slabs in the mantle which are still relatively


id: flood-geology-20260505-11
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_geology-11.md
category: reference
title: Flood geology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flood_geology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:57.530514+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: flood-geology-20260505-0
summary:
Modern geology, its sub-disciplines and other scientific disciplines use the scientific method to analyze the geology of the earth. The key tenets of flood geology are refuted by scientific analysis and do not have any standing in the scientific community. Modern geology relies on established principles, one of the most important of which is Charles Lyell's principle of uniformitarianism. In relation to geological forces it states that the shaping of the Earth has occurred by means of mostly slow-acting forces that can be seen in operation today. By applying these principles, geologists have determined that the Earth is approximately 4.54 billion years old. They study the lithosphere of the Earth to gain information on the history of the planet. Geologists divide Earth's history into eons, eras, periods, epochs, and faunal stages characterized by well-defined breaks in the fossil record (see Geologic time scale). In general, there is a lack of any evidence for any of the above effects proposed by flood geologists, and their claims of fossil layering are not taken seriously by scientists. === Geochronology === Geochronology is the science of determining the absolute age of rocks, fossils, and sediments by a variety of techniques. These methods indicate that


id: fogvid-24-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fogvid-24-0.md
category: reference
title: Fogvid-24
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fogvid-24
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:58.744842+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: fogvid-24-20260505-0
summary:
Fogvid-24 is a social-media conspiracy theory alleging that unusual winter fog in late 2024 and early 2025 was toxic or engineered—variously described as a chemical or biological weapon, "smart dust," or a cover for hidden activity—and that it caused clusters of flu-like symptoms. The term Fogvid-24 was popularised on platforms such as TikTok and X during a period of widespread fog in North America and the United Kingdom. Fact-checkers and meteorologists attributed the reports to ordinary foggy conditions, seasonal respiratory illness, and misinterpretation of visual effects under lights, noting there is no evidence that the fog was engineered or that it contained harmful agents. == Background == In late December 2024, dense fog and freezing fog were widely reported in parts of the United States and the United Kingdom, disrupting transport and prompting routine advisories. During the same period, posts and short videos circulated claiming the fog was unusually thick, smelled "chemical," or left people unwell shortly after exposure; commenters began referring to the phenomenon as Fogvid-24. == Claims == == Responses and expert commentary == Meteorologists and public-health communicators state there is no evidence that the fog was engineered or toxic, and that winter fog is expected under certain


id: forensic-dentistry-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forensic_dentistry-0.md
category: reference
title: Forensic dentistry
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forensic_dentistry
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:59.890392+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: forensic-dentistry-20260505-0
summary:
Forensic dentistry or forensic odontology involves the handling, examination, and evaluation of dental evidence in a criminal justice context. Forensic dentistry is used in both criminal and civil law. Forensic dentists assist investigative agencies in identifying human remains, particularly in cases when identifying information is otherwise scarce or nonexistent—for instance, identifying burn victims by consulting the victim's dental records. Forensic dentists may also be asked to assist in determining the age, race, sex, and previous dental history of unidentified human beings. The primary benefit of dental evidence is its perpetual preservation following death. The examination of antemortem and postmortem dental characteristics is made possible by each persons distinctive tooth patterns. Forensic dentists may make their determinations by using radiographs, ante- and post-mortem photographs, and DNA analysis. Another type of evidence that may be analyzed is bite marks, whether left on the victim (by the attacker), the perpetrator (from the victim of an attack), or on an object found at the crime scene. However, this latter application of forensic dentistry has proven highly controversial, as no scientific studies or evidence substantiate that bite marks can demonstrate sufficient detail for positive identification and numerous instances where experts diverge widely in their evaluations


id: forensic-dentistry-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forensic_dentistry-1.md
category: reference
title: Forensic dentistry
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forensic_dentistry
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:59.890392+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: forensic-dentistry-20260505-0
summary:
== High-profile criminal cases == Forensic odontology has played a key role in famous criminal cases: In 1692, during the Salem Witch Trials, Rev. George Burroughs was accused of witchcraft and conspiring with the Devil, with biting his victims supposedly being evidence of his crimes. His bite marks and the bite marks of other people were compared to the victim's marks. The judges readily accepted the bite marks as evidence and this was the first time in what would become the United States that bite marks were used as evidence to solve a crime. He was later convicted and hanged. About two decades later, he was exonerated by the State, and his children were compensated for the wrongful execution. One of the first published accounts involving a conviction based on bite marks as evidence was the “Gorringe case”, in 1948, in which pathologist Keith Simpson used bite marks on the breast of the victim to seal a murder conviction against Robert Gorringe for the murder of his wife Phyllis. Another early case was Doyle v. State, which occurred in Texas in 1954. The bite mark, in this case, was on a piece of cheese found at the crime scene of


id: forensic-dentistry-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forensic_dentistry-2.md
category: reference
title: Forensic dentistry
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forensic_dentistry
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:59.890392+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: forensic-dentistry-20260505-0
summary:
== Organizations == Several organizations are dedicated to the field of forensic odontology. These organizations include the Bureau of Legal Dentistry (BOLD), the American Board of Forensic Odontology (ABFO), American Society of Forensic Odontology (ASFO), the International Organization for Forensic Odonto-Stomatology (IOFOS) and the Association Forensic Odontology For Human Rights (AFOHR). Countries have their own forensic Odontological societies, including the British Association for Forensic Odontology (BAFO) and the Australian Society of Forensic Odontology (AuSFO). In 1996, BOLD was created at the University of British Columbia to develop new technology and techniques in forensic odontology. The University of British Columbia program is the only one in North America that provides graduate training in forensic odontology. In Canada, The Royal College of Dentists has not recognized forensic odontology therefore there is no organization for Canada, however, there are three well-developed and trained groups for forensic dentistry. These groups include British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec. British Columbia has a team called BC Forensic Odontology Response Team (BC_FORT) which is led by six dentists. They focus on disaster-victim identification work. Ontario has a team of ten forensic dentists called the Province of Ontario Dental Identification Team (PODIT). Quebec has a team that is run


id: forensic-dentistry-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forensic_dentistry-3.md
category: reference
title: Forensic dentistry
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forensic_dentistry
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:59.890392+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: forensic-dentistry-20260505-0
summary:
=== Proposed theoretical basis === Bites can occur on both the victim and the suspect; teeth are used as a weapon by the aggressor and in self-defense by the victim. Although they are only a small portion of most forensic dentists' caseload, bite marks represent the most challenging aspect of the discipline. In addition to the location of the bite mark, the type of severity of the injury may give investigators clues as to the mental state of the offender. Bite marks may be found on the flesh of victims of a violent attack, particularly on the stomach or buttocks. Bite mark evidence may be the only form of physical evidence found on a body. Alternatively, they may be found on the suspect, left by the victim during self-defense. Bite marks can be altered through stretching, movement, or change in environment after the bite. Skin is not ideal for holding the shape of a bite mark as it can become distorted due to the viscoelasticity of the skin. There is also no set standard by which to analyze and compare bite marks. Factors that may affect the accuracy of bite mark identification include time-dependent changes of the bite mark on


id: forensic-dentistry-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forensic_dentistry-4.md
category: reference
title: Forensic dentistry
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forensic_dentistry
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:59.890392+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: forensic-dentistry-20260505-0
summary:
"Human anterior dental patterns have not been shown to be unique at the individual level" "Those patterns are not accurately transferred to human skin consistently" "It has not been shown that defining characteristics of those patterns can be accurately analyzed to exclude or not exclude individuals as the source of a [sic] bitemark" Recently, the scientific foundation of forensic odontology, and especially bite mark comparison, has been called into question. A 1999 study by a member of the American Board of Forensic Odontology found a 63% rate of false identifications. However, the study was based on an informal workshop during an ABFO meeting which many members did not consider a valid scientific setting. In February 2016, the Texas Forensic Science Commission recommended that bite mark evidence not be used in criminal prosecutions until it had a more firm scientific basis. That same year, the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology declared that bite mark analysis had no scientific validity. An investigative series by the Chicago Tribune entitled "Forensics under the Microscope" examined many forensic science disciplines to see if they truly deserve the air of infallibility that has come to surround them. The investigators concluded that bite mark


id: forensic-dentistry-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forensic_dentistry-5.md
category: reference
title: Forensic dentistry
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forensic_dentistry
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:59.890392+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: forensic-dentistry-20260505-0
summary:
== Sex estimation == The determination of sex is important in the identification of unknown individuals in both forensic and archaeological contexts. The preferred anatomical methods for sex determination are based on pelvic and cranio-facial morphology. Using these parts of the skeleton, males and females can be correctly classified with over 90% accuracy. However, these skeletal elements are sometimes recovered in a fragmentary state, rendering sex estimation difficult. Moreover, there is currently no reliable method of sex determination of juvenile or sub-adult remains from cranial or post-cranial skeletal elements since dimorphic traits only become apparent after puberty, and this represents a fundamental problem in forensic investigations. In such situations, teeth are potentially useful in sex determination. Due to their hardness, they are highly resistant to taphonomic processes and are much more likely to be recovered than other parts of the fact, the enamel present on teeth is the hardest biological substance in the human body; therefore making them extremely sustainable analytical evidence in a forensic context. Moreover, teeth may be particularly useful for sexing immature skeletal remains since both primary and permanent sets of teeth develop before puberty. For several decades research has been conducted into human dental sexual dimorphism,


id: forensic-dentistry-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forensic_dentistry-6.md
category: reference
title: Forensic dentistry
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forensic_dentistry
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:19:59.890392+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: forensic-dentistry-20260505-0
summary:
Direct comparison of the characteristics presents in the ante-mortem photograph with the observed characteristics in the deceased person. In this technique, the ante-mortem and post-mortem photographs must be paired, and the dental characteristics found should be compared, described, and noted. Computerized outlining of the incisal edges of the teeth in the ante-mortem and post-mortem photographs. In this technique, the expert analyzes the morphology of the smile line, delineating the incisal edges and comparing them. To achieve this, attention must be given to important details, such as: Both the ante-mortem and post-mortem photographs need to be as clear as possible, with good/excellent quality. The post-mortem photograph should be taken at the same angle of incidence as the ante-mortem photograph. The more visible teeth in the ante-mortem photograph, the better. Therefore, selecting the best photograph obtained is important. The use of software to annotate the characteristics present in the ante-mortem and post-mortem photographs, facilitating the visualization of comparative elements for everyone, including laypeople. It is important to emphasize that each person's smile is unique, just like fingerprints, palatal rugae, and DNA. Therefore, when properly applied with the necessary scientific rigor, identification through photographs of the smile becomes a reliable method to establish


id: frequency-specific-microcurrent-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_specific_microcurrent-0.md
category: reference
title: Frequency specific microcurrent
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_specific_microcurrent
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:01.074997+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: frequency-specific-microcurrent-20260505-0
summary:
Frequency Specific Microcurrent (FSM) or frequency Specific Microcurrent Therapy (FSMT) is the practice of introducing a mild electrical current into an area of damaged soft tissue. Practitioners claim that the introduced current enhances the healing process underway in that same tissue. Critics, such as David Gorski, call proponent's claims of the technique altering body tissue's vibrational amplitude pseudoscience. == About == Frequency Specific Microcurrent uses two channels of microcurrent, with each channel delivering a different frequency. One frequency is proposed to address the condition (such as inflammation or fibrosis), while the second frequency is proposed to target specific tissue (such as nerve or muscle). The frequencies are delivered using microampere-level current, approximately 1/1000 of the intensity of TENS units. == Usage == A 2012 systematic review of physical therapies for Achilles tendinopathy found limited evidence from a single randomized clinical trial suggests FSM as an effective therapy. A 2010 controlled study of 35 participants found that FSM therapy significantly reduced delayed onset muscle soreness compared to sham treatment at 24, 48, and 72 hours post-exercise. == Criticism == Skeptics note that FSM is another form of vibration medicine and that there is no good evidence that when a tissue is


id: fruit-machine-homosexuality-test-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_machine_(homosexuality_test)-0.md
category: reference
title: Fruit machine (homosexuality test)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fruit_machine_(homosexuality_test)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:02.258816+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: fruit-machine-homosexuality-test-20260505-0
summary:
The "fruit machine" was a battery of psychological tests developed in Canada by Dr. Frank Robert Wake, a psychology professor with Carleton University in the 1960s. It was hoped that Dr. Wake's research program would be able to help the Government of Canada identify gay men working in the Public Service or to prevent gay people from obtaining government jobs. The subjects were made to view erotic imagery and "homosexual words", while the device measured the subject's pupil dilation (pupillary response test), and an early form of lie detector also measured their perspiration and pulse, in response to the erotic images and words. The crude apparatus was constructed by the RCMP's Identification Branch. The research program was employed in Canada approximately between 1960 and 1964 as part of a campaign to eliminate all gay men from the civil service, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). Thousands of Canadians lost their jobs or resigned and some died by suicide. Although funding for the project was cut off in the late 1960s, the RCMP investigations continued, and the RCMP collected files on well over 9,000 people. The machine used a chair similar to that used by


id: functional-disconnection-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_disconnection-0.md
category: reference
title: Functional disconnection
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_disconnection
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:03.398089+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: functional-disconnection-20260505-0
summary:
Functional disconnection is the disintegrated function in the brain in the absence of anatomical damage, in distinction to physical disconnection of the cerebral hemispheres by surgical resection, trauma or lesion. Applications have included alexia without agraphia dyslexia, persistent vegetative state and minimally conscious state as well as autistic spectrum disorders. Functional disconnection itself is not a medically recognized condition. It is a theoretical concept used to facilitate research into the causes and symptoms within recognized conditions. == History == In 1977, Witleson reported that developmental dyslexia may be associated with (i) bi-hemisphere representation of spatial functions, in contrast to the unitary right hemisphere control of these functions observed in normal individuals. The bilateral neural involvement in spatial processing may interfere with the left hemisphere's processing of its own specialized functions and result in deficient linguistic, sequential cognitive processing and in overuse of the spatial, holistic cognitive mode, reflecting a functional disconnection syndrome in these individuals confirmed by Leisman in the 1980s and in the 2000s. The concept of functional disconnection developed further with Stachowiak and Poeck in 1976. who reported on a case in 1976 of a 67-yr-old male with hemianopia resulting from a cerebrovascular accident resulting in pure alexia


id: game-brain-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_brain-0.md
category: reference
title: Game brain
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_brain
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:06.779421+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: game-brain-20260505-0
summary:
Game brain (ゲーム脳, Gēmu nō) is a term coined by Akio Mori referring to human brains affected by the long-term effect of playing video games. Mori, a professor in the Humanities and Sciences division of Nihon University in Japan, originally coined the term and presented the concept in his 2002 book The Terror of Game Brain (ゲーム脳の恐怖, Gēmu Nō no Kyōfu). It has been criticized by neuroscientists as pseudoscientific. == Summary == Mori performed an experiment at Tokyo's Nihon University designed to measure the effect of video games on human brain activity by examining beta waves, which are produced during Beta states – the states associated with normal waking consciousness. Mori claims that his study has revealed that people who spend long periods playing video games exhibit less activity in the brain's prefrontal region, which governs emotion and creativity, compared to their peers. He claims that the experiment demonstrates the existence of an "adverse effect that video games have on the human brain". Specifically, Mori asserts that side effects can include loss of concentration, an inability to control temper and problems socializing or associating with others. Additionally, if the subject persists gaming over a long period of time, Mori concluded


id: ganzfeld-experiment-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganzfeld_experiment-0.md
category: reference
title: Ganzfeld experiment
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganzfeld_experiment
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:07.932209+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ganzfeld-experiment-20260505-0
summary:
A ganzfeld experiment (from the German words for "entire" and "field") is an assessment used by parapsychologists that they contend can test for extrasensory perception (ESP) or telepathy. In these experiments, a "sender" attempts to mentally transmit an image to a "receiver" who is in a state of sensory deprivation. The receiver is normally asked to choose between a limited number of options for what the transmission was supposed to be and parapsychologists who propose that such telepathy is possible argue that rates of success above the expectation from randomness are evidence for ESP. Consistent, independent replication of ganzfeld experiments has not been achieved, and, in spite of strenuous arguments by parapsychologists to the contrary, there is no validated evidence accepted by the wider scientific community for the existence of any parapsychological phenomena. Ongoing parapsychology research using ganzfeld experiments has been criticized by independent reviewers as having the hallmarks of pseudoscience. == Historical context == The ganzfeld effect was originally introduced into experimental psychology due to the experiments of the German psychologist Wolfgang Metzger (1899–1979) who demonstrated that subjects who were presented with a homogeneous visual field would experience perceptual distortions that could rise to the level of hallucinations. In


id: ganzfeld-experiment-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganzfeld_experiment-1.md
category: reference
title: Ganzfeld experiment
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganzfeld_experiment
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:07.932209+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ganzfeld-experiment-20260505-0
summary:
In 1982, Honorton had started a series of "autoganzfeld experiments", that is ganzfeld experiments controlled by a computer, at his Psychophysical Research Laboratories (PRL). The trials continued until September 1989 and in 1990 Honorton et al. published the results of 11 autoganzfeld experiments they claimed met the standards specified by Hyman and Honorton (1986). In these experiments, 240 participants contributed 329 sessions. Hyman analyzed these experiments and wrote they met most, but not all of the "stringent standards" of the joint communiqué. He expressed concerns with the randomization procedure, the reliability of which he was not able to confirm based on the data provided by Honorton's collaborator, Daryl Bem. Hyman further noted that although the overall hit rate of 32% (7% higher than the 25% expectation from randomness) was significant, the hit rate for static targets (pictures) was, in fact, consistent with random and therefore inconsistent with Honorton's previous claims of positive results from the ganzfeld experiments that were conducted prior to 1982. The significance of the results was due entirely to a new set of "dynamic targets" (videos) that participants were able to identify at a rate that was better than random. In the hit rates regarding these dynamic


id: ganzfeld-experiment-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganzfeld_experiment-2.md
category: reference
title: Ganzfeld experiment
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganzfeld_experiment
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:07.932209+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ganzfeld-experiment-20260505-0
summary:
Isolation – Richard Wiseman and others argue that not all of the studies used soundproof rooms, so it is possible that when videos were playing, the experimenter could have heard it, and later given involuntary cues to the receiver during the selection process. It could even have been possible that the receivers themselves could hear the video. Randomization – When subjects are asked to choose from a variety of selections, there is an inherent bias to choose the first selection they are shown. If the order in which they are shown the selections is randomized each time, this bias will be averaged out. The randomization procedures used in the experiment have been criticized for not randomizing satisfactorily. The psi assumption – The assumption that any statistical deviation from chance is evidence for telepathy is highly controversial. Strictly speaking, a deviation from chance is only evidence that either this was a rare, statistically unlikely occurrence that happened by chance, or something was causing a deviation from chance. Flaws in the experimental design are a common cause of this, and so the assumption that it must be telepathy is fallacious. Writing in 1985, C. E. M. Hansel discovered weaknesses in the design


id: ganzfeld-experiment-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganzfeld_experiment-3.md
category: reference
title: Ganzfeld experiment
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganzfeld_experiment
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:07.932209+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ganzfeld-experiment-20260505-0
summary:
It now appeared that in one session – number 9 – the following events had taken place. Sargent did the randomization when he should not have. A 'B' went missing from the drawer during the session, instead of afterwards. Sargent came into the judging and "pushed" the subject towards 'B'. An error of addition was made in favour of 'B' and 'B' was chosen. 'B' was the target and the session a direct hit. This article, along with further criticisms of Sargent's work from Adrian Parker and Nils Wiklund remained unpublished until 1987 but all were well known in parapsychological circles. Sargent wrote a rebuttal to these criticisms (also not published until 1987) in which he did not deny what Blackmore had observed, but argued that her conclusions based on those observations were wrong and prejudiced. His co-workers also responded, saying that any deviation from protocol was the result of "random errors" rather than any concerted attempt at fraud. Carl Sargent stopped working in parapsychology after this and did not respond "in a timely fashion" when the Council of the Parapsychological Association asked for his data, and so his membership of that organization was allowed to lapse. Writing for Skeptical


id: gasoline-pill-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline_pill-0.md
category: reference
title: Gasoline pill
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline_pill
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:09.141566+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: gasoline-pill-20260505-0
summary:
The gasoline pill or gasoline powder is claimed to turn water into gasoline, which can be used to run a combustion engine. The gasoline pill is one of several claims of suppressed inventions that circulate as urban legends. Usually these urban legends allege a conspiracy theory that the oil industry seeks to suppress the technology that turns water to gasoline. == Guido Franch == In the United States, the best known claim to have created a gasoline pill was the work of one Guido Franch, who was active from the 1950s through the 1970s. Franch called the resulting liquid Mota fuel. Guido Franch was a blue collar worker who lived in Livingston, Illinois. His invention was a green powder that was added to water, which he claimed had actually been invented by a fictitious German scientist named Dr. Alexander Kraft. Franch took money from a number of small investors who read about his claims in the National Tattler or a similar tabloid publication. In what became a frequent motif, he claimed that the water-into-gasoline powder formula could not be disclosed for fear that the oil industry would have it suppressed. Franch, when pressed into providing samples of his transmutation powder,


id: gasoline-pill-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline_pill-1.md
category: reference
title: Gasoline pill
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline_pill
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:09.141566+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: gasoline-pill-20260505-0
summary:
== Gasoline pills in fiction == The storyline of the 1943 Laurel and Hardy film, Jitterbugs, revolves around a con man (Bob Bailey) selling gas pills during the fuel rationing days of WWII. In the 1949 motion picture Free For All, Robert Cummings starred as a scientist who claimed to have invented a pill that turned water into gasoline. The 1940s television/radio show People Are Funny performed a stunt in which an unsuspecting crowd at Hollywood and Vine were sold "Atom Pills" at a quarter apiece. A "scientist" claimed that one pill could do the work of a hundred gallons of gasoline. When the stunt was revealed, few of the dozens who had fought to buy the pills came up to get their money back. In the television sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies, Jethro Bodine claimed to have devised a water to gasoline pill that ran the Clampetts' old truck on water. In an episode of the 1960s American sitcom The Munsters, "The Sleeping Cutie", Grandpa invents a gasoline pill. A season three episode of the 1950s American television show, Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond, "Where Are They?", which originally aired 13 December 1960, presented a story about a man calling


id: gemmotherapy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemmotherapy-0.md
category: reference
title: Gemmotherapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemmotherapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:10.307278+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: gemmotherapy-20260505-0
summary:
Gemmotherapy [from Lat. gemma, bud, and New Lat. therapīa, Grk. therapeia, medical treatment] is a pseudoscientific group of remedies from embryonic tissue of various trees and shrubs, buds, emerging shoots, seeds, catkins, rootlets and sap. This raw material is taken at the peak time of the tree or shrubs' germination. It is claimed that unknown plant hormones and enzymes are released during this process which can somehow improve health. == Development and spread of gemmotherapy == The therapeutic effects of embryonic material of plants were first investigated in the late 1950s by a Belgian homeopath, Pol Henry working with a group of French homeopaths . Henry initially called the new type of medicine, phytoembryotherapy which was later renamed, gemmotherapy. Gemmotherapy was included in herbal therapies in France in the Pharmacopée Francaise in 1965. == Lack of evidence of efficacy == There is no evidence of therapeutic efficacy for gemmotherapy. Although scientific knowledge about the healing effects of plants is still increasing, gemmotherapy has not yet been the subject of any "serious" scientific publication. It has not been the subject of any randomized double-blind study, the only method recognized as reliable, nor has it been published in a recognized professional journal.


id: genetic-sexual-attraction-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_sexual_attraction-0.md
category: reference
title: Genetic sexual attraction
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_sexual_attraction
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:11.451246+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: genetic-sexual-attraction-20260505-0
summary:
Genetic sexual attraction is a hypothesis that attraction may be a product of genetic similarities. While there is scientific evidence for the position, some commentators regard the hypothesis as pseudoscience. The term is also used for a phenomenon in which biologically related persons separated at a young age develop intense feelings—including sexual attraction—upon the restoration of contact. == Background == The term was popularized in the United States in the late 1980s by Barbara Gonyo, the founder of Truth Seekers in Adoption, a Chicago-based support group for adoptees and their new-found relatives. Gonyo first heard the term used during an American Adoption Congress conference in the early 1980s. She developed sexual feelings for her son when she met him after he was adopted away, but he did not want to be part of any such contact. Psychologists theorize that the reported phenomenon of attraction to biological relatives separated at a young age occurs because the separation forecloses the Westermarck effect, which normally desensitizes biologically related persons to later sexual attraction. Another suggested explanation for the phenomenon is possible narcissistic feelings. Reported frequently in the field of psychology, there are some studies showing that people are sexually attracted to those genetically


id: geobiology-pseudoscience-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geobiology_(pseudoscience)-0.md
category: reference
title: Geobiology (pseudoscience)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geobiology_(pseudoscience)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:12.575410+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: geobiology-pseudoscience-20260505-0
summary:
Geobiology is a field which studies the effects of the Earth's radiation, such as telluric currents and other electromagnetic fields, on biological life. The term is derived from Ancient Greek gē (ge) meaning 'earth' and βίος; (bios) meaning 'life'. Its findings have not been scientifically proven; thus, it is considered a form of pseudoscience. == Claims == Within geobiology, distinct patterns of Earth radiation, mainly Hartmann lines (named after Ernst Hartmann) and Curry lines (after Manfred Curry; also called Wittmann lines after Siegfried Wittmann) are posited on occasion to have a negative effect on health and even the viability of biological life. Other similar patterns, named after practitioners of geobiology, include Peyré lines (after Francois Peyré), Romani waves (after Lucien Romani), and the Benker cube (after Anton Benker). It is also claimed that groundwater may create radiation caused by the friction of water against mineral deposits, as well as geological faults, due to a claimed difference in the electric charge of the masses on each side of the fault generating radiation. These are claimed by practitioners to have harmful effects in a phenomenon collectively called geopathic stress. A practitioner of geobiology may also seek out radiation derived from human infrastructure,


id: geocentric-creationism-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocentric_creationism-0.md
category: reference
title: Geocentric creationism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocentric_creationism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:13.815441+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: geocentric-creationism-20260505-0
summary:
Geocentric creationism is a religious belief held by a small subgroup of radical Young Earth Creationists who, in addition to asserting that the Earth was created between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago, also endorse the outdated geocentric model, which claims that Earth is stationary at the center of the universe. Advocates of Geocentric creationism believe that God placed the Earth at the center of the Universe to symbolize the uniqueness and centrality of humanity. This view is in direct contradiction to established scientific consensus on the movement of the Earth, biology and the age of the Earth and is thus classified as pseudoscientific. It is primarily followed by small segments of Protestant and Catholic fundamentalists alongside a few Orthodox Jews and Salafi Muslims, but is fringe within even the Creationist movement itself, who often try to distance themselves from geocentrism. Geocentrism differs from modern flat Earth beliefs as they nevertheless affirm the scientific fact of the Earth's spherical shape, however despite being largely insignificant, the view has had a somewhat greater influence within the anti-evolutionist movement than those who believe in a flat Earth. However, like flat Earthers, geocentrists also reject much of modern physics, astronomy, and biology. Geocentrism is


id: geocentric-creationism-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocentric_creationism-1.md
category: reference
title: Geocentric creationism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocentric_creationism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:13.815441+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: geocentric-creationism-20260505-0
summary:
=== Modern geocentric creationist movement === Modern Christians generally reject the geocentric model, and the strict understanding of the verses used to defend it in the medieval age. However, despite scientific advances, even today few still try to cling unto the Geocentric model of the past. This has been influenced by the Dutch-Canadian named Walter van der Kamp founded the Tychonic Society around the 1970s, which promoted the geocentric view that Copernicus was mistaken and that the Earth remains stationary at the center of the universe. One of the most prominent geocentric creationists of the 20th century is the Protestant Gerardus Bouw, director of the Association for Biblical Astronomy and author of several books defending geocentrism. And although unlike other Geocentrist advocates, Bouw had a PhD in astronomy, his views are not taken seriously by the scientific community. The popular Islamic British Salafi-scholar Abu Iyaad is a staunch modern supporter of Geocentrism. He has published many articles speaking about and defending Geocentrism from a salafi-islamic perspective. He speaks about how the Quran and the hadiths explicitly imply a stationary, unmoving spherical earth. And that mainstream Astronomy is either wrong or completely lying about the existence of the solar system. He


id: geocentric-creationism-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocentric_creationism-2.md
category: reference
title: Geocentric creationism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocentric_creationism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:13.815441+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: geocentric-creationism-20260505-0
summary:
=== Theological presuppositions === Geocentric creationism is based on a rejection of the mainstream scientific method in favour of supernatural explanations of the Universe, arguing that God created everything that exists within 6 days around 6000 years ago and created the Universe with the Earth at its very center. People such as Gerardus Bouw have argued that observation must be interpreted in harmony with the text of scripture, which he believed to be teaching a Geocentric model and that it needs to be the starting point in scientific inquiry. However, contrary to the views of Kepler and Galileo who although being Christians, believed that the scripture never speak of the inner workings of the solar system. Bouw criticized modern Christians, including the majority of Christian fundamentalists who agree with the claim that Bible does not speak on cosmological models. Instead, he favoured supernatural explanations of the movement of the universe and the solar system that he believed to better reflect his geocentric understanding of scripture, including claims such as the existence of aether, which he identified as the "firmanent" of Genesis 1. Due to this, he ended up modifying the cosmology of Tycho Brahe's model further by adjusting the stars


id: geopathology-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geopathology-0.md
category: reference
title: Geopathology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geopathology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:15.007476+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: geopathology-20260505-0
summary:
Geopathology (also Geopathy) is a pseudoscientific theory that links the Earth's inherent radiation with the health of humans, animals and plants. The term is derived from Greek γεω- (geō-), combining form of γῆ (gê, “earth”) and πάθος (páthos, “suffering”) - ie pathology, widely used to describe infirmities. The term is more widely used in the adjectival form ie 'geopathic' (sometimes 'geopathological') and often linked to 'stress', creating the terms 'geopathic stress' and 'geostress'. Gustav Freiherr von Pohl has been described as the modern 'father' of geopathic stress. von Pohl conducted a study in the Bavarian town of Vilsbiburg in 1929 which purported to link focus points of 'earth-radiation' (ger. Erdstrahlen) with incidence of cancer. Ley lines (a supposition introduced by Alfred Watkins in 1925) have also been suggested to create geopathic stress. == Geopathic stress (GS) == It is suggested that the Earth has a natural vibration, but features like underground watercourses, drainage pipes, underground tunnels and even simple geological faults distort this vibration. Such distorted vibrations are held to rise upwards through the Earth's surface and create a pernicious effect on the health and/or behaviour of all biological life. The distortions are amplified during night hours and consequently the


id: germ-theory-denialism-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germ_theory_denialism-0.md
category: reference
title: Germ theory denialism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germ_theory_denialism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:16.154342+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: germ-theory-denialism-20260505-0
summary:
Germ theory denialism is the pseudoscientific belief that germs are not the main cause of infectious disease, and that the germ theory of disease does not take into account internal and external factors such as those described in traditional Chinese medicine. It usually involves arguing that Louis Pasteur's model of infectious disease is illogical, and that Antoine Béchamp's theory of disease has more logical merit. In fact, its origins are rooted in Béchamp's theory of pleomorphism. One main, yet discarded, variation is known as terrain theory which postulates that germs morphologically change in response to environmental factors, subsequently causing disease, rather than germs being the sole cause of it. == History == Germ theory denialism is as old as germ theory itself, beginning with the rivalry of Pasteur and Béchamp. Pasteur's work in preventing beverage contamination led him to discover that it was due to microorganisms and led him to become the first scientist to prove the validity of the theory and to popularize it in Europe. Before him, scientists such as Girolamo Fracastoro (who had the idea that fomites could harbor the seeds of contagion), Agostino Bassi (who discovered that the muscardine disease of silkworms was caused by a


id: ghost-hunting-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_hunting-0.md
category: reference
title: Ghost hunting
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_hunting
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:17.382938+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ghost-hunting-20260505-0
summary:
Ghost hunting is the process of investigating locations that are purportedly haunted by ghosts. The practice has been heavily criticized for its dismissal of the scientific method. No scientific study has confirmed the existence of ghosts. Ghost hunting is considered a pseudoscience by the vast majority of educators, academics, science writers and skeptics. Science historian Brian Regal described ghost hunting as "an unorganized exercise in futility". Typically, a ghost-hunting team will attempt to collect "evidence" supporting the existence of paranormal activity. Ghost hunters also refer to themselves as paranormal investigators. Ghost hunters use a variety of electronic devices, including EMF meters, digital thermometers, both handheld and static digital video cameras, including thermographic and night vision cameras, night vision goggles, and digital audio recorders. Other more traditional techniques are also used, such as conducting interviews and researching the history of allegedly haunted sites. Dowsing and Ouija boards are other traditional techniques. == History == Paranormal research dates back to the nineteenth century, with organizations such as the Society for Psychical Research investigating spiritual matters. Psychic researcher Harry Price published his Confessions of a Ghost-Hunter in 1936. Ghost hunting was popularized in the 2000s by television series such as Most Haunted and


id: ghost-hunting-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_hunting-1.md
category: reference
title: Ghost hunting
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_hunting
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:17.382938+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ghost-hunting-20260505-0
summary:
Price wrote that the photographs depicting the ectoplasm of the medium Eva Carrière taken with Schrenck-Notzing looked artificial and two-dimensional, made from cardboard and newspaper portraits and that there were no scientific controls as both her hands were free. In 1920 Carrière was investigated by psychical researchers in London. An analysis of her ectoplasm revealed it to be made of chewed paper. She was also investigated in 1922 and the result of the tests were negative. In 1925, Price investigated Maria Silbert and caught her using her feet and toes to move objects in the séance room. He also investigated the "direct voice" mediumship of George Valiantine in London. In the séance Valiantine claimed to have contacted the "spirit" of the composer Luigi Arditi, speaking in Italian. Price wrote down every word that was attributed to Arditi and they were found to be word-for-word matches in an Italian phrase-book. In 1926, Price formed the National Laboratory of Psychical Research as a rival to the SPR. Price made a formal offer to the University of London to equip and endow a Department of Psychical Research, and to loan the equipment of the National Laboratory and its library. In 1936, he transferred


id: ghost-hunting-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_hunting-2.md
category: reference
title: Ghost hunting
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_hunting
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:17.382938+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ghost-hunting-20260505-0
summary:
Edward Warren Miney (1926–2006) and Lorraine Rita Warren (née Moran, 1927–2019) were American paranormal investigators and authors associated with prominent reports of haunting from the 1950s to the present. Edward was a World War II United States Navy veteran who became a self-taught and self-professed demonologist, author, and lecturer. Lorraine professed to be clairvoyant and a light trance medium who worked closely with her husband. In 1952, the Warrens founded the New England Society for Psychic Research, considered by some the oldest ghost hunting group in New England, and allegedly the United States. They authored numerous books about the paranormal and about their private investigations into various reports of paranormal activity. They claimed to have investigated over 1,000 cases during their career, and have been involved with various supernatural claims such as the Snedeker family haunting, the Enfield Poltergeist and the Smurl haunting, as well as claims of demonic possession in the Trial of Arne Cheyenne Johnson. The Warrens are best known for their involvement in the 1976 Amityville Horror case in which New York couple George and Kathy Lutz claimed that their house was haunted by a violent, demonic presence so intense that it eventually drove them out of


id: ghost-hunting-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_hunting-3.md
category: reference
title: Ghost hunting
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_hunting
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:17.382938+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ghost-hunting-20260505-0
summary:
== Skepticism == Critics question ghost hunting's methodology, particularly its use of instrumentation, as there is no scientifically proven link between the existence of ghosts and cold spots or electromagnetic fields. According to skeptical investigator Joe Nickell, the typical ghost hunter is practicing pseudoscience. Nickell says that ghost hunters often arm themselves with EMF meters, thermometers that can identify cold spots, and wireless microphones that eliminate background noise, pointing out the equipment being used to try to detect ghosts is not designed for the job. "The least likely explanation for any given reading is it is a ghost," maintains Nickell. Orbs of light that show up on photos, he says, are often particles of dust or moisture. "Voices" picked up by tape recorders can be radio signals or noise from the recorder, EMF detectors can be set off by faulty wiring, microwave towers, iron, recording equipment, or cell phones, and heat sensors can pick up reflections off of mirrors or other metal surfaces. Nickell has also criticized the practice of searching only in the dark, saying that since some ghosts are described as "shadows or dark entities," he conducts searches in lighted rather than darkened conditions. According to investigator Benjamin


id: ghost-hunting-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_hunting-4.md
category: reference
title: Ghost hunting
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_hunting
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:17.382938+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ghost-hunting-20260505-0
summary:
ARIGs often promote their paranormalist viewpoint as scientifically based, especially in community presentations or lectures at educational facilities. While scientifically minded observers can readily spot the anemic and shoddy scholarship of popular paranormal investigation, the public, unaware of the fundamental errors ARIGs make, can be persuaded by jargon and "sciencey" symbols. Hill sees the supernatural bias of such groups as an indication of how "far removed ARIG participants really are from the established scientific community". In Hill's 2017 book Scientifical Americans, reviewed by historian Brian Regal for Skeptical Inquirer magazine, Regal notes that the book is particularly timely, as it addresses an era when many people question the authority of science. Regal wonders why believers think that "untutored amateurs know more (and are more trustworthy) than professional scholars". He also asks why there is little discussion on "philosophical and theological aspects of their work". For instance, theoretical questions such as "What is a ghost?" and "Does one's religion in life determine if they can become a ghost in death?" are left underexplored. Additionally, Hill gives a historiography of the field of "modern paranormal interest: monsters, UFOs, and ghosts." Hill does not insult or ridicule the people she writes about, but


id: ghost-hunting-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_hunting-5.md
category: reference
title: Ghost hunting
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_hunting
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:17.382938+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ghost-hunting-20260505-0
summary:
Still photography and video These may use digital, night vision, infrared, and even disposable cameras. EMF meter Used to detect possibly unexplained fluctuations in electromagnetic fields. The Safe Range EMF brand of meter, designed for use with power lines and household appliances, became popular after the Ghost Hunters television series claimed it to be "specially calibrated for paranormal investigators". The Atlantic attributes its popularity among ghost hunters to its brightly colored LED display and propensity for false positive readings. Tablet PC Used to record data, audio, video and even environmental fluctuations such as electromagnetic fields. Ambient temperature measurement Using thermographic cameras, thermal imaging cameras, infrared thermometers, and other infrared temperature sensors. All of these methods only measure surface temperature and not ambient temperature. Digital and analog audio recording These are used to capture any unexplained noises and electronic voice phenomena (EVPs), which may be interpreted as disembodied voices. Cameras are used to photograph / obtain Paranormal Photographic Capture (PPCs). Compass Some ghost hunters use a compass to determine the location of paranormal spots, similar to EMFs. Geiger counter Used to measure fluctuations in radiation. Infrared and/or ultrasonic motion sensors Used to detect possible anomalous movement within a given area, or


id: ghost-hunting-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_hunting-6.md
category: reference
title: Ghost hunting
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_hunting
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:17.382938+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ghost-hunting-20260505-0
summary:
==== Poltergeist ==== Poltergeist is the original film in the Poltergeist trilogy, directed by Tobe Hooper, co-written by Steven Spielberg and released on 4 June 1982. The story focuses on the Freeling family, which consists of Steven (Craig T. Nelson), Diane (JoBeth Williams), Dana (Dominique Dunne), Robbie (Oliver Robins), and Carol Anne (Heather O'Rourke), who live in a California housing development called Cuesta Verde, which comes to be haunted by ghosts. The film depicts a group of paranormal investigators, parapsychologists, and a spiritual medium named Tangina Barrons (Zelda Rubinstein) in their efforts to assist the family. A reboot of the series, Poltergeist, was directed by Gil Kenan and released on 22 May 2015, that features the host of a paranormal-themed TV show who comes to the aid of the family. ==== Ghostbusters ==== Ghostbusters is a 1984 American fantasy comedy film produced and directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz and Egon Spengler, eccentric parapsychologists who start a ghost-catching business in New York City. Ghostbusters was released in the United States on 8 June 1984, and grossed US$242 million in the United States


id: gill-plate-trade-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gill_plate_trade-0.md
category: reference
title: Gill plate trade
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gill_plate_trade
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:18.571334+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: gill-plate-trade-20260505-0
summary:
The gill plate trade is the buying and selling of stingray gill plates for their use in traditional Chinese medicine. The gill plates are harvested from stingrays that are caught intentionally, or caught as bycatch. The plates are sold whole or in a powder form. A single kilogram of the gill plate can be sold for up to US$350, though the price varies by ray species. == Process == Stingrays are caught by fishing lines or nets. Private fishermen tend to target these ray species due to the high payout from their gill plates. Large fishing operations tend to catch rays as bycatch when fishing for more desirable food fish such as tuna, where they are brought back to shore and sold regardless of the intention to catch these fish. The gill plates are split in two and dried after they are taken from the dead rays. Once dried the plates are sold whole or ground into a powder. == Uses in traditional Chinese medicine == Tonics made from stingray gill plates are used in traditional Chinese medicine, but there is no evidence of its effectiveness in any medical treatment. == Impacts == === On stingray populations === A few


id: gishiri-cutting-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gishiri_cutting-0.md
category: reference
title: Gishiri cutting
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gishiri_cutting
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:19.741830+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: gishiri-cutting-20260505-0
summary:
Gishiri or gishiri cutting is a form of female genital mutilation performed commonly by the Hausa-Fulani people of northern Nigeria and southern Niger. The procedure is believed by traditional practitioners to treat a variety of gynecologic ailments, although there is no scientific basis for this procedure, and it is considered pseudoscience. == Etymology == The word "gishiri" is Hausa for "salt". It refers to the practice of Arab traders who still caravan across the Sahara to cities in northern parts of West Africa, such as Kano, Nigeria. When a customer buys a quantity of salt, the trader produces a long knife and cuts a piece off a large block; this knife is similar to the kind used to produce gishiri cuts. == Procedure and risks == A whole range of gynecological complaints, including difficulty in labor, infertility, dyspareunia (pain during sex), pelvic organ prolapse and urinary retention, are believed to be caused by a vagina that is too narrow in these areas. The traditional treatment is to incise the vagina. A long knife is inserted into the vagina and backward cuts from the back of the vagina down into the perineum are made. Serious injuries can result, such as fistulae:


id: goethean-science-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goethean_science-0.md
category: reference
title: Goethean science
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goethean_science
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:20.907485+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: goethean-science-20260505-0
summary:
Goethean science concerns the natural philosophy (German Naturphilosophie "philosophy of nature") of German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Although primarily known as a literary figure, Goethe did research in morphology, anatomy, and optics. He also developed a phenomenological approach to natural history, an alternative to Enlightenment natural science, which is still debated today among scholars. His works in natural history include his 1790 Metamorphosis of Plants and his 1810 book Theory of Colors. His work in colour, and his polemics against the Newtonian Optics had a mixed reception from the natural history establishment of the time — under half spoke against Goethe, while a third of natural scientists had favourable reviews of Goethe's colour theory. == Background == The rationalist scientific method, which had worked well with inert nature (Bacon's natura naturata), was less successful in seeking to understand vital nature (natura naturans). At the same time, the rational-empirical model based on the predominance of mentative thinking (German: sinnen) via the intellect (German: Sinn), started by Descartes and advanced most notably in France, was leading to confusion and doubt rather than clarity. Especially in subjective topics, equally rational arguments could be made for widely divergent propositions or conceptions. The more


id: goethean-science-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goethean_science-1.md
category: reference
title: Goethean science
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goethean_science
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:20.907485+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: goethean-science-20260505-0
summary:
=== Goethe's approach to vital nature === In relation to Goethe's Colour Theory — Ernst Lehrs writes, "In point of fact, the essential difference between Goethe's theory of colour and the theory which has prevailed in science (despite all modifications) since Newton's day, lies in this: While the theory of Newton and his successors was based on excluding the colour-seeing faculty of the eye, Goethe founded his theory on the eye's experience of colour." "The renouncing of life and immediacy, which was the premise for the progress of natural science since Newton, formed the real basis for the bitter struggle which Goethe waged against the physical optics of Newton. It would be superficial to dismiss this struggle as unimportant: there is much significance in one of the most outstanding men directing all his efforts to fighting against the development of Newtonian optics." (Werner Heisenberg, during a speech celebrating Goethe's birthday) Goethe undertook his 'adventure of reason', starting with the "crisis" in botany, the merely and purely mechanical classification-taxonomy of plant life. In so doing, Goethe also "wagered a sweeping theory about Nature itself." Goethe was concerned with the narrowing specialization in science and emphasis on accumulating data in a merely


id: goethean-science-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goethean_science-2.md
category: reference
title: Goethean science
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goethean_science
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:20.907485+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: goethean-science-20260505-0
summary:
== Goethe's ur-phenomena == Five arts was Goethe's method of transmuting his observation of human nature into sharable form. Drawing from his novel, Elective Affinities (Wahlverwandschaften), Goethe discerned a geheime Verwandschaft (hidden relationship) of parts that explains how one form can transform into another form while being part of an underlying archetypal form (Ur-phänomen). It is this organizing idea or form that guides the consideration of the parts; it is a Bild or virtual image that "emerges and re-emerges from the interaction of experience and ideas". This consideration is a special type of thinking (noetic ideation or denken) carried out with a different organ of cognizance to that of the brain (mentation or sinnen), one that involves an act of creative imagination, what Goethe terms "the living imaginal beholding of Nature" (das lebendige Anschauen der Natur). Goethe's nature (natura naturans, the activity of "nature naturing" – as distinguished from natura naturata, "nature natured", the domain of naturally formed objects) is one in constant flux and flow, but nonetheless governed by law, logic and intelligence above the mind. To approach vital nature requires a different cognitive capacity (denken) and cognitive organ (Gemüt) from that used to perceive inert nature (sinnen based


id: goethean-science-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goethean_science-3.md
category: reference
title: Goethean science
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goethean_science
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:20.907485+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: goethean-science-20260505-0
summary:
== Goethe and the idea of evolution == In the 1790s, Goethe rediscovered the premaxilla in humans, known as the incisive bone. He cited this as morphological evidence of humanity's connection to other mammalian species. Goethe writes in Story of My Botanical Studies (1831): The ever-changing display of plant forms, which I have followed for so many years, awakens increasingly within me the notion: The plant forms which surround us were not all created at some given point in time and then locked into the given form, they have been given… a felicitous mobility and plasticity allowing them to grow and adapt themselves to many different conditions in many different places. Andrew Dickson White also writes with respect to evolutionary thought, in A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom (1896): About the end of the eighteenth century fruitful suggestions and even clear presentations of this or that part of a large evolutionary doctrine came thick and fast, and from the most divergent quarters. Especially remarkable were those from Erasmus Darwin in England, Maupertuis in France, Oken in Switzerland, and Herder, and, most brilliantly of all, from Goethe in Germany. == Reception == Arthur Schopenhauer expanded on


id: gold-effect-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_effect-0.md
category: reference
title: Gold effect
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_effect
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:22.143901+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: gold-effect-20260505-0
summary:
The Gold effect is the phenomenon in which a scientific idea, particularly in medicine, is developed to the status of an accepted position within a professional body or association by the social process itself of scientific conferences, committees, and consensus building, despite not being supported by conclusive evidence. The Gold effect is used to analyze errors in public health policy and practice, such as the widespread use of cholesterol screening in the prevention of cardiovascular disease. The effect was described by Thomas Gold in 1979. The effect was reviewed by Petr Skrabanek and James McCormick in their book Follies and Fallacies in Medicine. In their book, Skrabanek and McCormick describe the Gold effect as: "At the beginning a few people arrive at a state of near belief in some idea. A meeting is held to discuss the pros and cons of the idea. More people favouring the idea than those disinterested will be present. A representative committee will be nominated to prepare a collective volume to propagate and foster interest in the idea. The totality of resulting articles based on the idea will appear to show an increasing consensus. A specialized journal will be launched. Only orthodox or near orthodox


id: goop-company-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goop_(company)-0.md
category: reference
title: Goop (company)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goop_(company)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:23.354349+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: goop-company-20260505-0
summary:
Goop is a wellness and lifestyle brand and company founded by American actress Gwyneth Paltrow. It was launched in September 2008 as a weekly e-mail newsletter providing New Age advice, such as "police your thoughts" and "eliminate white foods", and the slogan "Nourish the Inner Aspect". Goop later expanded into e-commerce, collaborating with fashion brands, hosting pop-up shops, holding a "wellness summit", and launching a print magazine, podcast, and docuseries on Netflix. Goop has faced criticism for marketing products and treatments that are harmful, described as "snake oil", based on pseudoscience, and lack efficacy. California officials from the Consumer Protection Office have sued Goop for false advertising, asserting that Goop has made unfounded health claims about a variety of products. Goop settled the lawsuit out of court. Class-action lawsuits have been brought against Goop for unsafe products. == History == Goop was founded in Paltrow's home in London, beginning as a newsletter in 2008, with an editor's note in each email from Paltrow offering insight into her daily life. Goop was incorporated in 2011. According to Paltrow, the company's name came from Peter Arnell telling her that successful internet companies have double Os in their name, and she "wanted it


id: goop-company-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goop_(company)-1.md
category: reference
title: Goop (company)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goop_(company)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:23.354349+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: goop-company-20260505-0
summary:
== Products and distribution == Goop launched an online shop in 2012, and it earned $1.5 million for Goop during its first year of operation. By 2014, the Goop newsletter had an estimated 700,000 subscribers. In 2015, Goop launched a publishing imprint, Goop Press, with Grand Central Publishing, and planned to release one title per year. In 2016, additional funds also led to an increase in staffing for Goop, as well as the launch of new products, including a fashion label with a focus on practical, tailored clothing. In 2017, Goop entered the vitamin and supplements market. Paltrow first had the idea to market supplements after receiving a Myers' cocktail from Alejandro Junger in 2007. The supplement products sold over $100,000 worth of product on the launch day. In April, Goop announced that they had entered into an agreement with Condé Nast to launch a new print magazine under the name Goop. The quarterly magazine was launched in September, but only ran for two issues, with Nast replacing pieces that failed their fact-checking process by travel articles, and a disagreement over the use of the magazine to promote Goop products. In December 2017, Goop announced the launch of a digital


id: goop-company-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goop_(company)-2.md
category: reference
title: Goop (company)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goop_(company)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:23.354349+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: goop-company-20260505-0
summary:
Goop by Juice Beauty, a makeup and skincare line launched in partnership with Juice Beauty in 2016, influenced by the popularity of a Goop article the year before about beauty products without formaldehyde and endocrine disruptors. The brand's products are made from USDA certified organic ingredients and are considered to be vegan. Goop Label, a fashion line launched in September 2016. The collection is based on Paltrow's personal favorites and styles, and has been described as "high-street staples". Goop Fragrance, an all-natural fragrance line including perfume and scented candles. The first fragrance, Edition 01 Winter, was created by the perfumer Douglas Little and released in November 2016. Goop Wellness, which sells GMO and gluten-free vitamins and other supplements. The line was launched in 2017, and was influenced by the popularity of a Goop article that year about "postnatal depletion". G. Sport Sessions, a range of fitness programs offered in partnership with Westin Hotels and Resorts launched in 2018, with classes led by Tracy Anderson, Paltrow's personal trainer. CB2 x goop, a furniture and home décor line in collaboration with Crate & Barrel, launched in August 2018. GoopGenes All-In-One Nourishing Face Cream and Eye Cream was launched in early August 2020


id: goop-company-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goop_(company)-3.md
category: reference
title: Goop (company)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goop_(company)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:23.354349+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: goop-company-20260505-0
summary:
Goop has been criticized for showcasing expensive products and making "out of touch" recommendations that many readers cannot afford, which Paltrow has responded to by stating that such products and recommendations are "aspirational," furthermore arguing that the items available cannot be made for a lower price, and that the content of Goop is free. Dana Logan argues that Goop is an example of asceticism as part of consumer culture. Goop has also drawn criticism for selling cosmetics containing the same ostensibly harmful chemicals which the site tells people to avoid. In April 2015, Paltrow and the Goop staff participated in a food stamp challenge in an attempt to raise awareness for the Food Bank for New York City. Paltrow gave up on the challenge after four days, writing that she had expected she would not be able to abide by the budget for the full week. Critics suggested that Paltrow's groceries did not accurately reflect what SNAP recipients usually buy, though Aubrey Gordon notes that the point of the challenge was to show that SNAP benefits are not sufficient, even for privileged people such as celebrities. A number of products sold by Goop, as well as ideas promoted in its


id: goop-company-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goop_(company)-4.md
category: reference
title: Goop (company)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goop_(company)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:23.354349+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: goop-company-20260505-0
summary:
It is shocking to see the sheer volume of unproven claims made by Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop about their products, especially given that some of their health advice is potentially dangerous. [...] Gwyneth Paltrow may well have good intentions, but she and her company sell products with claims that could clearly mislead customers. [...] if Gwyneth Paltrow cannot provide satisfactory evidence behind the claims she makes for her products, she should not be making those claims. On January 20, 2020, speaking at the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford, the head of the UK's National Health Service, Simon Stevens spoke about misinformation which harms patients, exemplified by Goop's claim that "chemical sunscreen is a bad idea," and Goop's promotion of colonic irrigation, which Stevens said are "carrying considerable risk to health." === Legal settlements === Goop has faced criticism for marketing products and treatments that are based on pseudoscience, lack efficacy, and are recognized by the medical community as harmful. In 2017, Truth in Advertising filed a complaint with California regulators regarding over 50 health claims made by Goop, which resulted in a $125,000 settlement and a five-year injunction prohibiting the company from making unsubstantiated claims about the characteristics or health benefits of


id: goop-company-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goop_(company)-5.md
category: reference
title: Goop (company)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goop_(company)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:23.354349+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: goop-company-20260505-0
summary:
In December 2016, a book parodying Goop called Glop: Nontoxic Ideas That Will Make You Look Ridiculous and Feel Pretentious was published and included advice such as: "Our modern lifestyles are absolutely full of toxins—nearly everything we come into daily contact with, from Egyptian cotton sheets to 8-carat diamonds to yacht paint, is dangerously noxious." By June 2017, the New York Times reported that parodying Goop had "become a national pastime". In September 2015, The Late Show host Stephen Colbert began a recurring sketch about his spoof lifestyle brand Covetton House, which promotes everyday products with fancy names and jacked-up prices. Paltrow appeared on an episode in January 2018 announcing a collaboration between Goop and Covetton House, featuring a sponge which cost $900. In April 2018, Colbert and Paltrow collaborated on a line of goods to raise money for education in the United States. In March 2018, Botnik Studios created a newsletter called "goob" parodying Goop, which generated text using predictive text; headlines included "Listen to Your Body: Your Migraines are Podcasts Trying to be Produced." In October 2018, Heidi Gardner appeared on the Weekend Update segment of Saturday Night Live as "Baskin Johns," a Goop employee, parodying the company


id: the-goop-lab-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goop_Lab-0.md
category: reference
title: The Goop Lab
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goop_Lab
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:24.609115+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-goop-lab-20260505-0
summary:
The Goop Lab (also known as The Goop Lab with Gwyneth Paltrow) is an American documentary series about the lifestyle and wellness company Goop, founded by American actress Gwyneth Paltrow, who acts as host and executive producer of the series. The series premiered on January 24, 2020, on Netflix. The Goop Lab was nominated for two 2020 Critics Choice Real TV Awards. The partnership with Netflix led to criticism of the streaming company for giving Gwyneth Paltrow a platform to promote her company, which has been criticized for making unsubstantiated health claims. The series presented anecdotes and experiences in place of scientifically validated facts. Some headlines called the series a "win for pseudoscience," while others praised the series for a positive look at women's issues and its exploration of alternative medical interventions. == Premise == In The Goop Lab, Gwyneth Paltrow and employees at her wellness and lifestyle company Goop "explore ideas that may seem out-there," namely, psychedelic drugs, Wim Hof's cold therapy, female sexuality, anti-aging diets, "energy" healing, and communication with the dead. Topics and the series' presentation have been criticized as pseudoscientific. Prior to each episode, there is a disclaimer: "The following series is designed to entertain and


id: the-goop-lab-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goop_Lab-1.md
category: reference
title: The Goop Lab
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goop_Lab
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:24.609115+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-goop-lab-20260505-0
summary:
Psychedelics psychotherapy: "The use of psychedelics for therapeutic purposes has increased in recent years, with continuing studies in the US and the UK exploring their short-term and long-term impact on mental health disorders. They have so far been linked to having potentially positive effects related to the treatment of addiction, anxiety related to terminal illness, chronic PTSD, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and social anxiety... While it found little to no evidence of participants experiencing increased life satisfaction, researchers indicated there were lower levels of stress and depression reported." Regarding microdosing, they reported "The use of such powerful psychedelics outside of a controlled environment and without the proper medical expertise is not recommended by medical professionals." Cold exposure therapy: "There is some science behind Mr Hof's claims... However, cold-water swimming can be very dangerous - and there is a significant risk of hypothermia when not done in a controlled setting. There is also a risk from the body's acute cold shock response, which may affect the arm muscles while swimming and can lead to incapacitation and potential drowning within minutes if unsupervised." Energy healing: "Currently, there is no scientific evidence proving such energy exists." Regarding John Amaral's statements regarding quantum physics' proving


id: the-goop-lab-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goop_Lab-2.md
category: reference
title: The Goop Lab
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goop_Lab
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:24.609115+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-goop-lab-20260505-0
summary:
I’d wager that anyone making time for “The Goop Lab” is coming to it from a similar place: A love-hate desire to know what she's actually like when she doles out the advice that usually appears, disembodied, on her website. And the answer is: Thoughtful. Open. Searching. Curiosity is hard to fake, and Gwyneth has it, whether she's asking a doctor to explain his psychedelic research or querying one of her assistants/guinea pigs about the effects of an experiment." Daley Quinn similarly appraised Paltrow: "Despite the fact that many of these episodes made me thoroughly uncomfortable, I couldn't help but become absolutely entranced by Paltrow, with her orphic aqua eyes, pastel outfits and aggressively California-cool-girl vibe. As I binged my way though [sic] the episodes, I found her to be unfailingly funny and entertaining, and I came to understand why so many flock to her site daily in the hopes of Goop-ifying their lives." In The New York Times, Elisa Albert and Jennifer Block gave a feminist critique of the criticism targeting The Goop Lab and Goop: "what underlies all the overwhelming, predictable, repetitive critiques? What exactly is so awful about a bunch of consenting adults seeking self-knowledge, vitality and


id: grand-supercycle-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_supercycle-0.md
category: reference
title: Grand supercycle
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_supercycle
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:25.781590+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: grand-supercycle-20260505-0
summary:
The Grand Supercycle is the longest period, or wave, in the growth of a financial market as described by the Elliott wave principle, originally conceived and formulated by Ralph Nelson Elliott. Elliott speculated that a Grand Supercycle advance had started in the United States stock market in 1857 and ran to the year 1928, but acknowledged another interpretation that it may have been the third or even the fifth Grand Supercycle wave. However, these assignments have been reevaluated and clarified using larger historical financial data sets in the works of A. J. Frost and R.R. Prechter, and the start is now considered to be 1789, when stock market data began to be recorded. Like all Elliott waves, Grand Supercycle waves are subdivided into smaller generations of waves. The next smaller generation of waves are those of Supercycle degree. Modern applications of the Wave Principle also describe waves of larger degree spanning millennial periods of time. Modern application of Elliott wave theory posits that a Grand Supercycle wave five is completing in the 21st century and should be followed by a corrective price pattern of decline that will represent the largest economic recession since the 1700s. == Possible Elliott wave position


id: johann-grander-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Grander-0.md
category: reference
title: Johann Grander
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Grander
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:26.936232+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: johann-grander-20260505-0
summary:
Johann Grander (24 April 1930 – 24 September 2012) was the Austrian inventor of a water revitalization technology, which has scientifically been proven as ineffective. == Life == Grander was born in Jochberg, Austria, the second of five children. At the age of 13 the Nazi district leadership deprived him of further schooling and sent him to work as an agricultural tractor driver. == Revitalized water == Grander stated that Jesus had appeared to him and gave him the plan for water revitalization because of his connection with God. Grander invented a scientifically unproven process for treating water, producing what he called "revitalized water" (German: "Belebtes Wasser"). According to Grander, this improves the water structure and produces a healthy environment for useful microorganisms. In 1978, Grander founded the Grander family business (Grander GmbH) and focused on research on his technology for original Grander technology. Grander's family continues in activities for the treatment, production and marketing of revitalized water and water treatment equipment. It is scientific consensus that the claims as to how the process changes water are not supported by physics or chemistry and may be called "esoteric nonsense", in the sense of freedom of speech, regarding a verdict of


id: grape-therapy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grape_therapy-0.md
category: reference
title: Grape therapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grape_therapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:44.259990+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: grape-therapy-20260505-0
summary:
Grape therapy or grape diet, also known as ampelotherapy, is a diet that involves heavy consumption of grapes, sometimes with their seeds, leaves and parts of the vine, as a form of alternative medicine. It emerged in German spas such as Bad Duerkheim and Merano in the 19th century. The concept has no scientific basis and is regarded as quackery by scientific institutions including the American Cancer Society. == Background == An assumption of some of grape therapy is that consuming grape constituents would provide unusual therapeutic or nutritional benefits. However, consuming grapes has unknown effects against cardiovascular diseases and other diseases, such as metabolic syndrome. Alternative medicine practitioners have recommended grapes and parts of the vine for treating various diseases, but there is no clinical evidence for any such effects. Grape pomace contains various micronutrients, but the resulting flour from pomace has variable nutrient contents due to processing, drying, and storage conditions. In a reference amount of 100 g (3.5 oz), raw grapes provide little nutritional benefit, except for moderate amounts of carbohydrates and vitamin K (see grape nutrition). Proanthocyanidins, anthocyanins and resveratrol extracted from grape seeds and grape skins are under basic research for their possible biological effects.


id: grapefruit-diet-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grapefruit_diet-0.md
category: reference
title: Grapefruit diet
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grapefruit_diet
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:45.428826+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: grapefruit-diet-20260505-0
summary:
The Grapefruit diet (also known as the Hollywood diet and the 18-Day diet) is a short-term fad diet that has existed in the United States since at least the 1930s. There are variations on the diet, although it generally consists of eating one half of a grapefruit at each meal, along with meat, eggs, other foods that are rich in fat and protein, and certain vegetables. Sugar, fruits (other than grapefruit), sweet vegetables, grains and starchy vegetables are to be avoided. The grapefruit diet is thus a low-carbohydrate diet. A typical breakfast menu usually includes bacon and eggs. The diet is based on the claim that grapefruit has a fat-burning enzyme or similar property. The grapefruit diet does not require exercise. The grapefruit diet lasts for 10 to 12 days followed by 2 days off. == History == The grapefruit diet originated in the 1930s. initially, it was referred to as the "eighteen-day diet" in 1929 , consisting of grapefruit, orange, toast, vegetable and egg combinations for 18 days, totaling approximately 500 kilocalories (2,100 kJ). The originator of the diet is not known. One rumour traces the diet to actress Ethel Barrymore, who is alleged to have paid William James


id: graphology-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphology-0.md
category: reference
title: Graphology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:46.593471+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: graphology-20260505-0
summary:
Graphology is the analysis of handwriting in an attempt to determine the writer's personality traits. Its methods and conclusions are not supported by scientific evidence, and as such it is considered to be a pseudoscience. Graphology has been controversial for more than a century. Although proponents point to positive testimonials as anecdotal evidence of its utility for personality evaluation, these claims have not been supported by scientific studies. It has been rated as among the most discredited methods of psychological analysis by a survey of mental health professionals. == Etymology == The word "graphology" derives from the Greek γραφή (grapho-; 'writing'), and λόγος (logos; 'theory'). == History == In 1991, Jean-Charles Gille-Maisani stated that Juan Huarte de San Juan's 1575 Examen de ingenios para las ciencias was the first book on handwriting analysis. In American graphology, Camillo Baldi's Trattato come da una lettera missiva si conoscano la natura e qualità dello scrittore from 1622 is considered to be the first book. Around 1830, Jean-Hippolyte Michon became interested in handwriting analysis. He published his findings shortly after founding Société Graphologique in 1871. The most prominent of his disciples was Jules Crépieux-Jamin, who rapidly published a series of books that were soon


id: graphology-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphology-1.md
category: reference
title: Graphology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:46.593471+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: graphology-20260505-0
summary:
=== Additional specific objections === The Barnum effect (the tendency to interpret vague statements as specifically meaningful) and the Dr. Fox effect (the tendency for supposed experts to be validated based on likeability rather than actual skill) make it difficult to validate methods of personality testing. These phenomena describe the observation that individuals will give high accuracy ratings to descriptions of their personality that supposedly are tailored specifically for them, but are in fact vague and general enough to apply to a wide range of people. See, for example, Tallent (1958). Non-individualized graphological reports give credence to this criticism. Effect Size: Dean's (1992) primary argument against the use of graphology is that the effect size is too small. Regardless of the validity of handwriting analysis, the research results imply that it is not applicable for any specific individual, but may be applicable to a group. Vagueness: Some important principles of graphology are vague enough to allow significant room for a graphologist to skew interpretations to suit a subject or preconceived conclusion. For example, one of the main concepts in the theory of Ludwig Klages is form-niveau (or form-level): the overall level of originality, beauty, harmony, style, etc. of a person's


id: graphology-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphology-2.md
category: reference
title: Graphology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:46.593471+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: graphology-20260505-0
summary:
=== Marital compatibility === In its simplest form only sexual expression and sexual response are examined. At its most complex, every aspect of an individual is examined for how it affects the other individual(s) within the relationship. The theory is that after knowing and understanding how each individual in the relationship differs from every other individual in the relationship, the resulting marriage will be more enduring. With a comparative analysis receiving and non-receiving parts responses are measured. === Medical diagnosis === Medical graphology is probably the most controversial branch of handwriting analysis. Strictly speaking, such research is not graphology as described throughout this article but an examination of factors pertaining to motor control. Research studies have been conducted in which a detailed examination of handwriting factors, particularly timing, fluidity, and consistency of size, form, speed, and pressure are considered in the process of evaluating patients and their response to pharmacological therapeutic agents. The study of these phenomena is a by-product of researchers investigating motor control processes and the interaction of nervous, anatomical, and biomechanical systems of the body. The Vanguard Code of Ethical Practice, amongst others, prohibits medical diagnosis by those not licensed to do diagnosis in the state in


id: gravitational-shielding-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_shielding-0.md
category: reference
title: Gravitational shielding
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_shielding
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:47.795998+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: gravitational-shielding-20260505-0
summary:
Gravitational shielding is a hypothetical process of shielding an object from the influence of a gravitational field. Such processes, if they existed, would have the effect of reducing the weight of an object. The shape of the shielded region would be similar to a shadow from the gravitational shield. For example, the shape of the shielded region above a disk would be conical. The height of the cone's apex above the disk would vary directly with the height of the shielding disk above the Earth. Experimental evidence to date indicates that no such effect exists. Gravitational shielding is considered to be a violation of the equivalence principle and therefore inconsistent with both Newtonian theory and general relativity. The concept of gravity shielding is a common concept in science fiction literature, especially for space travel. One of the first and best known examples is the fictional gravity shielding substance cavorite that appears in H. G. Wells' classic 1901 novel The First Men in the Moon. Wells was promptly criticized for using it by Jules Verne. == Tests of the equivalence principle == As of 2008, no experiment was successful in detecting positive shielding results. To quantify the amount of shielding, at


id: greek-cancer-cure-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_cancer_cure-0.md
category: reference
title: Greek cancer cure
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_cancer_cure
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:48.964062+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: greek-cancer-cure-20260505-0
summary:
The Greek cancer cure was a putative cancer cure invented and promoted by microbiologist Hariton-Tzannis Alivizatos (died 1991). It consisted of intravenous injections of a fluid for which Alivizatos would not reveal the formula. == Medical claims and criticism == In 1983, Alivizatos announced that he had developed a serum that had a 60-percent success rate in arresting most types of cancers, with the exception of extremely advanced cases. He claimed that the serum could attack a protein-like substance that surrounds cancer cells and weaken the body's ability to keep the disease from spreading. Greek health officials ridiculed Alivizatos's assertions, while the American Cancer Society warned his current patients that there was no evidence that the diagnostic procedures and treatment for cancer proposed had resulted in any benefits for the treatment of cancer in human beings. They concluded that, "there is no evidence that any aspect of the diagnostic test nor the treatment... are effective in the treatment of cancer." In addition they state "Nor is there any evidence that.. the intravenous injections are safe." == See also == List of unproven and disproven cancer treatments == References ==


id: grokipedia-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grokipedia-0.md
category: reference
title: Grokipedia
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grokipedia
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:50.100026+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: grokipedia-20260505-0
summary:
Grokipedia is an AI-generated online encyclopedia operated by the American company xAI. The site was launched on October 27, 2025. Some entries are generated by Grok, a large language model owned by the same company, while others were forked from Wikipedia, with some altered and some used nearly verbatim. Articles cannot be directly edited, though logged-in visitors to the encyclopedia can suggest new articles or corrections via a pop-up form, which are reviewed by Grok. The xAI founder Elon Musk suggested Grokipedia could be an alternative to Wikipedia that would "purge out the propaganda" he believes is promoted by the latter, describing Wikipedia as "woke" and an "extension of legacy media propaganda". External analysis of Grokipedia's content has focused on its accuracy and biases due to hallucinations and potential algorithmic bias, which reviewers have described as promoting right-wing perspectives and Musk's views. The majority of coverage has described the website as validating, promoting, and legitimizing a variety of debunked conspiracy theories and ideas against scientific consensus on topics such as HIV/AIDS denialism, vaccines and autism, climate change, and race and intelligence. The site has been accused of whitewashing far-right extremism, such as by falsely claiming a white genocide is actively


id: grokipedia-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grokipedia-1.md
category: reference
title: Grokipedia
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grokipedia
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:50.100026+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: grokipedia-20260505-0
summary:
==== Future ==== In November 2025, Musk announced that he eventually plans to change the name of the site to Encyclopedia Galactica when Grokipedia is "good enough", saying that it had a "long way to go". This name is taken from the publication of that title in the works of Isaac Asimov and Douglas Adams. Musk said that he hoped to send copies of the encyclopedia to "the Moon and Mars and out to deep space". == Content == The Grok large language model generates and fact-checks articles on Grokipedia. Users cannot directly edit Grokipedia articles, but logged-in users can suggest edits and report errors, with such submissions being reviewed and implemented by the Grok AI. Some articles are nearly identical to their Wikipedia entries, but the format of Grokipedia citations is different, and some Grokipedia articles were republished almost verbatim, accompanied by a disclaimer noting that the content was "adapted from Wikipedia" under a Creative Commons license. Others were completely rewritten from scratch using Musk's AI chatbot, Grok. Forbes identified the articles AMD, Lamborghini, and PlayStation 5 as examples of copied Wikipedia articles. Articles attributed to Wikipedia carry a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license, while the license of other articles


id: grokipedia-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grokipedia-2.md
category: reference
title: Grokipedia
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grokipedia
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:50.100026+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: grokipedia-20260505-0
summary:
=== Accusations of bias === Several pages on Grokipedia broadly criticize academia and the news media as left-wing and accuse them of suppressing opposing views. The Guardian highlighted Grokipedia's description of Holocaust denier David Irving in positive terms as a symbol of "resistance to institutional suppression of unorthodox historical inquiry" in the face of "coordinated efforts to silence dissent rather than scholarly refutation"; Grokipedia's entry adds: "Despite mainstream dismissals from sources with evident anti-revisionist biases, such as advocacy groups, Irving's archival rigor continues to be praised within these circles." The Intercept highlighted Grokipedia's page on Germany's far-right political party Alternative for Germany (AfD), describing its 'Media Portrayals and Alleged Bias' section as echoing AfD claims of media bias against the party. The page had a section entitled "Media Portrayals and Alleged Bias" which The Intercept described as serving "to parrot AfD's long-held claims that the media is biased and undermining them". The Intercept also reported that Grokipedia: accuses the United Nations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch of focusing on "Israeli actions while minimizing Hamas's violations"; includes Israeli government accusations that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East


id: grokipedia-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grokipedia-3.md
category: reference
title: Grokipedia
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grokipedia
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:50.100026+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: grokipedia-20260505-0
summary:
==== Towards right-wing views ==== Grokipedia has been described as having a right-wing bias, with The Business Standard noting reviewers finding it framed "contested social and political issues through a right-leaning perspective, echoing Musk's personal views", with some pages accused of whitewashing extremism. Matteo Wong noted in The Atlantic how in the Grokipedia article on Adolf Hitler, his "rapid economic achievements" are prioritized over events like the Holocaust. NBC News stated that while Wikipedia mentions the Holocaust in the first paragraph of the Hitler article, Grokipedia mentions it only after 13,000 words. Wong also states that Grokipedia repeatedly cites Kremlin.ru for its article on the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Meduza compared Grokipedia's coverage to that of the Kremlin-aligned Ruwiki, finding that Grokipedia's treatment of the Russo-Ukrainian war was less overtly propagandistic than Ruwiki's, though it did give more favorable treatment to "Russian propaganda talking points" than Wikipedia did. On Vladimir Putin, Grokipedia's coverage was "less fawning" than Ruwiki's, though still omitting noteworthy negative information about him. Meduza noted that Grokipedia also omits mention of scandals surrounding Donald Trump, such as his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Texas-based news site Chron observed that Grokipedia articles often cited "Texas Republican bloggers and


id: gua-sha-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gua_sha-0.md
category: reference
title: Gua sha
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gua_sha
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:51.343975+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: gua-sha-20260505-0
summary:
Gua sha or scraping therapy is a pseudoscientific practice in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in which an object is used to scrape the skin, for purported wide-ranging therapeutic benefits. Gua sha has been used for centuries across East and Southeast Asia. The practice is known by various names in English, such as "spooning," "coining," and in French as tribo-effleurage (friction-stroking). While it is widely practiced for pain relief, relaxation, and treating symptoms like colds or fatigue, gua sha can cause adverse effects, ranging from mild skin irritation to rare but severe complications. == Etymology == The term gua sha derives from Chinese: gua (刮) meaning "to scrape" and sha (痧), referring to the petechiae or "bruise-like" marks that appear on the skin post-treatment. In TCM, sha is associated with stagnation or blockages in the body’s energy (qi) and blood, which practitioners aim to release. The practice is originally from China and spread from there to neighbouring regions from East asia into worldwidely practice. A concept linked to the Shanghan Lun, a foundational Chinese medical text from circa 220 CE that discusses cold-induced illnesses. == History == Gua sha traces its origins to ancient China, with evidence of similar scraping techniques


id: hail-cannon-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hail_cannon-0.md
category: reference
title: Hail cannon
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hail_cannon
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:52.515022+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: hail-cannon-20260505-0
summary:
A hail cannon is a shock wave generator claimed to disrupt the formation of hailstones in the atmosphere. These devices frequently engender conflict between farmers and neighbors when used, because they are loudly and repeatedly fired every 1 to 10 seconds while a storm is approaching and until it has passed through the area, yet there is no scientific evidence for their effectiveness. == Historical use == In the French wine-growing regions, church-bells were traditionally rung in the face of oncoming storms and later replaced by firing rockets or cannons. == Modern systems == A mixture of acetylene and oxygen is ignited in the lower chamber of the machine. As the resulting blast passes through the neck and into the cone, it develops into a shock wave. This shock wave then travels through the cloud formations above, a disturbance which manufacturers claim disrupts the growth phase of hailstones. Manufacturers claim that what would otherwise have fallen as hailstones then falls as slush or rain. It is said to be critical that the machine is running during the approach of the storm in order to affect the developing hailstones. One manufacturer claims that the radius of the effective area of their


id: charles-hatfield-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Hatfield-0.md
category: reference
title: Charles Hatfield
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Hatfield
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:53.727256+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: charles-hatfield-20260505-0
summary:
Charles Mallory Hatfield (July 15, 1875 – January 12, 1958) was an American "rainmaker". == Early life == Hatfield was born in Fort Scott, Kansas, on July 15, 1875. His father, Stephen, a property speculator, moved the family to Southern California in 1886, settling first in San Diego, where Hatfield Sr built three houses. He later built a home on a forty-acre ranch and olive grove at Gopher Canyon near Bonsall, forty miles north of the city. As an adult, Charles became a salesman for the New Home Sewing Machine Company. In 1904, he moved to Glendale, California. == Career == As a young man growing up in Bonsall, Hatfield studied pluviculture and began to develop his own methods for producing rain, inspired by the way a boiling kettle attracted the water vapour rising from an adjacent, steaming pan on his mother's stove. By 1902 he had created a secret mixture of 23 chemicals in large galvanized evaporating tanks that, he claimed, attracted rain. Hatfield called himself a "moisture accelerator". In 1904, promoter Fred Binney began a public relations campaign for Hatfield. A number of Los Angeles ranchers saw his ads in newspapers and promised Hatfield $50 to produce rain.


id: healy-device-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healy_device-0.md
category: reference
title: Healy device
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healy_device
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:54.884174+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: healy-device-20260505-0
summary:
The Healy is a pseudoscientific device designed by Marcus Schmieke and Nuno Nina, that claims to function via bioresonance to enhance overall health. The device has been promoted via influencer marketing and multi-level marketing, while sellers make extreme healing claims without any proven benefits. == Description == Energy medicine devices are a class of pseudoscientific devices that originated with the work of Royal Rife, claiming to work via transferring energy to a person's energy field. The Healy claims to work using electricity to find a user's "personalized frequencies", an idea that has no scientific backing or mechanism. == Criticism == === Lack of scientific evidence === Critics of the Healy device, such as David H. Gorski, have highlighted the lack of scientific rigor behind the machine. Gorski argues that there is no good evidence to support the claim that injured tissue takes on a “different vibrational characteristic.” He strongly criticizes the belief in a mystical “life energy” that does no work and is undetectable by scientific instruments. === Disclaimers and misleading claims === Stephen Barrett has noted that many of Healy's marketing materials carry disclaimers stating that “Healy and its applications are not acknowledged by orthodox medicine due to a


id: b-m-hegde-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._M._Hegde-0.md
category: reference
title: B. M. Hegde
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._M._Hegde
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:20:56.036245+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: b-m-hegde-20260505-0
summary:
Belle Monappa Hegde (born 18 August 1938) is an Indian cardiologist, professor of medicine, and author. He was the vice chancellor of Manipal Academy of Higher Education from 1999 to 2003. He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2010 and Padma Vibhushan in 2021. He has supported homeopathy a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine and quantum healing. == Early life == Hegde was born on 18 August 1938 in Pangala near Udupi, Karnataka, India He obtained MBBS from Stanley Medical College, Madras in 1960 and later M.D. from King George’s Medical College, University of Lucknow == Career == Over a long career at Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, Hegde served in various positions such as professor, principal and dean. He was appointed the vice chancellor of Manipal Academy of Higher Education in 1999 and served till 2003. He was an independent director of Zydus Wellness. He also served as chairman of an expert committee of Bihar State Health Society He was the chairman of Mangaluru branch of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. He started a medical journal, Journal of the Science of Healing Outcomes and serves as its editor-in-chief. Hegde was a fellow of the National Academy of Medical Sciences till 2016. B.M. Hegde


