# kb

id: ley-line-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ley_line-4.md
category: reference
title: Ley line
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ley_line
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:20.506063+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ley-line-20260505-0
summary:
Ley lines have been characterised as a form of pseudoscience. On The Skeptic's Dictionary, the American philosopher and skeptic Robert Todd Carroll noted that none of the statements about magnetic forces underpinning putative ley lines has been scientifically verified. Williamson and Bellamy characterised ley lines as "one of the biggest red herrings in the history of popular thought". One criticism of Watkins' ley line theory states that given the high density of historic and prehistoric sites in Britain and other parts of Europe, finding straight lines that "connect" sites is trivial and ascribable to coincidence. Johnson stated that "ley lines do not exist". He cited Williamson and Bellamy's work in demonstrating this, noting that their research showed how "the density of archaeological sites in the British landscape is so great that a line drawn through virtually anywhere will 'clip' a number of sites". Other statistical significance tests have shown that supposed ley-line alignments are no more significant than random occurrences and/or have been generated by selection effects. The paper by statistician Simon Broadbent is one such example and the discussion after the article involving a large number of other statisticians demonstrates the high level of agreement that alignments have no


id: lgbtq-chemicals-conspiracy-theory-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBTQ_chemicals_conspiracy_theory-0.md
category: reference
title: LGBTQ chemicals conspiracy theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBTQ_chemicals_conspiracy_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:21.699910+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: lgbtq-chemicals-conspiracy-theory-20260505-0
summary:
Conspiracy theories emerged in the 2010s alleging that governments were introducing endocrine disrupting chemicals into the water supply to increase the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ) population. The claim was popularized by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who cited studies on the herbicide atrazine, known to induce spontaneous sex reversal or hermaphroditism in certain frog species, to assert that the U.S. government was 'putting chemicals in the water that turn the "friggin’ frogs gay" as part of a "chemical warfare operation"'. Spontaneous sex change is a naturally occurring phenomenon in some frog species even in unpolluted environments. In animal studies, exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals during gestation can interfere with prenatal hormones and consequently sex differentiation of the brain. This has led some scientists to speculate about the impact of endocrine disruptor exposure during human pregnancy on later sexual orientation or gender identity, though evidence is currently lacking. == History == Animal testing in the 2000s suggested that the herbicide atrazine, an endocrine disruptor, may have a feminizing effect on male frogs causing them to become hermaphrodites. Other research failed to reproduce these results in frogs, though reports of reproductive impact has been reported for other animals, and a meta-analysis


id: limbic-imprint-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limbic_imprint-0.md
category: reference
title: Limbic imprint
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limbic_imprint
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:22.836153+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: limbic-imprint-20260505-0
summary:
In psychology, limbic imprint refers to the process by which prenatal, perinatal and post-natal experiences imprint upon the limbic system, causing lifelong effects. The term is used to explain how early care of a fetus and newborn is important to lifelong psychological development and has been used as an argument for alternative birthing methods, and against circumcision. Some also refer to the concept as the human emotional map, deep-seated beliefs, and values that are stored in the brain's limbic system. When a fetus or newborn experiences trauma, the brain will register trauma as normal affecting the newborn into adulthood. However, when a fetus or newborn does not experience trauma, the brain will develop healthy coping mechanisms that work effectively into adulthood. This phenomenon, since experienced during prenatal, perinatal and postnatal stages, generally affects children. Different types of perinatal and childhood experiences shape the future experiences of adults. This means that if a child is born under traumatic circumstances, then, as an adult, trauma will register as normal in the brain. Trauma will become expected and because of this early imprinting, adults may be more susceptible to dangerous or abusive situations. This also depends on the circumstance in which they were


id: limbic-imprint-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limbic_imprint-1.md
category: reference
title: Limbic imprint
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limbic_imprint
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:22.836153+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: limbic-imprint-20260505-0
summary:
== Treatment == There are therapists who recognize that body and emotions - facilitated by experiences - leave imprints in deep neuronal circuits of the limbic brain and use such position to devise psychological interventions such as the therapy within a group setting. Some therapists suggest a course of "limbic repatterning" to consciously rewrite bad limbic imprints and thus improve the patient's overall psychological health. Another suggested therapy is called "Limbic System Therapy". In this therapy, the patients participate in physical experiences that contradict the limbic imprint. For example, an individual that has low self-esteem may be given an activity to deliberately make them feel good about themselves like positive affirmation exercises. The more the patient participates in this "re-wiring" the better they will feel about themselves and thus correcting a negative imprint. According to psychologists, there are many more ways to help with re-coding a negative imprint. These strategies include things such as journaling, talking and sharing feelings, and participating in body therapies like a body massage. Other strategies psychologists suggest are spending time with loved ones, positive thinking, breathing awareness, body awareness, relaxation, meditation, and/or prayer. Regular exercise and warm baths are also suggested by professionals. == Criticisms


id: liquid-oxygen-supplement-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_oxygen_supplement-0.md
category: reference
title: Liquid oxygen supplement
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_oxygen_supplement
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:24.005085+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: liquid-oxygen-supplement-20260505-0
summary:
Liquid oxygen supplements are products that claim to add extra oxygen to the human body, most often through a chemical process in the digestive system, like the breakdown of hydrogen peroxide or magnesium peroxide. While the FDA describes these products as being inert, and has penalized some producers who made explicit medical claims, it has not prohibited their sale. == Liquid oxygen == Liquid oxygen is the name of a product that is a solution of hydrogen peroxide and other compounds including sodium chloride (common salt) that claims to help with "jet lag, fatigue, altitude sickness, headaches, hangovers, youthful skin, energy, and insomnia". Professor Ken Harvey, a member of the World Health Organization team that formulated criteria for the promotion of medicinal drugs and a member of Auspharm Consumer Health Watch, states that the product is "no more than salty water", and that most forms of water carry some dissolved oxygen. The Federal Trade Commission has prosecuted some makers of such products for making "blatantly false and unsubstantiated health claims", although it has not banned the sale of such products. The product claims to have an effect through increasing the amount of oxygen in the body but this is unnecessary


id: list-of-acupuncture-points-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acupuncture_points-0.md
category: reference
title: List of acupuncture points
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acupuncture_points
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:25.378000+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: list-of-acupuncture-points-20260505-0
summary:
This article provides a comprehensive list of acupuncture points, locations on the body used in acupuncture, acupressure, and other treatment systems based on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). == Locations and basis == More than four hundred acupuncture points have been described, with the majority located on one of the twenty main cutaneous and subcutaneous meridians, pathways which run throughout the body and according to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) transport qi. Twelve of these major meridians, commonly referred to as "the primary meridians", are bilateral and practitioners associate them with internal organs. The remaining eight meridians are designated as "extraordinary", and are also bilateral except for three, one that encircles the body near the waist, and two that run along the midline of the body. Only those two extraordinary meridians that run along the midline contain their own points, the remaining six comprise points from the aforementioned twelve primary meridians. There are also points that are not located on the fourteen major meridians but do lie in the complete nexus referred to as Jīngluò (經絡). Such outliers are often referred to as "extra points". There is no anatomical and physiological basis for acupuncture points and meridians. In practice, acupuncture points are


id: live-blood-analysis-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_blood_analysis-0.md
category: reference
title: Live blood analysis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_blood_analysis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:26.561564+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: live-blood-analysis-20260505-0
summary:
Live blood analysis (LBA), live cell analysis, Hemaview or nutritional blood analysis is the use of high-resolution dark field microscopy to observe live blood cells. Live blood analysis is promoted by some alternative medicine practitioners, who assert that it can diagnose a range of diseases. It has its origins in the now-discarded theories of pleomorphism promoted by Günther Enderlein, notably in his 1925 book Bakterien-Cyklogenie. There is no scientific evidence that live blood analysis is reliable or effective, and it has been described as a fraudulent means of convincing people that they are ill and should purchase dietary supplements. It is not accepted in laboratory practice and its validity as a laboratory test has not been established. Its practice has been described as a pseudoscientific, bogus and fraudulent, and the medical profession has dismissed it as quackery. The field of live blood microscopy is unregulated; there is no training requirement or recognised qualification for practitioners and no recognised medical validity to the results. Proponents have made false claims about both medical blood pathology testing and their own services, which some have refused to amend when instructed by the Advertising Standards Authority. In January 2014, prominent live blood proponent and teacher


id: live-blood-analysis-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_blood_analysis-1.md
category: reference
title: Live blood analysis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_blood_analysis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:26.561564+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: live-blood-analysis-20260505-0
summary:
== Regulatory issues == In 1996, the Pennsylvania Department of Laboratories informed three Pennsylvania chiropractors that Infinity2's "Nutritional Blood Analysis" could not be used for diagnostic purposes unless they maintain a laboratory that has both state and federal certification for complex testing. In 2001, the Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General issued a report on regulation of "unestablished laboratory tests" that focused on live blood cell analysis and the difficulty of regulating unestablished tests and laboratories. In 2002, an Australian naturopath was convicted and fined for falsely claiming that he could diagnose illness using live blood analysis after the death of a patient. He was acquitted of manslaughter. He subsequently changed his name and was later banned from practice for life. In 2005, the Rhode Island Department of Health ordered a chiropractor to stop performing live blood analysis. An attorney for the State Board of Examiners in Chiropractic Medicine described the test as "useless" and a "money-making scheme... The point of it all is apparently to sell nutritional supplements." A state medical board official said that live blood analysis has no discernible value, and that the public "should be very suspicious of any practitioner who offers this


id: long-island-medium-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Island_Medium-0.md
category: reference
title: Long Island Medium
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Island_Medium
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:27.796196+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: long-island-medium-20260505-0
summary:
Long Island Medium is an American reality television series starring Theresa Caputo, a self-professed medium who claims she can communicate with the dead. Much of the program, which premiered on September 25, 2011, takes place in Hicksville, New York, though it often follows Caputo as she meets with clients in other areas. Scientific skeptics say mediumship performances are a con, and Caputo's specific claims have been deemed fictitious by critics, including magician James Randi, Inside Edition, and Jezebel. == Synopsis == Each episode focuses on Caputo as she conducts private and group readings with both believers and skeptics. Her husband Larry and two children, Victoria and Larry Jr., have learned to live with her mediumship. In a 2011 interview, Caputo claimed she could communicate with dead people: "Things are just there. When I was younger I used to actually see images and hear things. As I got older and shut down, it has changed. Because it was frightening to see people standing there who actually weren't there." == Reception == Scientific skeptics say mediumship performances are a con, and that Caputo's seemingly paranormal performances are simply the result of well-known exploits like the Forer effect, cold reading, selective editing of


id: long-range-locator-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-range_locator-0.md
category: reference
title: Long-range locator
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-range_locator
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:28.988177+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: long-range-locator-20260505-0
summary:
A long-range locator is a class of fraudulent devices purported to be a type of metal detector, supposedly able to detect a variety of substances, including gold, drugs and explosives; most are said to operate on a principle of resonance with the material being detected. == Theory of operation == Skeptics have examined the internals of many such devices and found those that have been examined to be incapable of operating as advertised, and have dismissed them as overpriced dowsing rods or similarly useless devices. Virtually all such devices claim to operate on a resonant frequency principle where the device is said to emit an electromagnetic signal, either through an antenna or a probe, that will respond to a specific substance such as gold, silver, or sometimes even paper money, and that the device will indicate the presence of such material by indicating a change in direction relative to the operator. This theory of operation is not supported by scientific theory; the devices have not been shown to work in blind testing, and the resonance principle invoked has not been shown to work in laboratories (and is not consistently employed by LRL manufacturers). In addition, the Inverse-Square Law limits the


id: lung-chinese-medicine-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lung_(Chinese_medicine)-0.md
category: reference
title: Lung (Chinese medicine)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lung_(Chinese_medicine)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:31.305799+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: lung-chinese-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
The lungs (Chinese: 肺; pinyin: fèi) is one of the zang organs described in traditional Chinese medicine. It is a functionally defined entity and not equivalent to the anatomical organ of the same name. == In the context of the zang-fu organs == The Lung is a zang organ meaning it is a yin organ. Situated in the thorax, it communicates with the throat and opens into the nose. It occupies the uppermost position among the zang-fu organs, and is known as the "canopy" of the zang-fu organs. Due to the lung's position in the body, toward the back of the chest and in the upper half of the abdomen, it has yin within yang qualities and is more yang than other zang organs besides the heart. Each zang organ is paired with a fu organ, the lung's paired organ is the large intestine. Its meridians connects with the large intestine, with which makes it internally related. The lung and large intestine are connected by two meridians, Yangming large intestine meridian of hand and the Taiyin lung meridian of hand. The Lung and its paired organ are associated with the element of metal and the emotion of grief. Each of


id: lysenkoism-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism-0.md
category: reference
title: Lysenkoism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:32.570224+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: lysenkoism-20260505-0
summary:
Lysenkoism was a pseudoscientific political campaign led by the Soviet biologist Trofim Lysenko against genetics and science-based agriculture in the mid-20th century, rejecting natural selection in favour of a form of Lamarckism, as well as expanding upon the techniques of vernalization and grafting. More than 3,000 mainstream biologists were dismissed or imprisoned, and numerous scientists were executed in the Soviet campaign to suppress scientific opponents. The president of the Soviet Agriculture Academy, Nikolai Vavilov, who had been Lysenko's mentor, but later denounced him, was sent to prison and died there, while Soviet genetics research was effectively destroyed. Research and teaching in the fields of neurophysiology, cell biology, and many other biological disciplines were harmed or banned. The government of the Soviet Union (USSR) supported the campaign, and Joseph Stalin personally edited a speech by Lysenko in a way that reflected his support for what would come to be known as Lysenkoism, despite his skepticism toward Lysenko's assertion that all science is class-orientated in nature. Lysenko served as the director of the USSR's Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Other countries of the Eastern Bloc including the People's Republic of Poland, the Republic of Czechoslovakia, and the German Democratic Republic accepted


id: lysenkoism-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism-1.md
category: reference
title: Lysenkoism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:32.570224+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: lysenkoism-20260505-0
summary:
In 1928, rejecting natural selection and Mendelian genetics, Trofim Lysenko claimed to have developed agricultural techniques which could radically increase crop yields. These included vernalization, species transformation (one species turning into another), inheritance of acquired characteristics, and vegetative hybridization (see below). He claimed in particular that vernalization, exposing wheat seeds to humidity and low temperature, could greatly increase crop yield. He claimed further that he could transform one species, Triticum durum (durum spring wheat), into Triticum vulgare (common autumn wheat), through 2 to 4 years of autumn planting. This species transition he claimed to occur without an intermediate form. However, this was already known to be impossible since T. durum is a tetraploid with 28 chromosomes (4 sets of 7), while T. vulgare is hexaploid with 42 chromosomes (6 sets). This objection did not faze Lysenko, as he claimed that the chromosome number changed as well. Lysenko claimed that the concept of a gene was a "bourgeois invention", and he denied the presence of any "immortal substance of heredity" or "clearly defined species", which he claimed belong to Platonic metaphysics rather than strictly materialist Marxist science. Instead, he proposed a "Marxist genetics" postulating an unlimited possibility of transformation of living


id: lysenkoism-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism-2.md
category: reference
title: Lysenkoism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:32.570224+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: lysenkoism-20260505-0
summary:
=== Peak === From July 31 to August 7, 1948, the Academy of Agricultural Sciences (VASKhNIL) held a week-long session (August 1948 Session of VASKhNIL), organized by Lysenko and approved by Stalin. At the end of it, Lysenkoism was declared as "the only correct theory." As Lysenko performatively spoke at the end, "the Central Committee of the Communist Party has examined my report and approved it". Attendants recognized this as the birth of a new orthodoxy. Of the 8 scientists who advocated genetics during the session, 3 immediately announced repentance. Soviet scientists were required to denounce any work that contradicted Lysenko, and criticism was denounced as "bourgeois" or "fascist". The Ministry of Higher Education commanded all biological institutes to immediately follow the Lysenko orthodoxy:The Central University Administration and the Administration of Cadres are directed to review within two months all departments of biological faculties to free them from all opposed to Michurinist biology and to strengthen them by appointing Michurinists to them. Point 6 of the Order No. 1208 (August 23, 1948)For several months, similar central directives dismissed scientists, withdrew textbooks, and required the removal of any references to heredity in higher education. There was also an order to destroy


id: lysenkoism-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism-3.md
category: reference
title: Lysenkoism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:32.570224+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: lysenkoism-20260505-0
summary:
=== Reappearance === In the 21st century, Lysenkoism is again being discussed in Russia, including in respectable newspapers like Kultura and by biologists. The geneticist Lev Zhivotovsky has made the unsupported claim that Lysenko helped found modern developmental biology. Discoveries in the field of epigenetics are sometimes raised as alleged late confirmation of Lysenko's theories, but in spite of the apparent high-level similarity (heritable traits passed on without DNA alteration), Lysenko believed that environment-induced changes are the primary mechanism of heritability. Heritable epigenetic effects have been found, but are minor and unstable compared to genetic inheritance. == Scientific content == Heredity was reformulated as "the property of the living body to demand certain environmental conditions and to react in a certain way to them". Michurin attempted to explain Lamarckian heredity by theorizing that some sort of "heredity" is present all throughout an organism, which reacts to environmental influence. This is incompatible with the Weismann barrier, which leads Lysenkoists to denounce Weismann. Instead, they proposed a "physiological" theory, that the heredity diffused throughout the body is somehow collected in the germ cells, which are "built from molecules, granules, of various organs and parts of the organism", i.e. the pangenesis theory. When


id: lysenkoism-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism-4.md
category: reference
title: Lysenkoism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysenkoism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:32.570224+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: lysenkoism-20260505-0
summary:
== Further reading == Denis Buican, L'éternel retour de Lyssenko, Paris, Copernic, 1978. ISBN 2859840192 Ronald Fisher, "What Sort of Man is Lysenko?" Listener, 40 (1948): 874–875. Contemporary commentary by a British evolutionary biologist (pdf format) Loren Graham, Chapter 6. "Stalinist Ideology and the Lysenko Affair", in Science in Russia and the Soviet Union (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993). Oren Solomon Harman, "C. D. Darlington and the British and American Reaction to Lysenko and the Soviet Conception of Science." Journal of the History of Biology, Vol. 36 No. 2 (New York: Springer, 2003) David Joravsky, The Lysenko Affair (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970). Richard Levins and Richard Lewontin, "Lysenkoism", in The Dialectical Biologist (Boston: Harvard University Press, 1985). Anton Lang, "Michurin, Vavilov, and Lysenko". Science, Vol. 124 No. 3215, 1956) doi:10.1126/science.124.3215.277b Valery N. Soyfer, Lysenko and the Tragedy of Soviet Science (New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1994). ISBN 0813520878 "The Disastrous Effects of Lysenkoism on Soviet Agriculture". Science and Its Times, ed. Neil Schlager and Josh Lauer, Vol. 6. (Detroit: Gale, 2001) == External links == SkepDic.com – 'Lysenkoism', The Skeptic's Dictionary Lysenkoism, BBC Radio 4 discussion with Robert Service, Steve Jones & Catherine Merridale (In


id: macrobiotic-diet-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrobiotic_diet-0.md
category: reference
title: Macrobiotic diet
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrobiotic_diet
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:33.731810+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: macrobiotic-diet-20260505-0
summary:
A macrobiotic diet (or macrobiotics) is a restrictive dietary regime based on ideas about types of food drawn from Zen Buddhism. The diet tries to balance the food elements classified as yin and yang, a practice that also extends to cookware. Major principles of macrobiotic diets are to reduce animal products, eat locally grown foods that are in season, and consume meals in moderation. There is no high-quality clinical evidence that a macrobiotic diet is helpful for people with cancer or other diseases, and it may be harmful. Neither the American Cancer Society nor Cancer Research UK recommends adopting the diet. Deaths have been reported from malnutrition on strict macrobiotic diets. == Conceptual basis == The macrobiotic diet is associated with Zen Buddhism and is based on the idea of balancing yin and yang. The diet proposes ten plans which are followed to reach a supposedly ideal yin:yang ratio of 5:1. The diet was popularized by George Ohsawa in the 1930s and subsequently elaborated on by his disciple Michio Kushi. Medical historian Barbara Clow writes that, in common with many other types of quackery, macrobiotics takes a view of illness and of therapy which conflicts with mainstream medicine. Macrobiotics emphasizes


id: macrobiotic-diet-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrobiotic_diet-1.md
category: reference
title: Macrobiotic diet
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrobiotic_diet
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:33.731810+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: macrobiotic-diet-20260505-0
summary:
== Cancer == The macrobiotic diet has been advertised as an alternative cancer treatment but is ineffective to treat any type of cancer. Macrobiotics author Michio Kushi argued that conventional cancer treatments are "violent and artificial" and the macrobiotic diet should not be combined with conventional treatment. There is no clinical evidence to support the cancer claims of macrobiotic proponents. The American Cancer Society who reviewed 11 scientific data bases found no peer-reviewed evidence that the macrobiotic diet is effective for treating any type of cancer. The Office of Technology Assessment, examining both published and unpublished macrobiotic literature, failed to verify any claims of cancer cure. The American Cancer Society recommends "low-fat, high-fiber diets that consist mainly of plant products"; however, they urge people with cancer not to rely on a dietary program as an exclusive or primary means of treatment. Cancer Research UK states, "some people think living a macrobiotic lifestyle may help them to fight their cancer and lead to a cure. But there is no scientific evidence to prove this." == Safety == === Regulation === Macrobiotic practitioners are not regulated, and need not have any qualification or training in the United Kingdom. === Complications === One


id: macrophagic-myofasciitis-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrophagic_myofasciitis-0.md
category: reference
title: Macrophagic myofasciitis
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrophagic_myofasciitis
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:34.928224+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: macrophagic-myofasciitis-20260505-0
summary:
Macrophagic myofasciitis (MMF) is a histopathological finding involving inflammatory microphage formations with aluminium-containing crystal inclusions and associated microscopic muscle necrosis in biopsy samples of the deltoid muscle. Based on the presence of aluminium and the common practice of administering vaccines into the deltoid, it has been proposed that the abnormalities are a result of immunisation with aluminium adjuvant-containing vaccines. The findings were observed in a minority of persons being evaluated for "diffuse myalgias, arthralgias or muscle weakness" who underwent deltoid muscle biopsies. The individuals had a history of receiving aluminium-containing vaccines, administered months to several years prior to observation of MMF histopathology. It has been subsequently proposed that macrophagic myofasciitis is in fact a systemic disorder where various diseases develop in association and as consequence of vaccination with aluminium-containing vaccines in susceptible individuals, however, the World Health Organization has concluded that "[t]here is no evidence to suggest that MMF is a specific illness", and that "[t]he current evidence neither establishes nor excludes a generalized disorder affecting other organs." == Description == According to the WHO, "There is no evidence to suggest that MMF is a specific illness. MMF is a lesion containing aluminium salts, identified by histopathological examination, found at


id: christine-maggiore-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Maggiore-0.md
category: reference
title: Christine Maggiore
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Maggiore
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:36.045771+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: christine-maggiore-20260505-0
summary:
Christine Joy Maggiore (July 25, 1956 – December 27, 2008) was an HIV-positive activist and promoter of HIV/AIDS denialism. She was the founder of Alive & Well AIDS Alternatives, an organization which disputes the link between HIV and AIDS and urges HIV-positive pregnant women to avoid anti-HIV medication. Maggiore authored and self-published the book What If Everything You Thought You Knew about AIDS Was Wrong? Maggiore's promotion of HIV/AIDS denialism had long been controversial, particularly since her 3-year-old daughter, Eliza Jane Scovill, died of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia, which is an AIDS-defining illness. Consistent with her belief that HIV was harmless, Maggiore had not taken medication to reduce the risk of transmission of HIV to her daughter during pregnancy, and she did not have Eliza Jane tested for HIV during her daughter's lifetime. Maggiore herself died on December 27, 2008, after suffering from AIDS-related conditions. == Early life and career == Born in Chicago, Illinois, Maggiore grew up in Southern California. After graduating with honors from Reseda High School, she worked in advertising and marketing in Los Angeles, California until 1984. She traveled through Europe and North Africa in 1984 before settling in Florence, Italy, where she lived from 1985 to


id: christine-maggiore-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Maggiore-1.md
category: reference
title: Christine Maggiore
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Maggiore
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:36.045771+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: christine-maggiore-20260505-0
summary:
=== Reaction to Eliza Jane's death === Controversy ensued in the wake of Eliza Jane's death; as Eliza Jane had acquired HIV from Maggiore perinatally or via breastfeeding, her HIV infection might have been prevented had Maggiore taken antiretroviral drugs or avoided breastfeeding, and her death may have been preventable with proper medical care. John Moore, a prominent HIV/AIDS researcher speaking at the 16th International AIDS Conference, described Eliza Jane's death as a concrete example of the human harm that can result from pseudoscientific beliefs such as AIDS denialism: ... infants whose HIV infected mothers listen to AIDS denialists never got the chance to make their own decisions. The Maggiore case received wide publicity. Christine Maggiore is a person who’s proselytized against the use of antiretrovirals to prevent HIV/AIDS. She's a classic AIDS denialist, and she gave birth to a child who died at age three late last year of an AIDS-related infection. The coroner’s report clearly reports that the child died of AIDS. That was another unnecessary death. During this controversy, Maggiore had held fast to her views on HIV/AIDS and to Al-Bayati's conclusion. She received support from others in the AIDS-denialist community; journalist Celia Farber wrote an article


id: magnet-therapy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnet_therapy-0.md
category: reference
title: Magnet therapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnet_therapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:38.416476+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: magnet-therapy-20260505-0
summary:
Magnetic therapy is a pseudoscientific alternative medicine practice involving the weak static magnetic field produced by a permanent magnet which is placed on the body. It is similar to the alternative medicine practice of electromagnetic therapy, which uses a magnetic field generated by an electrically powered device. Magnet therapy products may include wristbands, jewelry, blankets, and wraps that have magnets incorporated into them. Practitioners claim that subjecting certain parts of the body to weak electric or magnetic fields has beneficial health effects. These physical and biological claims are unproven and no effects on health or healing have been established. Although hemoglobin, the blood protein that carries oxygen, is weakly diamagnetic (when oxygenated) or paramagnetic (when deoxygenated), the magnets used in magnetic therapy are many orders of magnitude too weak to have any measurable effect on blood flow. This is not to be confused with transcranial magnetic stimulation, a scientifically valid form of therapy, or with pulsed electromagnetic field therapy. == Methods of application == Magnet therapy involves applying the weak magnetic field of permanent magnets to the body, for purported health benefits. Different effects are assigned to different orientations of the magnet. Products include magnetic bracelets and jewelry; magnetic straps


id: magnetic-water-treatment-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_water_treatment-0.md
category: reference
title: Magnetic water treatment
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_water_treatment
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:39.552197+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: magnetic-water-treatment-20260505-0
summary:
Magnetic water treatment (also known as anti-scale magnetic treatment or AMT) is a disproven method of reducing the effects of hard water by passing it through a magnetic field as a non-chemical alternative to water softening. A 1996 study by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory found no significant effect of magnetic water treatment on the formation of scale. As magnets affect water to a small degree, and water containing ions is more conductive than purer water, magnetic water treatment is an example of a valid scientific hypothesis that failed experimental testing and is thus disproven. Any products claiming to utilize magnetic water treatment are absolutely fraudulent. Vendors of magnetic water treatment devices frequently use photos and testimonials to support their claims, but omit quantitative detail and well-controlled studies. Advertisements and promotions generally omit system variables, such as corrosion or system mass balance analyticals, as well as measurements of post-treatment water such as concentration of hardness ions or the distribution, structure, and morphology of suspended particles. == See also == Fouling Laundry ball Magnet therapy Pulsed-power water treatment == References ==


id: male-hysteria-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_hysteria-0.md
category: reference
title: Male hysteria
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_hysteria
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:40.728766+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: male-hysteria-20260505-0
summary:
In the nineteenth and early twentieth century, hysteria was a common psychiatric diagnosis made primarily in women. The existence and nature of a purported male hysteria (hysteria masculina) was a debated topic around the turn of the century. It was originally believed that men could not suffer from hysteria because of their lack of uterus. This belief was discarded in the 17th century when discourse identified the brain or mind, and not reproductive organs, as the root cause of hysteria. During World War I, hysterical men were diagnosed with shell shock or war neurosis, which later went on to shape modern theories on PTSD. The notion of male hysteria was initially connected to the post-traumatic disorder known as railway spine; later, it became associated with war neurosis. == History == In the second half of the nineteenth century, hysteria was well-established as a diagnosis for certain psychiatric disorders. Although the original anatomical explanation of hysteria, the so-called wandering womb, was by this point abandoned, the diagnoses remained associated with (gender stereotypes of) females and female sexuality in the minds of physicians. Hysteria was joined in 1866 by a diagnosis for a very similar set of symptoms: railway spine, a nervous


id: male-hysteria-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_hysteria-1.md
category: reference
title: Male hysteria
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_hysteria
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:40.728766+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: male-hysteria-20260505-0
summary:
Toward the end of the century, female hysteria became increasingly an anti-suffragist label in the popular press and came under attack from rising feminism, while the wars of the early twentieth century brought new attention to the male variant. The Boer War and the Russo-Japanese War produced hysterical symptoms in veterans in large enough numbers that in 1907 the label "war neurosis" was introduced to describe their specific condition. For the disorders seen in World War I veterans, additional terms such as shell-shock (coined by Charles Samuel Myers), and (in France) pthiatiques and simulateurs were invented to prevent labeling soldiers with the "feminizing" label of hysteria. Charcot's earlier work, meanwhile, was ignored, and shell-shock sufferers were regarded by their physicians as displaying the symptoms of "womanish, homosexual or childish impulses". == Shell shock and war neurosis == Shell shock or war neurosis are forms of hysteria that manifested in soldiers during war time, especially World War I. Symptoms that were previously considered somatic were reconsidered in a new light; trembling, paralysis, nightmares, mutism and apathy were grouped together in a broad spectrum psychological disorder known as "war neurosis". By 1916 40% of casualties in fighting areas were diagnosed with shell


id: male-hysteria-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_hysteria-2.md
category: reference
title: Male hysteria
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_hysteria
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:40.728766+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: male-hysteria-20260505-0
summary:
=== Lewis Yealland === A Canadian-born medic, Yealland was an aggressive supporter of disciplinary treatment for war neurosis. He worked in Queen's Square during the war and to has been established that he and other medics tortured patients into recovery. He was among the first British physicians to use electric shock treatment and has been criticized heavily for doing so. In Yealland's view, patients were more amenable to the suggestion that they suffered from a physiological disturbance that could be potentially remedied by a physical treatment such as faradism. == Representations in popular culture == === Regeneration by Pat Barker === Regeneration (1991) is the first of a series of novels that deals with the psychological trauma caused by World War I on English officers who fought on the front lines. The plot revolves around the character of Siegfried Sassoon, a decorated officer who is sent to Craiglockhart War Hospital in Edinburgh because he is said to be suffering from "Shell Shock". === Redeployment by Phil Klay === Phil Klay is a graduate of Dartmouth College and a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps. He served in Iraq's Anbar Province from January 2007 to February 2008 as a Public Affairs


id: mars-effect-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_effect-0.md
category: reference
title: Mars effect
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_effect
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:41.924157+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mars-effect-20260505-0
summary:
The Mars effect is a purported statistical correlation between athletic eminence and the position of the planet Mars relative to the horizon at time and place of birth. This controversial finding was first reported by the French psychologist and "neo-astrologer" Michel Gauquelin. In his book L'influence des astres ("The Influence of the Stars", 1955), Gauquelin suggested that a statistically significant number of sports champions were born just after the planet Mars rises or culminates. He also divided the plane of the ecliptic into twelve sectors, identifying two "key" sectors of statistical significance. Gauquelin's work was accepted by the psychologist Hans Eysenck among others but later attempts to validate the data and replicate the effect have produced uneven results, chiefly owing to disagreements over the selection and analysis of the data set. Since the phenomenon in question depends upon the daily rotation of the Earth, the availability and accuracy of time and place of birth data is crucial to such studies, as is the criterion of "eminence". Later research claims to explain the Mars effect by selection bias, favouring champions who were born in a key sector of Mars and rejecting those who were not from the sample. == Reception and


id: mars-effect-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_effect-1.md
category: reference
title: Mars effect
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_effect
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:41.924157+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mars-effect-20260505-0
summary:
=== The Zelen test === In 1975 Paul Kurtz's journal The Humanist published an article on astrology criticizing Gauquelin, to which the latter and his wife Françoise responded. Then Professor Marvin Zelen, a statistician and associate of the recently founded Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP, now known as the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI)), proposed in a 1976 article in the same periodical that, in order to eliminate any demographic anomaly, Gauquelin randomly pick 100 athletes from his data-set of 2,088 and check the birth/planet correlations of a sample of babies born at the same times and places in order to establish a control group, giving the base-rate (chance) expectation for comparison (The 100 random athletes later expanded into a subsample of 303 athletes). In April 1977 CSICOP researcher George O. Abell wrote to Kurtz stating that Zelen's test had come out in the Gauquelins' favour. The Gauquelins also performed the test that Professor Zelen had proposed and carried out and found that the chance Mars-in-key-sector expectation for the general population (i.e., non-champions) was about 17%, significantly less than the 22% observed for athletic champions. However the subsequent article by Zelen, Abell and Kurtz


id: mars-effect-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_effect-2.md
category: reference
title: Mars effect
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_effect
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:41.924157+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mars-effect-20260505-0
summary:
=== Statistical explanation === Some researchers argued that Gauquelin did not adjust the statistical significance of the Mars Effect for multiple comparisons and did not address the issue in his publications. Simplified and illustrative showcase argument is explained here: There are 10 celestial bodies and 12 sectors for them to be in. Furthermore, there are 132 combinations of sector pairs and thus 1320 different combinations of a planet with two sectors. There is about a 25% chance to find at least one such combination (of one planet and two sectors) for a random dataset of the same size as Gauquelin's that would yield a result with apparent statistical significance like the one obtained by Gauquelin. This implies that after adjusting for multiple comparisons, the Mars effect is no longer statistically significant even at the modest significance level of 0.05 and is probably a false positive. But the multiple comparisons argument is countered or weakened if it is proven that an effect shows up in more than one study. Some argue that the latter is the case. Geoffrey Dean has suggested that the effect may be caused by self-reporting of birth dates by parents rather than any issue with the study


id: medical-astrology-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_astrology-0.md
category: reference
title: Medical astrology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_astrology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:43.106242+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: medical-astrology-20260505-0
summary:
Medical astrology or astrological medicine (traditionally known as iatromathematics) is an ancient applied branch of astrology based mostly on melothesia (Gr. μελοθεσία), the association of various parts of the body, diseases, and drugs with the nature of the sun, moon, planets, and the twelve astrological signs. The underlying basis for medical astrology is considered to be a pseudoscience as there is no scientific basis for its core beliefs. Hippocratic Greek medical training included a doctrine of dies decretorii ("critical days"). Galen believed that heavenly bodies influenced human life but he had his misgivings about the predictions made by "horoscope-casters" (genethliakoi). Astrology was however considered as a foundation for medical practice in ancient Greece and Arabia. In Italy astrological studies as part of a training for medicine was routine in Bologna. The training was not that strong in England but in medical practice astrological circumstances were claimed in cases to absolve surgeons of any blame. In England, Robert Fludd in his Medicina Catholica (Frankfort, 1629) noted that medicine, theology, and astrology formed a single unified discipline. Astrological medicine declined after the 17th century but there were calls for its renewal in 1928 by Rudyard Kipling who considered modern medicine too narrow.


id: medical-intuitive-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_intuitive-0.md
category: reference
title: Medical intuitive
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_intuitive
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:44.275517+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: medical-intuitive-20260505-0
summary:
A medical intuitive is an alternative medicine practitioner who is purported to be able to use their intuitive abilities to find the cause of a physical or emotional condition through the use of insight rather than modern medicine. Other terms for such a person include medical clairvoyant or medical psychic. == History == The practice of claiming to use intuition or clairvoyance for medical information dates back to Phineas Parkhurst Quimby (1802–1866), whose intuitive healing practice began in 1854. Edgar Cayce (1877–1945) was known as one of the most well known medical clairvoyants. William M. Branham, the father of the Pentecostal Latter Rain Movement, was said by his followers to be able to discern the health condition of people that attended his services, and in many cases heal them of their affliction. == Reception == Making a formal medical diagnosis is not a practice for many medical intuitives. In a few cases medical intuitives have been hired by hospitals, clinics and medical offices, particularly in California. Many medical professionals and psychologists attribute perceived anecdotal successes by medical intuitives to a combination of wishful thinking, confirmation bias, the placebo effect, and regression fallacy associated with self-limiting conditions. A few educational institutions


id: mediumship-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediumship-0.md
category: reference
title: Mediumship
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediumship
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:45.598694+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mediumship-20260505-0
summary:
Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship or spirit channelling, including séance tables, trance, and ouija. The practice is associated with spiritualism and spiritism. A similar New Age practice is known as channeling. Belief in psychic ability is widespread despite the absence of empirical evidence for its existence. Scientific researchers have attempted to ascertain the validity of claims of mediumship for more than one hundred years and have consistently failed to confirm them. As late as 2005, an experiment undertaken by the British Psychological Society reaffirmed that test subjects who self-identified as mediums demonstrated no mediumistic ability. Mediumship gained popularity during the nineteenth century when ouija boards were used as a source of entertainment. Investigations during this period revealed widespread fraud—with some practitioners employing techniques used by stage magicians—and the practice began to lose credibility. Fraud is still rife in the medium or psychic industry, with cases of deception and trickery being discovered to this day. Several different variants of mediumship have been described; arguably the best-known forms involve a spirit purportedly taking


id: mediumship-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediumship-1.md
category: reference
title: Mediumship
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediumship
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:45.598694+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mediumship-20260505-0
summary:
=== Mental mediumship === "Mental mediumship" is communication of spirits with a medium by telepathy. The medium mentally "hears" (clairaudience), "sees" (clairvoyance), and/or feels (clairsentience) messages from spirits. Directly or with the help of a spirit guide, the medium passes the information on to the message's recipient(s). When a medium is doing a "reading" for a particular person, that person is known as the "sitter". === Trance mediumship === In the 1860s and 1870s, trance mediums, also known as trance speakers, were very popular; this allowed female adherents, many who had strong interests in social justice, to speak in public in an era where doing so went against existing social norms. Many trance mediums delivered passionate speeches on abolitionism, temperance, and women's suffrage. Scholars have described Leonora Piper as one of the most famous trance mediums in the history of Spiritualism. Trance speakers believed that entering a trance gave them access to the spirits and, through them, to knowledge inaccessible in the waking world. Sometimes an assistant would write down the medium's words, such as in the early 20th century collaboration between the trance medium Mrs. Cecil M. Cook of the William T. Stead Memorial Center in Chicago (a religious


id: mediumship-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediumship-2.md
category: reference
title: Mediumship
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediumship
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:45.598694+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mediumship-20260505-0
summary:
=== Scientific skepticism === In their book How to Think About Weird Things: Critical Thinking for a New Age, authors Theodore Schick and Lewis Vaughn have noted that the spiritualist and ESP hypothesis of mediumship "has yielded no novel predictions, assumes unknown entities or forces, and conflicts with available scientific evidence." Scientists who study anomalistic psychology consider mediumship to be the result of fraud and psychological factors. Research from psychology for over a hundred years suggests that where there is not fraud, mediumship and Spiritualist practices can be explained by hypnotism, magical thinking and suggestion. Trance mediumship, which according to Spiritualists is caused by discarnate spirits speaking through the medium, can be explained by dissociative identity disorder. Illusionists, such as Joseph Rinn have staged fake séances in which the sitters have claimed to have observed genuine supernatural phenomena. Albert Moll studied the psychology of séance sitters. According to (Wolffram, 2012) "[Moll] argued that the hypnotic atmosphere of the darkened séance room and the suggestive effect of the experimenters' social and scientific prestige could be used to explain why seemingly rational people vouchsafed occult phenomena." The psychologists Leonard Zusne and Warren Jones in their book Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical


id: mediumship-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediumship-3.md
category: reference
title: Mediumship
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediumship
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:45.598694+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mediumship-20260505-0
summary:
=== 1800s === Many 19th century mediums were discovered to be engaged in fraud. While advocates of mediumship claim that their experiences are genuine, the Encyclopædia Britannica article on spiritualism notes in reference to a case in the 19th century that "...one by one, the Spiritualist mediums were discovered to be engaged in fraud, sometimes employing the techniques of stage magicians in their attempts to convince people of their clairvoyant powers." The article also notes that "the exposure of widespread fraud within the spiritualist movement severely damaged its reputation and pushed it to the fringes of society in the United States." At a séance in the house of the solicitor John Snaith Rymer in Ealing in July 1855, a sitter Frederick Merrifield observed that a "spirit-hand" was a false limb attached on the end of the medium Daniel Dunglas Home's arm. Merrifield also claimed to have observed Home use his foot in the séance room. The poet Robert Browning and his wife Elizabeth attended a séance on July 23, 1855, in Ealing with the Rymers. During the séance a spirit face materialized which Home claimed was the son of Browning who had died in infancy. Browning seized the "materialization" and


id: mediumship-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediumship-4.md
category: reference
title: Mediumship
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediumship
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:45.598694+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mediumship-20260505-0
summary:
The British medium Francis Ward Monck was investigated by psychical researchers and discovered to be a fraud. On November 3, 1876, during the séance a sitter demanded that Monck be searched. Monck ran from the room, locked himself in another room and escaped out of a window. A pair of stuffed gloves was found in his room, as well as cheesecloth, reaching rods and other fraudulent devices in his luggage. After a trial Monck was convicted for his fraudulent mediumship and was sentenced to three months in prison. In 1876, William Eglinton was exposed as a fraud when the psychical researcher Thomas Colley seized a "spirit" materialization in his séance and cut off a portion of its cloak. It was discovered that the cut piece matched a cloth found in Eglinton's suitcase. Colley also pulled the beard off the materialization and it was revealed to be a fake, the same as another one found in the suitcase of Eglinton. In 1880 in a séance a spirit named "Yohlande" materialized, a sitter grabbed it and was revealed to be the medium Mme. d'Esperance herself. In September 1878 the British medium Charles Williams and his fellow-medium at the time, A. Rita, were


id: mediumship-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediumship-5.md
category: reference
title: Mediumship
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediumship
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:45.598694+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mediumship-20260505-0
summary:
=== 1900s === In March 1902 in Berlin, police officers interrupted a séance of the German apport medium Frau Anna Rothe. Her hands were grabbed and she was wrestled to the ground. A female police assistant physically examined Rothe and discovered 157 flowers as well as oranges and lemons hidden in her petticoat. She was arrested and charged with fraud. Another apport medium Hilda Lewis known as the "flower medium" confessed to fraud. The psychical researchers W. W. Baggally and Everard Feilding exposed the British materialization medium Christopher Chambers as a fraud in 1905. A false moustache was discovered in the séance room which he used to fabricate the spirit materializations. The British medium Charles Eldred was exposed as a fraud in 1906. Eldred would sit in a chair in a curtained off area in the room known as a "séance cabinet". Various spirit figures would emerge from the cabinet and move around the séance room, however, it was discovered that the chair had a secret compartment that contained beards, cloths, masks, and wigs that Eldred would dress up in to pretend to be spirits. The spirit photographer William Hope tricked William Crookes with a fake spirit photograph of his


id: mediumship-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediumship-6.md
category: reference
title: Mediumship
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediumship
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:45.598694+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mediumship-20260505-0
summary:
In 1910 at a séance in Grenoble, France the apport medium Charles Bailey produced two live birds in the séance room. Bailey was unaware that the dealer he had bought the birds from was present in the séance and he was exposed as a fraud. The psychical researcher Eric Dingwall observed the medium Bert Reese in New York and claimed to have discovered his billet reading tricks. The most detailed account at exposing his tricks (with diagrams) was by the magician Theodore Annemann. The Polish medium Stanisława Tomczyk's levitation of a glass beaker was exposed and replicated in 1910 by the magician William S. Marriott by means of a hidden thread. The Italian medium Lucia Sordi was exposed in 1911, she was bound to a chair by psychical researchers but would free herself during her séances. The tricks of another Italian medium Linda Gazzera were revealed in the same year, she would release her hands and feet from control in her séances and use them. Gazzera would not permit anyone to search her before a séance sitting, as she concealed muslin and other objects in her hair. In 1917, Edward Clodd analyzed the mediumship of the trance medium Gladys Osborne


id: mediumship-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediumship-7.md
category: reference
title: Mediumship
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediumship
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:45.598694+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mediumship-20260505-0
summary:
The Austrian medium Rudi Schneider was investigated in 1924 by the physicists Stefan Meyer and Karl Przibram. They caught Rudi freeing his arm in a series of séances. Rudi claimed he could levitate objects but according to Harry Price a photograph taken on April 28, 1932, showed that Rudi had managed to free his arm to move a handkerchief from the table. According to Warren Jay Vinton, Schneider was an expert at freeing himself from control in the séance room. Oliver Gatty and Theodore Besterman who tested Schneider concluded that in their tests there was "no good evidence that Rudi Schneider possesses supernormal powers." The spiritualists Arthur Conan Doyle and W. T. Stead were duped into believing Julius and Agnes Zancig had genuine psychic powers. Both Doyle and Stead wrote that the Zancigs performed telepathy. In 1924 Julius and Agnes Zancig confessed that their mind reading act was a trick and published the secret code and all the details of the trick method they had used under the title of Our Secrets!! in a London Newspaper. In 1925, Samuel Soal claimed to have taken part in a series of séances with the medium Blanche Cooper who contacted the spirit of


id: mediumship-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediumship-8.md
category: reference
title: Mediumship
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediumship
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:45.598694+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mediumship-20260505-0
summary:
In the 1930s Harry Price (director of the National Laboratory of Psychical Research) had investigated the medium Helen Duncan and had her perform a number of test séances. She was suspected of swallowing cheesecloth which was then regurgitated as "ectoplasm". Price had proven through analysis of a sample of ectoplasm produced by Duncan, that it was made of cheesecloth. Helen Duncan would also use a doll made of a painted papier-mâché mask draped in an old sheet which she pretended to her sitters was a spirit. The photographs taken by Thomas Glendenning Hamilton in the 1930s of ectoplasm reveal the substance to be made of tissue paper and magazine cut-outs of people. The famous photograph taken by Hamilton of the medium Mary Ann Marshall depicts tissue paper with a cut out of Arthur Conan Doyle's head from a newspaper. Skeptics have suspected that Hamilton may have been behind the hoax. Psychologists and researchers who studied Pearl Curran's automatic writings in the 1930s came to the conclusion Patience Worth was a fictitious creation of Curran. In 1931 George Valiantine was exposed as a fraud in the séance room as it was discovered that he produced fraudulent "spirit" fingerprints in wax. The


id: mediumship-20260505-9
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediumship-9.md
category: reference
title: Mediumship
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediumship
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:45.598694+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mediumship-20260505-0
summary:
In 1954, the psychical researcher Rudolf Lambert published a report revealing details about a case of fraud that was covered up by many early members of the Institute Metapsychique International (IMI). Lambert who had studied Gustav Geley's files on the medium Eva Carrière discovered photographs depicting fraudulent ectoplasm taken by her companion Juliette Bisson. Various "materializations" were artificially attached to Eva's hair by wires. The discovery was never published by Geley. Eugéne Osty (the director of the institute) and members Jean Meyer, Albert von Schrenck-Notzing and Charles Richet all knew about the fraudulent photographs but were firm believers in mediumship phenomena so demanded the scandal be kept secret. The fraudulent medium Ronald Edwin confessed he had duped his séance sitters and revealed the fraudulent methods he had used in his book Clock Without Hands (1955). The psychical researcher Tony Cornell investigated the mediumship of Alec Harris in 1955. During the séance "spirit" materializations emerged from a cabinet and walked around the room. Cornell wrote that a stomach rumble, nicotine smelling breath and a pulse gave it away that all the spirit figures were in fact Harris and that he had dressed up as each one behind the cabinet. The British


id: mediumship-20260505-10
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediumship-10.md
category: reference
title: Mediumship
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediumship
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:45.598694+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mediumship-20260505-0
summary:
The British journalist Ruth Brandon published the book The Spiritualists (1983) which exposed the fraud of the Victorian mediums. The book received positive reviews and has been influential to skeptics of spiritualism. The British apport medium Paul McElhoney was exposed as a fraud during a séance in Osset, Yorkshire in 1983. The tape recorder that McElhoney took to his séances was investigated and a black tape was discovered bound around the battery compartment and inside carnation flowers were found as well as a key-ring torch and other objects. In 1988, the magician Bob Couttie criticized the paranormal author Brian Inglis for deliberately ignoring evidence of fraud in mediumship. Couttie wrote Inglis had not familiarized himself with magician techniques. In 1990 the researcher Gordon Stein discovered that the levitation photograph of the medium Carmine Mirabelli was fraudulent. The photograph was a trick as there were signs of chemical retouching under Mirabelli's feet. The retouching showed that Mirabelli was not levitating but was standing on a ladder which was erased from the photograph. In 1991, Wendy Grossman in the New Scientist criticized the parapsychologist Stephen E. Braude for ignoring evidence of fraud in mediumship. According to Grossman "[Braude] accuses sceptics of ignoring


id: mediumship-20260505-11
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediumship-11.md
category: reference
title: Mediumship
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediumship
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:45.598694+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mediumship-20260505-0
summary:
Modern spiritualists and psychics keep detailed files on their victims. As might be expected, these files can be very valuable and are often passed on from one medium or psychic to another when one retires or dies. Even if a psychic doesn't use a private detective or have immediate access to driver's license records and such, there is still a very powerful technique that will allow the psychic to convince people that the psychic knows all about them, their problems, and their deep personal secrets, fears, and desires. The technique is called cold reading and is probably as old as charlatanism itself... If John Edward (or any of the other self-proclaimed speakers with the dead) really could communicate with the dead, it would be a trivial matter to prove it. All that would be necessary would be for him to contact any of the thousands of missing persons who are presumed dead—famous (e.g., Jimmy Hoffa, Judge Crater) or otherwise—and correctly report where the body is. Of course, this is never done. All we get, instead, are platitudes to the effect that Aunt Millie, who liked green plates, is happy on the other side. An experiment conducted by the British Psychological


id: mediumship-20260505-12
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediumship-12.md
category: reference
title: Mediumship
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediumship
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:45.598694+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mediumship-20260505-0
summary:
"Over the course of the reading, John comfortably laid down the specifics of Susanna Wilson’s life — he named “Andy” and amazingly knew him to be her twin. He knew that she and her brother grew up in Michigan and that his girlfriend was Maria. He knew about Susanna’s father-in-law and how he died." These details were from the falsified Facebook accounts for the pair which were prepared by a group of skeptics in advance of the reading, and Gerbic and Edward were not aware of the specific information in these accounts. This blinding was done in order to avoid John later being able to claim he obtained the false information by reading Gerbic and Edward's minds. In her report, Gerbic also revealed that during an after-show private event, John disclosed in a group setting that at least one of the people in the audience which he did a reading about was actually his own student. The same week that the Thomas John sting revelation was made in The New York Times, John's claimed mediumship abilities portrayed in the Lifetime reality TV show called Seatbelt Psychic were challenged by Gerbic in an article published by Skeptical Inquirer. In the show,


id: melanin-theory-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanin_theory-0.md
category: reference
title: Melanin theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanin_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:46.789800+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: melanin-theory-20260505-0
summary:
Melanin theory is a set of pseudoscientific claims made by some proponents of Afrocentrism, which holds that black people, including ancient Egyptians, have superior mental, physical, and paranormal powers because they have higher levels of melanin, the primary skin pigment in humans. == Claims == Melanin theory posits that individuals' responses to social stimuli are determined by the prevalence of the skin pigment melanin. Historian Stephen Ferguson describes melanin theory as a component of "strong" Afrocentrism, which assigns biological causes to social phenomena such as white supremacy. Proponents of melanin theory ("melanists") argue that insecurity among European males leads to efforts to socially dominate and emasculate African males, taking the form of unemployment, incarceration, and political and social marginalization. Some black supremacists, including professor of black studies Leonard Jeffries and psychologist Frances Cress Welsing, argue without evidence that higher levels of melanin give black people inherently superior qualities to white people, including supernatural abilities such as extrasensory perception. According to Bernard Ortiz de Montellano, "the alleged properties of melanin, mostly unsupported, irrelevant, or distortions of the scientific literature, are [...] used to justify Afrocentric assertions. One of the most common is that humans evolved as blacks in Africa, and that


id: menstruation-hut-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menstruation_hut-0.md
category: reference
title: Menstruation hut
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menstruation_hut
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:47.976858+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: menstruation-hut-20260505-0
summary:
A menstruation hut is a place of seclusion or isolation used by certain cultures with strong menstrual taboos. The same or a similar structure may be used for childbirth and postpartum confinement, based on beliefs around ritual impurity. These huts are usually built near the family home, have small doors, and are often dilapidated, with poor sanitation and ventilation, and no windows. The Nepali version, the Chhaupadi, is probably the best-known example, but cultural attitudes towards menstruation around the world mean that these huts exist, or existed until recently, in other places as well. The use of menstrual huts continues to be a cause of death, from exposure, dehydration, snake bite, smoke inhalation, and so on. The use of these huts is illegal in some places. == Cultures == === Use in Ethiopia among Jewish women === In Ethiopia's Jewish community, when a woman becomes niddah (impure during menstruation), she may remain in a niddah hut for some of the time. These huts are absent in Israel, but exist in the Ethiopian highlands, known to the Ethiopian Jewish community as margam gojos. The women must stay in the hut, usually located on the margins of the village, for seven days.


id: menstruation-hut-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menstruation_hut-1.md
category: reference
title: Menstruation hut
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menstruation_hut
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:47.976858+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: menstruation-hut-20260505-0
summary:
=== India === In many Indian states, the practice of banishing women and girls is common. It is mostly prevalent among the Gonds which are the largest tribal group in Central India and hail from the states of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa as well as Madiya ethnic groups. These shacks, known locally as "kurma ghar" or "gaokar," lack basic amenities like proper beds, clean water and functional washrooms. Since menstruating women are not permitted to cook, Gaokors lack a kitchen. Those staying inside rely on family members to bring them food and other supplies. The accountability of maintaining such huts lies on no one since they are considered as public property. These shacks are usually located on the outskirts of the village or near a forest. The unsanitary conditions coupled with unhygienic menstrual practices — many women use strips made from mahua leaves covered with paddy chaff as pads, often lead to infections, illnesses, and sometimes even death. The decrepit shacks provide little protection against wild creatures. According to a representative of from a local NGO Sparsh, at least eight women have died in Gadchiroli alone since 2011 as a result of this forced seclusion. Some have died


id: menstruation-hut-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menstruation_hut-2.md
category: reference
title: Menstruation hut
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menstruation_hut
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:47.976858+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: menstruation-hut-20260505-0
summary:
=== Others === In Yap (part of Micronesia), after giving birth, women and their newborn babies spend time in a menstruation hut while the father has a holiday. The Yapese women have many taboos and secrets around menstruation. They use the menstrual huts to hide themselves so that they do not embarrass themselves in front of the men. Menstrual huts were also used for childbirth and after childbirth care. The older women teach the younger women and girls skills and practices about health, especially menstruation and childbirth, as well as the other tasks which the Yapese women are required to do. The Yurok women of California lived in menstruation huts built near the main house. The Yurok women were required to stay in a menstruation hut a short way away from the village. There is much taboo and power associated with menstruation in this culture. Those menstruating must remain in the hut and abide by certain rules or there will be consequences for her, the other women, and even the village because she holds so much power. The women are thought by many to be unclean, and anything they use is made unclean as well, but the women believe themselves


id: meridian-chinese-medicine-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridian_(Chinese_medicine)-0.md
category: reference
title: Meridian (Chinese medicine)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridian_(Chinese_medicine)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:49.179404+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: meridian-chinese-medicine-20260505-0
summary:
The meridian system (simplified Chinese: 经络; traditional Chinese: 經絡; pinyin: jīngluò; lit. 'meridian and collaterals'), also called channel network, is a pseudoscientific concept from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) that alleges meridians are paths through which the life-energy known as "qi" (ch'i) flows. Scientists have found no evidence that supports their existence. One historian of medicine in China says that the term is "completely unsuitable and misguided, but nonetheless it has become a standard translation". Major proponents of their existence have not come to any consensus as to how they might work or be tested in a scientific context. == History == The concept of meridians are first attested in two works recovered from the Mawangdui and Zhangjiashan tombs of the Han-era Changsha Kingdom, the Cauterization Canon of the Eleven Foot and Arm Channels (足臂十一脈灸經, Zúbì Shíyī Mài Jiǔjīng) and the Cauterization Canon of the Eleven Yin and Yang Channels (陰陽十一脈灸經, Yīnyáng Shíyī Mài Jiǔjīng). In the texts, the meridians are referenced as mài (脈) rather than jīngmài. == Main concepts == The meridian network is typically divided into two categories, the jingmai (經脈) or meridian channels and the luomai (絡脈) or associated vessels (sometimes called "collaterals"). The jingmai contain the


id: mesotherapy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesotherapy-0.md
category: reference
title: Mesotherapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesotherapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:50.370602+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mesotherapy-20260505-0
summary:
Mesotherapy (from Greek mesos, "middle", and therapy from Greek therapeia) is a form of alternative medicine which involves intradermal or subcutaneous injections of pharmaceutical preparations, enzymes, hormones, plant extracts, vitamins, and/or other ingredients such as hyaluronic acid. It has no proven clinical efficacy and poor scientific backing. Mesotherapy injections allegedly target adipose fat cells, apparently by inducing lipolysis, rupture and cell death among adipocytes. The stated aim of mesotherapy is to provide the skin with essential nutrients, hydration, and other beneficial compounds to rejuvenate and revitalize its appearance. The effects of the treatment may vary depending on the individual. Pressurized mesotherapy is a needle-free method that uses an accelerated jet of air to insert the ingredients into the skin tissue. A study on the effect of using a lipolytic substance inserted with needles compared to pressurized injection showed significant fat layer reduction for both methods but even better results with the pressurized injection system. == Usage == In the United States, deoxycholic acid, under the brand name Kybella, is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for reducing moderate-to-severe fat below the chin. When injected into submental fat, deoxycholic acid helps destroy adipocytes (fat cells), which are metabolized by the


id: metabolic-typing-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_typing-0.md
category: reference
title: Metabolic typing
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolic_typing
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:51.564087+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: metabolic-typing-20260505-0
summary:
Metabolic typing is a pseudoscience whose proponents believe that each person has a unique metabolism, and that the proportion of macromolecules (proteins, carbohydrates and fats) which are optimal for one person may not be for a second, and could even be detrimental to them. Metabolic typing uses common visible symptoms related to the skin, eyes, and other parts of the body to assess different aspects of a person's metabolism and categorize them into broad metabolic types. In addition, some proponents of metabolic typing use tests such as hair analysis to determine a person's metabolic type. A number of somewhat different metabolic typing diet plans are currently marketed, though the validity and effectiveness of metabolic typing have yet to be established. == Background == Metabolic typing was introduced by William Donald Kelley, a dentist, in the 1960s. Kelley advocated basing dietary choices on the activity of one's sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. In 1970, Kelley was convicted of practicing medicine without a license, as he had diagnosed a patient with lung cancer based on a fingerstick blood test and prescribed nutritional therapy. He continued to promote a metabolic typing diet through the 1980s. The practice has been further developed by others


id: pseudoscientific-metrology-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoscientific_metrology-0.md
category: reference
title: Pseudoscientific metrology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoscientific_metrology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:52.731343+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pseudoscientific-metrology-20260505-0
summary:
Some approaches in the branch of historic metrology are highly speculative and can be qualified as pseudoscience. == Origins == In 1637, John Greaves, professor of geometry at Gresham College, made his first of several studies in Egypt and Italy, making numerous measurements of buildings and monuments, including the Great Pyramid. These activities fuelled many centuries of interest in metrology of the ancient cultures by the likes of Isaac Newton and the French Academy. == Charles Piazzi Smyth == John Taylor, in his 1859 book The Great Pyramid: Why Was It Built? & Who Built It?, claimed that the Great Pyramid of Giza was planned and the building supervised by the biblical Noah, and that it was "built to make a record of the measure of the Earth". A paper presented to the Royal Academy on the topic was rejected. Taylor's theories were, however, the inspiration for the deeply religious archaeologist Charles Piazzi Smyth to go to Egypt to study and measure the pyramid, subsequently publishing his book Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid (1864), claiming that the measurements he obtained from the Great Pyramid indicated a unit of length, the pyramid inch, equivalent to 1.001 British inches, that could


id: pseudoscientific-metrology-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoscientific_metrology-1.md
category: reference
title: Pseudoscientific metrology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoscientific_metrology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:52.731343+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pseudoscientific-metrology-20260505-0
summary:
== "Megalithic geometry" == One of the first persons to associate megalith builders with geometry was the Scottish academic, Alexander Thom (1894–1985), who never hypothesised any 366-degree geometry himself. Thom believed that the megalith builders used a standard unit of measurement which he dubbed the megalithic yard. According to him, the length of this unit was 2.72 Imperial feet or 82.96 cm. The existence of this measurement is disputed. According to Alan Butler this geometry was based on the Earth's polar circumference. The megalithic degree is the 366th part of it, i.e. 40,008 / 366 = 109.31 km; the megalithic arcminute is the 60th part of the megalithic degree, i.e. 109.31 / 60 = 1.82 km; the megalithic arcsecond is the 6th part of the megalithic minute, i.e. 1.82 / 6 = 0.3036 km; if this megalithic arcsecond is in turn divided into 366 equal segments, the length arrived at is 0.8296 m, which is the presumed length of the megalithic Yard, the supposedly ancient unit of measurement independently discovered by professor Alexander Thom in the 1950s. It is precisely this apparent coincidence that prompted Butler to think that the Megalith builders could have been cognizant with an Earth-based 366-degree


id: pseudoscientific-metrology-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoscientific_metrology-2.md
category: reference
title: Pseudoscientific metrology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoscientific_metrology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:52.731343+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pseudoscientific-metrology-20260505-0
summary:
== Critical reception == Publications in pseudoscientific metrology receive little, if any, attention from mainstream scholarship, by nature of being intended for the popular mass market. French historian Lucien Febvre, criticised Xavier Guichard's publication Eleusis Alesia: Enquête sur les origines de la civilisation européenne as "time and effort lost based on wordplay". Alexander Thom's theories have been criticized by Ian O. Angell. W. R. Knorr, examining the evidence as presented by Thom, finds no real evidence of the Pythagorean theorem, the ellipse, or a standard unit of distance in Neolithic times. Karlene Jones-Bley also denies the existence of such a precise unit of measurement during the Neolithic period: "the suggestion put forth by Thom that there was a 'megalithic yard' uniform to 0.1 mm from Brittany to the Orkneys cannot be accepted". However, for R. J. C. Atkinson, the British prehistorian and archaeologist (1920–1994), the Megalithic yard as defined by Thom is a plausible notion: "An interesting theory is his notion of a megalithic yard and rod, supposedly fairly consistent in Britain and Brittany". According to the analytical methods employed by the British statisticians S.R. Broadbent and D.G. Kendall, Thom's 1955 dataset is unlikely to be the result of chance:


id: mewing-orthotropics-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mewing_(orthotropics)-0.md
category: reference
title: Mewing (orthotropics)
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mewing_(orthotropics)
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:54.028020+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mewing-orthotropics-20260505-0
summary:
Mewing is an unproven form of oral posture training purported to improve jaw and facial structure. It was named after British orthodontist John Mew, who created the technique as a part of a practice called "orthotropics", together with his son Mike. It involves placing one's tongue at the roof of the mouth and applying pressure, purportedly to modify the structure of the jaws. No credible scientific research has ever proven the efficacy of orthotropics, and most orthodontists do not view mewing as a viable alternative treatment to orthognathic surgery. Mike Mew was expelled from the British Orthodontic Society and faced a misconduct hearing for posing harm to child patients who underwent his treatments. In 2024, Mew was struck from the dental register in the United Kingdom. Since 2019, mewing has received widespread media coverage due to its virality on social media, especially in incel and looksmaxxing subcultures, and has been associated with "brain rot". Data from Google Trends indicates that interest in "mewing" began to rise in January 2019. Its popularity has reportedly also affected school students, with some apparently mewing in class to avoid answering questions when prompted by teachers. == See also == Facial toning The Rizzler ==


id: midbrain-activation-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midbrain_activation-0.md
category: reference
title: Midbrain activation
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midbrain_activation
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:55.188990+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: midbrain-activation-20260505-0
summary:
Midbrain activation is a pseudoscientific training method claiming to allow the development of blind vision and to improve memory and concentration. The trick often works by training participants to see through blindfolds to give the illusion that they are reading objects without being able to see. == Controversy == The training programs run by the franchise organisations have generated criticism from rationalists, most notably Narendra Nayak, president of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations (FIRA). == References ==


id: miracle-mineral-supplement-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_Mineral_Supplement-0.md
category: reference
title: Miracle Mineral Supplement
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_Mineral_Supplement
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:56.438172+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: miracle-mineral-supplement-20260505-0
summary:
Miracle Mineral Supplement, often referred to as Miracle Mineral Solution, Master Mineral Solution, MMS or the CD protocol, is a branded name for an aqueous solution of chlorine dioxide, an industrial bleaching agent, that has been falsely promoted as a cure for illnesses including HIV, cancer and the common cold. It is made by mixing aqueous sodium chlorite with an acid (such as the juices of citrus fruits or vinegar). This produces chlorine dioxide, a toxic chemical that can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and life-threatening low blood pressure due to dehydration. Sodium chlorite, the main precursor to chlorine dioxide, is itself toxic if ingested. It causes acute kidney failure in high doses. Lower doses (~1 gram) can be expected to cause nausea, vomiting, inflammation of the intestines (producing so-called "rope worms") and even life-threatening reactions in persons with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency. The United States Environmental Protection Agency has set a maximum level of 0.8 mg/L for chlorine dioxide in drinking water. Naren Gunja, director of the New South Wales, Australia Poisons Information Centre, has stated that using the product is "a bit like drinking concentrated bleach" and that users have displayed symptoms consistent with corrosive injuries, such as vomiting, stomach


id: miracle-mineral-supplement-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_Mineral_Supplement-1.md
category: reference
title: Miracle Mineral Supplement
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_Mineral_Supplement
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:56.438172+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: miracle-mineral-supplement-20260505-0
summary:
== Safety and legal issues == The Guardian described MMS as "extremely nasty stuff, and the medical advice given is that anyone who has this product should stop using it immediately and throw it away. In Canada it was banned after causing a life-threatening reaction." In August 2009, a Mexican woman travelling with her American husband on a yacht in Vanuatu took MMS to supposedly prevent malaria. She fell ill within 15 minutes, and died within 12 hours. The island nation's public prosecutor, Kayleen Tavoa, did not press any charges as there were no specific laws banning the importation of MMS, but advised, "While every case is assessed on its own merits, I advise that any person who misuses MMS in Vanuatu in the future would be likely to face prosecution for potentially serious criminal offences. No person should ever give MMS to another person to drink without advising them of what it is they are drinking and of the serious risks to health that may arise if they decide to drink the mixture." In 2008, a 60-year-old Canadian man was hospitalized after a life-threatening response to MMS. Following a May 2010 advisory which indicated that MMS exceeds tolerable levels


id: miracle-mineral-supplement-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_Mineral_Supplement-2.md
category: reference
title: Miracle Mineral Supplement
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_Mineral_Supplement
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:56.438172+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: miracle-mineral-supplement-20260505-0
summary:
==== Bolivia ==== In Bolivia, officials in Cochabamba promoted MMS as a cure for COVID-19 and the Congress passed a bill to authorise the "manufacture, marketing, supply and use of chlorine dioxide solution for the prevention and treatment of coronavirus". At least 15 people were poisoned as a result. == Investigations == In 2015, BBC London conducted an undercover investigation into MMS, with a reporter posing as a family member of a person with autism. The BBC reporter was sold two bottles containing sodium chlorite and hydrochloric acid by a self-styled "reverend" Leon Edwards linked to the Genesis II Church in the United States. Edwards told the reporter that the solutions would cure nearly all illnesses and conditions, including cancer, HIV, malaria, autism and Alzheimer's disease. He recommended 27 drops per day for a baby. Laboratory analysis later showed that the concentration of both bottled solutions was far stronger than advertised. Edwards told the reporter: I put it in my eyes, my nose, my ears, bathe in it, drunk it, breathed it in my lungs. I got injected in my butt with it. ABC News and KABC-TV investigated the MMS phenomenon in 2016, and uncovered an "underground network" centered around


id: miracle-mineral-supplement-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_Mineral_Supplement-3.md
category: reference
title: Miracle Mineral Supplement
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_Mineral_Supplement
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:56.438172+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: miracle-mineral-supplement-20260505-0
summary:
== Judgments == Former Chicagoan Kerri Rivera, who now resides in Mexico, was required by the Illinois Attorney General to sign a document stating that she would no longer promote the use of toxic chlorine dioxide, or "CD", in the state of Illinois. The agreement, which Rivera signed, says, "Respondent [Rivera] makes unsubstantiated health and medical claims regarding the use of chlorine dioxide in the treatment of autism. In truth and fact, Respondent lacks competent and reliable scientific evidence to support her claims that chlorine dioxide can treat autism. Respondent's act of promoting unsubstantiated health and medical claims regarding the use of chlorine dioxide in the treatment of autism constitutes a violation of Section 2 of the Consumer Fraud Act." The agreement continued to bar Rivera from speaking at seminars and selling chlorine dioxide or similar substances for the treatment of autism. However, Rivera publicizes from a website promoting dangerous MMS enemas as an autism treatment, and claiming that the intestinal lining of children expels parasites ("rope worms") – a false concept. Attorney General Lisa Madigan described the case by saying, "You have a situation where there are people, complete quacks, that are out there promoting a very dangerous chemical


id: miracle-mineral-supplement-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_Mineral_Supplement-4.md
category: reference
title: Miracle Mineral Supplement
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_Mineral_Supplement
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:56.438172+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: miracle-mineral-supplement-20260505-0
summary:
=== Uganda === In May 2019, The Guardian reported that American pastor Robert Baldwin had "trained" around 1,200 clerics in Uganda to distribute MMS as a "miracle cure". Each cleric is estimated to administer MMS to around 50 churchgoers. Baldwin, aged 52 from New Jersey, has been importing in bulk sodium chlorite and citric acid, which are the components of MMS. Baldwin operates under 'Global Healing', the ministry he founded, which uses "the power of Almighty God ... to greatly reduce the loss of life". Baldwin offers smartphones to clerics as an incentive to spread the "miracle cure". The Guardian contacted Baldwin, who said: "We use natural healing therapies to help people—that's something Christians do." Baldwin hung up after The Guardian asked about the dosage of bleach being administered in Africa. Fiona O'Leary, a campaigner against fake medicine, provided The Guardian with a purported call recording of Robert Baldwin where he said: "When you draw attention to MMS you run the risk of getting in trouble with the government or drug companies. You have to do it low key. That's why I set it up through the church ... America and Europe have much stricter laws so you are not


id: moerman-therapy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moerman_Therapy-0.md
category: reference
title: Moerman Therapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moerman_Therapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:57.598611+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: moerman-therapy-20260505-0
summary:
The Moerman Therapy, also called Moerman Method or Moerman Diet is an alternative cancer treatment from the Dutch practitioner Cornelis Moerman (1893–1988). There is no clinical evidence that it is effective as a cancer treatment. Moerman therapy has been criticized for unsubstantiated health claims and is considered quackery by medical experts. == History == Moerman who experimented with pigeons in the 1930s argued that he had identified "mysterious suppressors" of the cancer cell and there are "eight essential substances" that maintain human health. He claimed that deficiency of these substances leads to metabolic disturbances and anomalies of regeneration tissue that enable microorganisms which he termed "symbionts" to convert healthy cells into cancer cells. The eight substances he identified were vitamins A, B, E, citric acid, iron, iodine and sulphur. He later added Vitamin C. He argued that a high oxidation capacity in pigeons was what protected the birds from getting cancer. Moerman stated that cancer was not a local disease but was a disturbed oxidation from the result of inadequate nutrition which led to loss of "fermentation processes" and vitality in the cell. According to Quackwatch the Moerman diet is a vegetarian diet that "prohibited all meats, all fish and


id: mongoloid-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongoloid-0.md
category: reference
title: Mongoloid
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongoloid
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:58.765074+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mongoloid-20260505-0
summary:
Mongoloid () is an obsolete racial grouping of various peoples indigenous to large parts of Asia, the Americas, and some regions in Europe and Oceania. The term is derived from a now-disproven theory of biological race. In the past, other terms such as "Mongolian race", "yellow", "Asiatic" and "Oriental" have been used as synonyms. The concept of dividing humans into the Mongoloid, Caucasoid, and Negroid races was introduced in the 1780s by members of the Göttingen school of history. It was further developed by Western scholars in the context of racist ideologies during the age of colonialism. With the rise of modern genetics, the concept of distinct human races in a biological sense has become obsolete. In 2019, the American Association of Biological Anthropologists stated: "The belief in 'races' as natural aspects of human biology, and the structures of inequality (racism) that emerge from such beliefs, are among the most damaging elements in the human experience both today and in the past." The term Mongoloid has had a second usage referencing people with Down syndrome, now generally regarded as highly offensive. Those affected were often referred to as "Mongoloids" or in terms of "Mongolian idiocy" or "Mongolian imbecility". == History


id: mongoloid-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongoloid-1.md
category: reference
title: Mongoloid
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongoloid
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:58.765074+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mongoloid-20260505-0
summary:
According to the Meyers Konversations-Lexikon (1885–90), peoples included in the Mongoloid race are North Mongol, Chinese and Indochinese, Japanese and Korean, Tibetan and Burmese, Malay, Polynesian, Maori, Micronesian, Eskimo, and Native American. In 1909, a map published based on racial classifications in South Asia conceived by Herbert Hope Risley classified inhabitants of Bengal and parts of Odisha as Mongolo-Dravidians, people of mixed Mongoloid and Dravidian origin. Similarly in 1904, Ponnambalam Arunachalam claimed the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka were a people of mixed Mongolian and Malay racial origins as well as Indo-Aryan, Dravidian and Vedda origins. Howard S. Stoudt in The Physical Anthropology of Ceylon (1961) and Carleton S. Coon in The Living Races of Man (1966) classified the Sinhalese as partly Mongoloid. German physical anthropologist Egon Freiherr von Eickstedt, an influential proponent of Rassenkunde (racial studies) in Nazi Germany, classified people from Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, East India, parts of Northeast India, western Myanmar and Sri Lanka as East Brachid, referring to people of mixed Indid and South Mongolid origins. Eickstedt also classified the people of central Myanmar, Yunnan, southern Tibet, Thailand and parts of India as Palaungid deriving from the name of the Palaung people of Myanmar. He also


id: mongoloid-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongoloid-2.md
category: reference
title: Mongoloid
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongoloid
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:22:58.765074+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mongoloid-20260505-0
summary:
After discussing various criteria used in biology to define subspecies or races, Alan R. Templeton concludes in 2016: "[T]he answer to the question whether races exist in humans is clear and unambiguous: no." == Features == === General appearance === The last edition of the German encyclopedia Meyers Konversations-Lexikon (1971–79, 25 volumes) lists the following characteristics of the "Mongoloid" populations of Asia: "Flat face with a low nasal root, accentuated zygomatic arches, flat-lying eyelids (which are often slanting), thick, tight, dark hair, dark eyes, yellow-brownish skin, usually short, stocky build." === Skull === In 2004, British anthropologist Caroline Wilkinson gave a description of "Mongoloid" skulls in her book on forensic facial reconstruction: "The Mongoloid skull shows a round head shape with a medium-width nasal aperture, rounded orbital margins, massive cheekbones, weak or absent canine fossae, moderate prognathism, absent brow ridges, simple cranial sutures, prominent zygomatic bones, broad, flat, tented nasal root, short nasal spine, shovel-shaped upper incisor teeth (scooped out behind), straight nasal profile, moderately wide palate shape, arched sagittal contour, wide facial breadth and a flatter face." === Cold adaptation === In 1950, Carleton S. Coon, Stanley M. Garn, and Joseph B. Birdsell proposed that the relative flatness of


id: morgellons-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgellons-0.md
category: reference
title: Morgellons
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgellons
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:01.062151+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: morgellons-20260505-0
summary:
Morgellons () is the informal name of a self-diagnosed, scientifically unsubstantiated skin condition in which individuals have sores that they believe contain fibrous material. Morgellons is not well understood, but the general medical consensus is that it is a form of delusional parasitosis, on the psychiatric spectrum. The sores are typically the result of compulsive scratching, and the fibers, when analysed, are consistently found to have originated from cotton and other textiles. The condition was named in 2002 by Mary Leitao, a mother who rejected the medical diagnosis of her son's delusional parasitosis. She chose the name from a letter written by a mid-17th-century physician. Leitao and others involved in her Morgellons Research Foundation successfully lobbied members of the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to investigate the condition in 2006. CDC researchers issued the results of their multi-year study in January 2012, indicating that no disease organisms were present in the samples from the individuals examined and that the fibers found were likely cotton. The researchers concluded that the condition was "similar to more commonly recognized conditions such as delusional infestation". == Medical description == Morgellons is poorly understood but the general medical


id: morgellons-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgellons-1.md
category: reference
title: Morgellons
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgellons
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:01.062151+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: morgellons-20260505-0
summary:
=== Media coverage === In May 2006, a CBS news segment on Morgellons aired in Southern California. The same day, the Los Angeles County Department of Health services issued a statement saying, "No credible medical or public health association has verified the existence or diagnosis of 'Morgellons Disease'", and "at this time there is no reason for individuals to panic over unsubstantiated reports of this disease". In June and July 2006, there were segments on CNN, ABC's Good Morning America, and NBC's The Today Show. In August 2006, a segment of the ABC show Medical Mysteries was devoted to the subject. Morgellons was featured on ABC's Nightline on January 16, 2008, and as the cover story of the January 20, 2008, issue of The Washington Post. The first article to propose Morgellons as a new disease in a scientific journal was a review article co-authored by members of the MRF and published in 2006 by the American Journal of Clinical Dermatology. A 2006 article in the San Francisco Chronicle reported, "There have been no clinical studies" of Morgellons disease. A New Scientist article in 2007 also covered the phenomenon, noting that people are reporting similar symptoms in Europe and Australia.


id: morgellons-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgellons-2.md
category: reference
title: Morgellons
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgellons
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:01.062151+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: morgellons-20260505-0
summary:
=== Internet and media influence === An active online community and publications "largely from a single group of investigators" have supported the notion that Morgellons is an infectious disease, and propose an association with Lyme disease; these findings are contradicted by the much larger studies conducted by the CDC. People usually self-diagnose Morgellons based on information from the internet and find support and confirmation in online communities of people with similar illness beliefs. In 2006, Waddell and Burke reported the influence of the internet on people self-diagnosed with Morgellons: "physicians are becoming more and more challenged by the many persons who attempt self-diagnosis on-line. In many cases, these attempts are well-intentioned, yet wrong, and a person's belief in some of these oftentimes unscientific sites online may preclude their trust in the evidence-based approaches and treatment recommendations of their physician." Physician Fidel Vila-Rodriguez wrote in a 2008 editorial that the Internet promotes the spreading and supporting of "bizarre" disease beliefs because in online communities, "a belief is not considered delusional if it is accepted by other members of an individual's culture or subculture". Robert Bartholomew, a sociologist who has studied the Morgellons phenomenon, states that the "World Wide Web has become


id: mucoid-plaque-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mucoid_plaque-0.md
category: reference
title: Mucoid plaque
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mucoid_plaque
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:02.240221+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mucoid-plaque-20260505-0
summary:
Mucoid plaque (or mucoid cap or rope) is a pseudo-scientific term used by some natural medicine advocates to describe what is claimed to be a combination of harmful mucus-like material and food residue that they say coats the gastrointestinal tract of most people. The term was coined by Richard Anderson, a naturopath and entrepreneur, who sells a range of products that cleanse the body of such plaques. Many such "colon cleansing" products are promoted to the public on websites that have been described as making misleading medical claims. The presence of laxatives, bentonite clay, and fibrous thickening agents in some of these "cleansing agents" has led to suggestions that the products themselves produce the excreted matter regarded as the plaque. The concept of a 'mucoid plaque' has been dismissed by medical experts as having no anatomical or physiological basis. == History == Various forms of colon cleansing were popular in the 19th and early 20th century. In 1932, Bastedo wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association about his observation of mucus masses being removed during a colon irrigation procedure: "When one sees the dirty gray, brown or blackish sheets, strings and rolled up wormlike masses of tough mucus


id: mv-media-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV-media-0.md
category: reference
title: MV-media
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV-media
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:03.400794+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: mv-media-20260505-0
summary:
MV-media, also known as MV??!!, formerly Mitä Vittua? ("What the Fuck?") and MV-lehti, is a Finnish fake news website founded by Ilja Janitskin. The website publishes disinformation and conspiracy theories with a racist, anti-immigrant, anti-Islam, anti-vaccine, pro-Russian and Eurosceptic agenda. The site has links to the far-right anti-immigrant group Soldiers of Odin. As of 2022, the publication is based in Russian-occupied Eastern Ukraine and regularly shares Russian state propaganda. By March 2015, MV-lehti was the target of five police reports regarding defamation. In January 2016, nine student and youth groups called for advertisers to boycott the site due to "hate speech and repeated lies". Janitskin was suspected of several crimes, including incitement to ethnic or racial hatred, libel and copyright infringement, and was taken into custody by the Andorran police in August 2017. He had several previous convictions for violent crimes between 2000 and 2011. He was later extradited to Finland, and in October 2018, Janitskin was convicted of 16 offences and given a 22-month prison sentence. According to the court, Janitskin was the chief editor and owner of MV-lehti, and as such he was responsible for its content. Among the convictions were defamation of the journalist Jessikka Aro and


id: myers-briggs-type-indicator-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers–Briggs_Type_Indicator-0.md
category: reference
title: Myers–Briggs Type Indicator
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers–Briggs_Type_Indicator
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:04.548398+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: myers-briggs-type-indicator-20260505-0
summary:
The Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a self-report questionnaire that makes pseudoscientific claims to categorize individuals into 16 distinct psychological types (often called personality types). The test assigns a binary letter value to each of four dichotomous categories: introversion or extraversion, sensing or intuition, thinking or feeling, and judging or perceiving. This produces a four-letter test result, such as "INTJ" or "ESFP", representing one of the 16 types. The original version of the MBTI was constructed during World War II by Americans Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers, inspired by Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung's 1921 book Psychological Types. Isabel Myers was particularly fascinated by the concept of "introversion", and she typed herself as an INFP. However, she thought that the book was too complex for the general public and tried to organize the Jungian cognitive functions to make it more accessible. As a psychometric indicator, the test exhibits significant deficiencies, including poor validity, poor reliability, measuring supposedly dichotomous categories that are not independent, and not being comprehensive. Most of the research supporting the MBTI's validity has been produced by the Center for Applications of Psychological Type, an organization run by the Myers–Briggs Foundation, and published in the


id: myers-briggs-type-indicator-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers–Briggs_Type_Indicator-1.md
category: reference
title: Myers–Briggs Type Indicator
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers–Briggs_Type_Indicator
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:04.548398+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: myers-briggs-type-indicator-20260505-0
summary:
guarded-optimistic (T/F), defiant-compliant (T/F), carefree-worried (T/F), decisive-ambivalent (J/P), intrepid-inhibited (E/I), leader-follower (E/I), and proactive-distractible (J/P). Also included is a composite of these called "strain". There are also scales for type-scale consistency and comfort-scale consistency. Reliability of 23 of the 27 TDI subscales is greater than 0.50, "an acceptable result given the brevity of the subscales". In 1989, a scoring system was developed for only the 20 subscales for the original four dichotomies. This was initially known as "Form K" or "the Expanded Analysis Report". This tool is now called the MBTI Step II. Form J or the TDI included the items (derived from Myers' and McCaulley's earlier work) necessary to score what became known as Step III. (The 1998 MBTI Manual reported that the two instruments were one and the same) Step III was developed in a joint project involving the following organizations: the Myers–Briggs Company, the publisher of all the MBTI works; the Center for Applications of Psychological Type (CAPT), which holds all of Myers' and McCaulley's original work; and the MBTI Trust headed by Katharine and Peter Myers. CAPT advertised Step III as addressing type development and the use of "perception and judgment" by respondents. == Concepts ==


id: myers-briggs-type-indicator-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers–Briggs_Type_Indicator-2.md
category: reference
title: Myers–Briggs Type Indicator
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers–Briggs_Type_Indicator
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:04.548398+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: myers-briggs-type-indicator-20260505-0
summary:
The four pairs of preferences or "dichotomies" proposed by Briggs and Myers are shown in the adjacent table. The terms as used in the MBTI may differ from their everyday usage. For example, people who prefer judgment over perception are not necessarily more "judgmental" or less "perceptive", nor does the MBTI instrument attempt to measure aptitude; instead, it attempts to indicate personal preference. Myers considered the direction of the preference (for example, E vs. I) to be more important than the degree of the preference (for example, very clear vs. slight). === Attitudes: extraversion/introversion === Myers–Briggs literature uses the terms extraversion and introversion as Jung first used them. Extraversion means literally outward-turning and introversion, inward-turning. These specific definitions differ somewhat from the popular usage of the words. Extraversion is the spelling used in MBTI publications. === Functions: sensing/intuition and thinking/feeling === Jung identified two pairs of psychological functions: Two perceiving functions: sensation (usually called sensing in MBTI writings) and intuition Two judging functions: thinking and feeling According to Jung's typology model, each person uses one of these four functions more dominantly and proficiently than the other three; however, all four functions are used at different times depending on the circumstances.


id: myers-briggs-type-indicator-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers–Briggs_Type_Indicator-3.md
category: reference
title: Myers–Briggs Type Indicator
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers–Briggs_Type_Indicator
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:04.548398+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: myers-briggs-type-indicator-20260505-0
summary:
=== Little evidence for dichotomies === As previously stated in the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator § Four dichotomies section, Isabel Myers considered the direction of the preference (for example, E vs. I) to be more important than its degree. This would mean that scores on each MBTI scale would show a bimodal distribution with most people scoring near the ends of the scales, thus dividing people into either, e.g., an extraverted or an introverted psychological type. However, most studies have found that scores on the individual scales were actually distributed in a centrally peaked manner, similar to a normal distribution, indicating that the majority of people were actually in the middle of the scale and were thus neither clearly introverted nor extraverted. But in order for the MBTI to be scored, a cut-off line is used at the middle of each scale and all those scoring below the line are classified as a low type and those scoring above the line are given the opposite type. Thus, psychometric assessment research fails to support the concept of type, but rather shows that most people lie near the middle of a continuous curve. Although we do not conclude that the absence of bimodality


id: myers-briggs-type-indicator-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers–Briggs_Type_Indicator-4.md
category: reference
title: Myers–Briggs Type Indicator
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers–Briggs_Type_Indicator
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:04.548398+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: myers-briggs-type-indicator-20260505-0
summary:
The interesting – and somewhat alarming – fact about the MBTI is that, despite its popularity, it has been subject to sustained criticism by professional psychologists for over three decades. One problem is that it displays what statisticians call low "test-retest reliability." So if you retake the test after only a five-week gap, there's around a 50% chance that you will fall into a different personality category compared to the first time you took the test. A second criticism is that the MBTI mistakenly assumes that personality falls into mutually exclusive categories. ... The consequence is that the scores of two people labelled "introverted" and "extraverted" may be almost exactly the same, but they could be placed into different categories since they fall on either side of an imaginary dividing line. Within each dichotomy scale, as measured on Form G, about 83% of categorizations remain the same when people are retested within nine months and around 75% when retested after nine months. About 50% of people re-administered the MBTI within nine months remain the same overall type and 36% the same type after more than nine months. For Form M (the most current form of the MBTI instrument), the MBTI


id: myers-briggs-type-indicator-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers–Briggs_Type_Indicator-5.md
category: reference
title: Myers–Briggs Type Indicator
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers–Briggs_Type_Indicator
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:04.548398+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: myers-briggs-type-indicator-20260505-0
summary:
=== South Korea === At the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, MBTI testing became a fad among young South Koreans who were using it in an attempt to find compatible dating partners. The fad originated with a website called 16Personalities.com, which offers a free approximation of the official paid test. Both independent experts and a representative of the MBTI publishing company have cautioned against using the MBTI test for dating, as the test was not designed for this purpose. South Korea experienced a similar trend in the early 2000s with the blood type personality theory. One survey reported that by December 2021, nearly half of the population had taken the MBTI personality test. The MBTI personality test also became an issue in 2022 presidential election. In March 2022, Korea JoongAng Daily reported that "A growing number of Korean companies are asking job candidates to reveal their MBTI personality test results, angering job hunters who argue that the test is an unreasonable standard to screen and evaluate their capabilities." A survey of South Korean job-seekers in their twenties found that 60% opposed the use of the test for such purposes. === China === 16Personalities.com also influenced an MBTI fad in China,


id: myofascial-trigger-point-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myofascial_trigger_point-0.md
category: reference
title: Myofascial trigger point
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myofascial_trigger_point
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:05.800933+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: myofascial-trigger-point-20260505-0
summary:
Myofascial trigger points (MTrPs), also known as trigger points, are described as hyperirritable spots in the skeletal muscle. They are associated with palpable nodules in taut bands of muscle fibers. They are a topic of ongoing controversy, as there is limited data to inform a scientific understanding of the phenomenon. Accordingly, a formal acceptance of myofascial "knots" as an identifiable source of pain is more common among bodyworkers, physical therapists, chiropractors, osteopaths, and osteopathic physicians. Nonetheless, the concept of trigger points provides a framework that may be used to help address certain musculoskeletal pain. The trigger point model states that unexplained pain frequently radiates from these points of local tenderness to broader areas, sometimes distant from the trigger point itself. Practitioners claim to have identified reliable referred pain patterns that associate pain in one location with trigger points elsewhere. There is variation in the methodology for diagnosis of trigger points and a dearth of theory to explain how they arise and why they produce specific patterns of referred pain. Compression of a trigger point may elicit local tenderness, referred pain, or local twitch response. The local twitch response is not the same as a muscle spasm. This is because a


id: myofascial-trigger-point-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myofascial_trigger_point-1.md
category: reference
title: Myofascial trigger point
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myofascial_trigger_point
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:05.800933+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: myofascial-trigger-point-20260505-0
summary:
=== Risks === Treatment, whether by self or by a professional, has some inherent dangers. It may lead to damage to soft tissue and other organs. The trigger points in the upper quadratus lumborum, for instance, are very close to the kidneys, and poorly administered treatment (particularly injections) may lead to kidney damage. Likewise, treating the masseter muscle may damage the salivary glands superficial to this muscle. Furthermore, some experts believe trigger points may develop as a protective measure against unstable joints. === Efficacy === Studies have shown a moderate level of evidence for manual therapy for short-term relief in the treatment of myofascial trigger points. Dry needling and dry cupping are no more effective than a placebo. There have not been enough in-depth studies to be conclusive about the latter treatment modalities, however. Studies to date on the efficacy of dry needling for MTrPs and pain have been too small to be conclusive. == Overlap with acupuncture == In a June 2000 review, Chang-Zern Hong correlates the MTrP "tender points" to acupunctural "ah shi" ("Oh Yes!") points, and the "local twitch response" to acupuncture's "de qi" ("needle sensation"), based on a 1977 paper by Melzack et al. Peter Dorsher


id: nambudripad-s-allergy-elimination-techniques-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nambudripad's_Allergy_Elimination_Techniques-0.md
category: reference
title: Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Techniques
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nambudripad's_Allergy_Elimination_Techniques
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:07.055942+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: nambudripad-s-allergy-elimination-techniques-20260505-0
summary:
Nambudripad's Allergy Elimination Techniques (NAET) is a form of alternative medicine which proponents claim can treat allergies and related disorders. The techniques were devised by Devi Nambudripad, a California-based chiropractor and acupuncturist, in 1983, drawing on a combination of ideas from applied kinesiology, acupuncture, acupressure, nutritional management, and chiropractic methods. Clinical research has found no evidence supporting the accuracy of muscle testing to diagnose medical allergies. Supporters of the practice agree that mainstream science has not shown credible evidence for the effectiveness of this method. == History == Devi Nambudripad was a student chiropractor and acupuncturist at the time she developed NAET. Whilst experiencing a reaction to eating carrots she attempted to overcome the reaction through a self-administered acupuncture treatment. After the treatment the reaction to eating carrots did not return. At the time of the acupuncture treatment, a remnant of carrot was on her skin, and Nambudripad concluded from this that the presence of a minute quantity of carrot during the acupuncture treatment was the key to the treatment. She then formulated a hypothesis that contact with a small amount of an allergen during an acupuncture or acupressure session can remove reactions to food and other substances. NAET is


id: narconon-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narconon-0.md
category: reference
title: Narconon
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narconon
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:08.283365+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: narconon-20260505-0
summary:
Narconon International (commonly known as Narconon) is a Scientology organization which promotes the theories of founder L. Ron Hubbard regarding substance abuse treatment and addiction. Its parent company is the Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE), which is owned and controlled by the Church of Scientology. Headquartered in Hollywood, California, United States, Narconon operates several dozen residential centers worldwide, chiefly in the U.S. and western Europe. The organization was formed in 1966 by Scientologist William Benitez with Hubbard's help, and was incorporated in 1970. The Scientology organization and Narconon state that Narconon is a secular program independent of Hubbard's writings about Scientology, and that it provides legitimate drug education and rehabilitation. The organization has been described by many government reports and former patients as a Scientology front group. Hubbard's writings, which underlie the program, assert that drugs and their metabolites are stored in the body's fatty tissue, causing the addict's cravings when partially released later on, and can be flushed out through a regimen known as Purification Rundown, which involves exercise, sauna and intake of high doses of vitamins. This hypothesis is contradicted by experimental evidence, and is not medically accepted. There are no independently recognized studies that confirm


id: narconon-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narconon-1.md
category: reference
title: Narconon
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narconon
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:08.283365+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: narconon-20260505-0
summary:
The treatment in California preyed upon the fears of concerned workers, but served no rational medical function. ... Moreover, the program itself, developed not by physicians or scientists, but by the founder of the Church of Scientology, has no recognized value in the established medical and scientific community. It is quackery. In 2004 and 2005, WISE at Work magazine and International Scientology News each published articles clarifying the relationship between Narconon and Scientology; each placed Narconon in Scientology's "Division 6B", with responsibility for introducing the public to Scientology services. By the end of 2005, according to the International Association of Scientologists (IAS), Narconon was operating 183 rehabilitation centers around the world. New centers opened that year included in Hastings, East Sussex, England (now closed), and in Battle Creek, Michigan. Narconon President Clark Carr asserted that drug prevention lectures "have been given to over 2 million children and adults over several decades... and are currently being delivered across the United States, all New England States, Washington D.C., Georgia, Florida, Oklahoma and surrounding states, Michigan and Illinois, Texas, New Mexico, Idaho, California, Nevada, Hawaii and possibly others" in response to an inquiry from The Humanist. On 17 July 2006, the Narconon center


id: narconon-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narconon-2.md
category: reference
title: Narconon
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narconon
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:08.283365+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: narconon-20260505-0
summary:
Since its establishment, Narconon has faced considerable controversy over the safety and effectiveness of its rehabilitation methods and the organization's links to Scientology. Medical professionals have been sharply critical of Narconon's methods, which rely on theories of drug metabolism that are not supported by mainstream toxicology. Narconon teaches that drugs reside in body fat, and remain there indefinitely; and that to recover from drug abuse, addicts can remove the drugs from their fat through saunas and use of vitamins. Experts disagree with this basic understanding of physiology, saying that no significant amount of drugs are stored in fat, and that drugs can't be "sweated out" as Narconon claims. In one 2005 report, experts stated that Narconon's treatment methods "does not reflect accurate, widely accepted medical and scientific evidence." Particular criticism has been directed at the therapy's use of vitamins (including massive doses of niacin) and extended sauna sessions. David Root, an occupational medicine practitioner and a member of the Narconon Scientific Advisory Board, defended the program's validity. He told the San Francisco Chronicle in 1991 that drugs and other poisons "come out through the skin in the form of sebaceous, or fatty, sweat. The material is frequently visible and drips,


id: narconon-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narconon-3.md
category: reference
title: Narconon
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narconon
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:08.283365+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: narconon-20260505-0
summary:
The Narconon Program exposes its patients to the risk of delayed withdrawal phenomena such as seizures, delirium and/or hallucinations. ... The Narconon program presents a potential risk to the patients of the Narconon program that delayed withdrawal phenomena such as seizures, delirium or hallucination that are occasionally seen several days after cessation of drugs such as benzodiazepines, may be misinterpreted by Narconon's non-medical staff as the effect of mobilizing the drug from fat during the sauna sweat-out procedure period. There is also a potential risk that the reported re-experience of the abused drugs' effect during the sauna sweat-out program may be the result of misinterpreted symptoms of hyperthermia or electrolyte imbalance ... === Training routines === The remainder of the Narconon course uses Scientology's "Training Routines" or "TRs". They were originally devised by Hubbard to teach communications skills to Scientologists. In the Narconon variant, these courses claim to be designed to rehabilitate drug abusers. These routines sometimes include TR 8, which involves the individual commanding an ashtray to "stand up" and "sit down", and thanking it for doing so, as loudly as they can. Former Scientologists say that the purpose of the drill is for the individual to "beam" their


id: narconon-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narconon-4.md
category: reference
title: Narconon
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narconon
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:08.283365+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: narconon-20260505-0
summary:
=== United Kingdom === The UK prisons ombudsman recommended to prison governors that Narconon rehabilitation programs not be used in prisons although some schools in the UK are using these programs; The Sunday Times said this was because schools are less aware of Narconon's links to Scientology. In September 2012, the 149 Church of England schools in the Diocese of London were warned not to accept offers from Narconon to give lectures to their pupils, following complaints from parents. In November 2016, Narconon was reported to have given talks on the dangers of drug addiction in two schools in Camden, London. Elizabeth Kitcatt, Camden School for Girls headteacher, said in a statement that the students found the talk "very useful", while Harry Shapiro, Director of DrugWise, called out the schools for being unaware to the group's ties to Scientology. A Brecknock Primary spokeswoman said: "The school's deputy head was in the room for the whole drug awareness talk and at no point was there any mention of Scientology or any religious connotations. It was marketed as an anti-drug talk and that's exactly what it was". President of Narconon UK Noel Nile claimed that the group was "in the business of


id: narconon-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narconon-5.md
category: reference
title: Narconon
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narconon
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:08.283365+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: narconon-20260505-0
summary:
On June 10th 2008 a student was watching a basketball game late in the evening with Brad in his apartment. They consumed tequila and the student gained access to his cash which was supposed to be locked in that apartment. A sad thing happened later in the evening. Two days later we tested Brad and he was dirty for methadone, PCP, cocaine and methamphetamine. === John Cunningham, Watsonville, California, United States (2015) === In July 2015, John Cunningham, a 58-year-old Boeing employee addicted to benzodiazepines, was sent by his sister to Redwood Cliffs, a Narconon facility in Watsonville, California. The staff at Redwood Cliffs sent Cunningham to be detoxed to Bright Futures Recovery, which removed Cunningham from medications he was taking for depression. Cunningham was sent to the "local ER three times in just five days for withdrawal symptoms". On 22 August 2015, he was left alone in his room long enough for him to "hang himself by a belt in his bedroom closet". Cunningham's sister did not know that Narconon was a Scientology outfit until after her brother's death. Represented by attorney H. Gavin Long, Cunningham's family sued Redwood Cliffs and Bright Futures Recovery for $1 million each. The


id: narconon-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narconon-6.md
category: reference
title: Narconon
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narconon
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:08.283365+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: narconon-20260505-0
summary:
==== Public and media response ==== Protests over the deaths took place outside Narconon Arrowhead; one protest in late June 2012, planned to include bereaved family members, was disrupted by road resurfacing works outside the facility, paid for by Narconon. Pittsburg County Commission Chairman Gene Rogers explained that, "[Gary Smith] called me and said they might be having a problem with the public that weekend and he wanted help policing the area and he asked about doing overlaying [of the road]". Oklahoma State Senator Tom Ivester commented that, "Clearly something isn't right and we have a moral obligation to do everything in our power to end this predatory business being run by the Church of Scientology disguised as drug treatment", adding, "This is a disgusting business that preys on desperate family members and their sick loved ones, scamming them out of thousands of dollars with the promise of providing hope and new life. It's a disgrace to have these people operating in the state of Oklahoma." In direct response to the Arrowhead deaths, Ivestor introduced legislation to expand Oklahoma's ability to regulate rehab facilities. In response to an NBC Rock Center segment on the facility, Narconon President Clark Carr called


id: narconon-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narconon-7.md
category: reference
title: Narconon
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narconon
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:08.283365+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: narconon-20260505-0
summary:
On 17 April 2012, Quebec health officials ordered the Narconon facility in Trois-Rivières to close, and to relocate its 32 residents. After an investigation into Narconon Trois-Rivières' activities by the Centre Québécois d'Agrément (CQA), an independent body that monitors the quality of healthcare, the Mauricie Region's Health and Social Services Agency decided not to re-certify Narconon due to concerns that its methods "may represent a risk to health" of patients. The Agency's director, Marc Latour, said that Narconon Trois-Rivières was dangerous for patients, that it violated many of the criteria governing rehabilitation centres in Quebec, and that there was no medical supervision and no scientific basis to its treatment. He added that at least four clients had been hospitalized in recent months because of methods used at the centre. Narconon Trois-Rivières issued a response, saying, "People with drug problems and their families should have a right to choose the program that works for them as these days there are many good alternative programs". The closure followed a two-year campaign by ex-Narconon patient and staff member David Love, whose negative experiences with the program prompted him to become one of its fiercest critics in Canada. While he was at Narconon Trois-Rivieres,


id: narconon-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narconon-8.md
category: reference
title: Narconon
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narconon
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:08.283365+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: narconon-20260505-0
summary:
=== Narconon Georgia closed amid investigation for insurance fraud === In April 2013, agents of the insurance commissioner of the U.S. state of Georgia and the Gwinnett County district attorney's office searched the group's offices in Norcross, Georgia, questioning employees as they arrived at work and impounding more than a dozen computers and boxes full of documents. The insurance commissioner said during the investigation that, "We have credible information that indicates that insurance fraud is taking place with Narconon". The family of one patient said that the group was billing insurance companies for treatments that had never been given, and the doctors for whom the costs were being billed claimed never to have met the patient. State investigators discovered nearly $3 million of insurance fraud at Narconon Georgia; in September 2013, the facility surrendered its state license in order to avoid criminal charges. == Lawsuits == === California === In March 2014, attorney Ryan Hamilton filed two civil lawsuits against Narconon with the state of California. The first civil suit was filed on behalf of Angelo Amato of Illinois, who purchased Narconon's Purification Rundown at Narconon Fresh Start (a.k.a. Sunshine Summit Lodge) in Warner Springs, after Amato searched the Internet


id: narconon-20260505-9
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narconon-9.md
category: reference
title: Narconon
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narconon
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:08.283365+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: narconon-20260505-0
summary:
Blu by the Sea in Emerald Coast, Florida, is the name of the former Narconon Gulf Coast. Droganon was active in Spain in the 1980s and was controlled by the Scientology. Drug Free Ambassadors is a Narconon program targeting schools and youth organizations. Elevate Addiction Services, a group of clinics formerly operating under the name Narconon of Northern California, broke away from Narconon in 2014/2015 after an arbitration where they agreed to no longer use the sauna and vitamin method or teach Narconon/Church of Scientology programs, and would no longer be licensed by Narconon. The name was changed to Halcyon Horizons and several other entities operating under the trade name of Elevate Addiction Services. Still owned by the same Scientologists and using much of the earlier faculty, similar practices are in use. Fresh Start is a pseudonym sometimes used by Narconon's facility in Nevada. Get Off Drugs Naturally is a business name for Narconon's Australian branch. Israel Says No to Drugs is a Scientology-affiliated organization based in Jaffa, Israel. Pur Detox (also Pür Detox with an umlaut) is a Scientology-affiliated clinic in Dana Point, California. The clinic has come under scrutiny due to a lawsuit by one of the former


id: national-institute-for-discovery-science-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Institute_for_Discovery_Science-0.md
category: reference
title: National Institute for Discovery Science
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Institute_for_Discovery_Science
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:09.420930+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: national-institute-for-discovery-science-20260505-0
summary:
The National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDSci) was a privately financed research organization based in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, and operated from 1995 to 2004. It was founded in 1995 by real-estate developer Robert Bigelow, who set it up to research and advance serious study of various fringe science and paranormal topics, most notably ufology. Deputy Administrator Colm Kelleher was quoted as saying the organization was not designed to study UFOs only. "We don't study aliens, we study anomalies. They're the same thing in a lot of people's minds, but not in our minds." NIDSci was disbanded in October 2004. == History == The National Institute for Discovery Science, known also as NIDS, was founded by Robert Bigelow serving as a way to channel funds into the scientific study of paranormal phenomena. The NIDS performed research in the areas of cattle mutilation and black triangle reports. The NIDSci bought Skinwalker Ranch after journalist George Knapp first wrote about it in 1996, and Deputy Administrator Colm Kelleher led the investigation for a number of years. A hotline was established in 1999 to receive reports of odd occurrences. Over 5,000 reports made by phone calls and e-mails were received by the organization.


id: natural-news-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_News-0.md
category: reference
title: Natural News
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_News
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:10.668219+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: natural-news-20260505-0
summary:
Natural News (formerly NewsTarget, which is now a separate sister site) is a far-right website that promotes anti-vaccination content, conspiracy theories, fake news, and pseudoscience. The website began publishing articles in 2008 and is based in the United States. As of 2014, Natural News had approximately 7 million unique visitors per month. The site's founder, Michael Allen "Mike" Adams, gained attention after posting a blog entry implying a call for violence against proponents of GMO foods, and then allegedly creating another website with a list of names of alleged supporters. He has been widely criticized and accused of using "pseudoscience to sell his lies". Adams has described vaccines as "medical child abuse". The website sells various dietary supplements, promotes alternative medicine and climate change denial, makes tendentious nutrition and health claims, disseminates fake news, and espouses various conspiracy theories and pro-Donald Trump propaganda. Natural News content has been restricted on various platforms including Google, YouTube, and Facebook. The website launched an AI chatbot called "Enoch" in 2025. == Founder == Michael Allen "Mike" Adams (born 1967 in Lawrence, Kansas) is the founder and owner of Natural News; the domain name was registered in 2005 and began publishing articles in 2008.


id: natural-news-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_News-1.md
category: reference
title: Natural News
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_News
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:10.668219+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: natural-news-20260505-0
summary:
== Criticism == An article in the journal Vaccine said the site "tend(s) to not only spread irresponsible health information in general (e.g. discouraging chemotherapy or radiation for cancer treatment, antiretrovirals for HIV, and insulin for diabetes), but also have large sections with dubious information on vaccines." According to John Banks, Adams uses "pseudoscience to sell his lies" and is "seen as generally a quack and a shill by science bloggers." Adams is also listed as a "promoter of questionable methods" by Quackwatch. Steven Novella of NeuroLogica Blog characterizes Adams as "a dangerous conspiracy-mongering crank" and called Natural News "a crank alt med site that promotes every sort of medical nonsense imaginable." Novella continued: "If it is unscientific, antiscientific, conspiracy-mongering, or downright silly, Mike Adams appears to be all for it—whatever sells the "natural" products he hawks on his site." Robert T. Carroll at The Skeptic's Dictionary said, "Natural News is not a very good source for information. If you don't trust me on this, go to Respectful Insolence or any of the other bloggers on ScienceBlogs and do a search for Natural News... Hundreds of entries will be found and not one of them will have a good word


id: nature-therapy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_therapy-0.md
category: reference
title: Nature therapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_therapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:11.878887+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: nature-therapy-20260505-0
summary:
Nature therapy, sometimes referred to as ecotherapy, grounding, or earthing, is a practice that describes a broad group of techniques or treatments using nature to improve mental or physical health. Various types of nature therapy include forest therapy, forest bathing, shinrin-yoku, and Sami Lok. Spending time in nature has various physiological benefits such as relaxation and stress reduction. Additionally, it can enhance cardiovascular health and reduce risks of high blood pressure. Recent studies also emphasized its role in supporting mental well-being by improving attention, emotional balance, and overall mood stability. These effects are usually linked to the body's natural stress recovery process, in which contact with nature decreases cortisol levels and heart rate. == History == Scientists in the 1950s looked into the reasons humans chose to spend time in nature. There is relatively recent history of the term Shinrin-yoku (森林浴) or 'forest bathing' gaining momentum as a term and concept within American culture; the term 'forest bathing' and Shrinrin-yoku was first popularized in Japan by the former head of the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, Tomohide Akiyama, in 1982 to encourage more people to visit the forests. This initiative was created to promote relaxation and reduce stress


id: nature-therapy-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_therapy-1.md
category: reference
title: Nature therapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_therapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:11.878887+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: nature-therapy-20260505-0
summary:
== Criticism == Recent reviews have noted that results often vary depending on study design and population, which makes it difficult to measure long-term effects of nature-based therapies with consistency. A 2012 systematic review study showed inconclusive results related to the methodology used in studies. Spending time in forests demonstrated positive health effects, but not enough to generate clinical practice guidelines or demonstrate causality. Other scholars have noted that the growing popularity of nature-based therapies sometimes leads to overgeneralized claims, where emotional or cultural meanings of nature are emphasized more than scientific evidence. Additionally, there are concerns from researchers expressing that time spent in nature as a form of regenerative therapy is highly personal and entirely unpredictable. Nature can be harmed in the process of human interaction. While there is growing interest in using nature for mental health treatment, experts warn that more randomized and controlled studies are needed to confirm these effects scientifically. Some reviews also highlight that many studies rely on self-reported feelings instead of objective measurements, which can make the results less reliable. Researchers have also noted that some nature-based studies use very small sample sizes, which limits how confidently the results can be applied to larger


id: naturopathy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturopathy-0.md
category: reference
title: Naturopathy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturopathy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:13.045899+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: naturopathy-20260505-0
summary:
Naturopathy, or naturopathic medicine, is a form of alternative medicine. A wide array of practices branded as "natural", "non-invasive", or promoting "self-healing" are employed by its practitioners, who are known as naturopaths. These treatments range from the pseudoscientific and thoroughly discredited, such as homeopathy, to the widely accepted, such as certain forms of psychotherapy. The ideology and methods of naturopathy are based on vitalism and folk medicine rather than evidence-based medicine, although practitioners may use techniques supported by evidence. The ethics of naturopathy have been called into question by medical professionals and its practice has been characterized as quackery. Naturopathic practitioners commonly encourage alternative treatments that are rejected by conventional medicine, including resistance to surgery or vaccines for some patients. The diagnoses made by naturopaths often have no basis in science and are often not accepted by mainstream medicine. Naturopaths frequently campaign for legal recognition in the United States. Naturopathy is prohibited in three U.S. states (Florida, South Carolina, and Tennessee) and tightly regulated in many others. Some states, however, allow naturopaths to perform minor surgery or even prescribe drugs. While some schools exist for naturopaths, and some jurisdictions allow such practitioners to call themselves doctors, the lack of accreditation,


id: naturopathy-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturopathy-1.md
category: reference
title: Naturopathy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturopathy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:13.045899+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: naturopathy-20260505-0
summary:
In 2003, a report was presented by Kimball C. Atwood, an American medical doctor and researcher from Newton, Massachusetts, best known as a critic of naturopathic medicine, stating among other criticisms that "The practice of naturopathy is based on a belief in the body's ability to heal itself through a special vital energy or force guiding bodily processes internally". Diagnosis and treatment concern primarily alternative therapies and "natural" methods that naturopaths claim promote the body's natural ability to heal. Many naturopaths in India now use modern diagnostic techniques in their practice. Naturopaths focus on a holistic approach, avoiding the use of surgery and conventional medicines. Naturopaths aim to prevent illness through stress reduction and changes to diet and lifestyle, often rejecting the methods of evidence-based medicine. A consultation typically begins with a comprehensive patient interview assessing lifestyle, medical history, emotional tone, and physical features, as well as physical examination. Many naturopaths present themselves as primary care providers, and some naturopathic physicians may prescribe drugs, perform minor surgery, and integrate other conventional medical approaches such as diet and lifestyle counselling with their naturopathic practice. Traditional naturopaths deal exclusively with lifestyle changes, not diagnosing or treating disease. Naturopaths do not generally recommend


id: naturopathy-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturopathy-2.md
category: reference
title: Naturopathy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturopathy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:13.045899+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: naturopathy-20260505-0
summary:
Kimball C. Atwood IV writes, in the journal Medscape General Medicine,Naturopathic physicians now claim to be primary care physicians proficient in the practice of both "conventional" and "natural" medicine. Their training, however, amounts to a small fraction of that of medical doctors who practice primary care. An examination of their literature, moreover, reveals that it is replete with pseudoscientific, ineffective, unethical, and potentially dangerous practices. In another article, Atwood writes that "Physicians who consider naturopaths to be their colleagues thus find themselves in opposition to one of the fundamental ethical precepts of modern medicine. If naturopaths are not to be judged "nonscientific practitioners", the term has no useful meaning". A former licensed naturopathic doctor, Britt Marie Hermes, states that "any product that is sold by a naturopath almost guarantees that there is no reliable scientific data to support whatever health claims are made, and that while some naturopaths claim to only practice evidence based medicine, "the problem is, all naturopaths in an accredited naturopathic program are required to extensively study homeopathy, herbal medicine, energy healing, chiropractic techniques, water therapy" and other pseudoscientific practices. Hermes further notes that, while some naturopaths claim that their method can be effective treatments for psychological


id: naturopathy-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturopathy-3.md
category: reference
title: Naturopathy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturopathy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:13.045899+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: naturopathy-20260505-0
summary:
== Practitioners == Naturopath practitioners can generally be categorized into three groups: 1) those with a government issued license; 2) those who practice outside of an official status ("traditional naturopaths"); 3) those who are primarily another kind of health professional who also practices naturopathy. In Switzerland, these divisions fall between those with a federal diploma, those recognized by health insurances, and those with neither federal diploma nor recognition by health insurances. Naturopaths with federal diploma can be divided into four categories: European traditional medicine, Chinese traditional medicine, ayurvedic medicine and homeopathy. The number of listed naturopaths (including traditional healers) in Switzerland rose from 223 in 1970 to 1835 in 2000. === Licensed naturopaths === Licensed naturopaths may be referred to as "naturopathic doctors" or "naturopathic physicians" in 26 US states or territories and 5 Canadian provinces. Licensed naturopaths present themselves as primary care providers. Licensed naturopaths do not receive comparable training to medical doctors in terms of the quality of education or quantity of hours. In British Columbia, legislation permits licensed naturopaths to use the title "doctor" or "physician". However, section 102 of the bylaw of the College of Naturopathic Physicians of British Columbia (CNPBC), the terms "naturopathic" or "naturopathic


id: naturopathy-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturopathy-4.md
category: reference
title: Naturopathy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturopathy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:13.045899+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: naturopathy-20260505-0
summary:
Traditional naturopaths are represented in the United States by the American Naturopathic Association (ANA), representing about 1,800 practitioners and the American Naturopathic Medical Association (ANMA). The level of naturopathic training varies among traditional naturopaths in the United States. Traditional naturopaths may complete non-degree certificate programs or undergraduate degree programs and generally refer to themselves as naturopathic consultants. These programs often offer online unaccredited degrees, but do not offer comprehensive biomedical education or clinical training. Traditional naturopathic practitioners surveyed in Australia perceive evidence-based medicine to be an ideological assault on their beliefs in vitalistic and holistic principles. They advocate for the integrity of natural medicine practice. Naturopaths graduating from accredited programs argued in 2002 that their training used evidence-based scientific principles unlike traditional naturopathic programs, but this claim remains inaccurate. == Regulation == Naturopathy is practiced in many countries and is subject to different standards of regulation and levels of acceptance. The scope of practice varies widely between jurisdictions, with some covering naturopathy under medical regulation and allowing practitioners to prescribe drugs and perform minor surgery, while other jurisdictions outlaw naturopathy entirely. === Australia === In 1977, a Commonwealth Government inquiry reviewed all colleges of naturopathy in Australia and found that


id: negative-calorie-food-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative-calorie_food-0.md
category: reference
title: Negative-calorie food
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative-calorie_food
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:14.313731+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: negative-calorie-food-20260505-0
summary:
A negative-calorie food is food that supposedly requires more food energy to be digested than the food provides. Its thermic effect or specific dynamic action—the caloric "cost" of digesting the food—would be greater than its food energy content. Despite its recurring popularity in dieting guides, there is no evidence supporting the idea that any food is calorically negative. While some chilled beverages are calorically negative, the effect is minimal and requires drinking very large amounts of water, which can be dangerous, as it can cause water intoxication. == Controversy == There is no evidence to show that any of these foods have a negative calorific impact. Foods claimed to be negative in calories are mostly low-calorie fruits and vegetables such as celery, grapefruit, orange, lemon, lime, apple, lettuce, broccoli, and cabbage. However, celery has a thermic effect of around 8%, much less than the 100% or more required for a food to have "negative calories", unless you freeze the celery, but then it would be too hard to chew and you would have to blend it to consume it in smoothie form while it's still at freezing temperature. Diets based on negative-calorie food do not work as advertised but can


id: negroid-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negroid-0.md
category: reference
title: Negroid
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negroid
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:15.584073+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: negroid-20260505-0
summary:
Negroid (less commonly called Congoid) is an obsolete racial grouping of various people indigenous to Africa south of the area which stretched from the southern Sahara desert in the west to the African Great Lakes in the southeast, but also to isolated parts of South and Southeast Asia (Negritos). The term is derived from now-disproven conceptions of race as a biological category. The concept of dividing humans 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. With the rise of modern genetics, the concept of distinct human races in a biological sense has become obsolete. In 2019, the American Association of Biological Anthropologists stated: "Race does not provide an accurate representation of human biological variation. It was never accurate in the past, and it remains inaccurate when referencing contemporary human populations." == Etymology == Negroid has Portuguese or Spanish and Ancient Greek etymological roots. It literally translates as "black resemblance" from the Portuguese and Spanish word negro (black) from Latin nigrum, and Greek οειδές -oeidēs, equivalent to -o-


id: negroid-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negroid-1.md
category: reference
title: Negroid
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negroid
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:15.584073+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: negroid-20260505-0
summary:
Darwin's landmark work On the Origin of Species, published in 1859, eight years after Morton's death, significantly changed scientific discourse on the origin of humans. British biologist Thomas Huxley, a strong advocate of Darwinism and a monogenist, counted ten "modifications of mankind", dividing the native populations of sub-Saharan Africa into the "Bushmen" of the Cape region and the "Negroes" of the central areas of the continent. By the end of the 19th century, the influential German encyclopaedia, Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, divided humanity into three major races called Caucasoid, Mongoloid, and Negroid, each comprising various sub-races. While the "Hamites" of northern Africa were seen as Caucasoid, "Australians", "Melanesians", and "Negritoes" were seen as Negroid sub-races, although living outside the African continent. The only sub-races attributed to Africa were the "African Negroes" and the "Hottentots". The justification for racist Jim Crow laws was provided by pseudo-scientific opinions on "negro" psychology like those expressed by the entry for "Negro" in the Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th edition (1910–1911): "Mentally the negro is inferior to the white ... the arrest or even deterioration of mental development [after adolescence] is no doubt very largely due to the fact that after puberty sexual matters take the first place in


id: negroid-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negroid-2.md
category: reference
title: Negroid
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negroid
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:15.584073+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: negroid-20260505-0
summary:
=== Neoteny === Ashley Montagu lists "neotenous structural traits in which ... Negroids [generally] differ from Caucasoids ... flattish nose, flat root of the nose, narrower ears, narrower joints, frontal skull eminences, later closure of premaxillary sutures, less hairy, longer eyelashes, [and] cruciform pattern of second and third molars." He also suggested that in the extinct Negroid group termed the "Boskopoids", pedomorphic traits proceeded further than in other Negroids. Additionally, Montagu wrote that the Boskopoids had larger brains than modern humans (1,700 cubic centimeters cranial capacity compared to 1,400 cubic centimeters in modern-day humans), and the projection of their mouth was less than in other Negroids. He believed the Boskopoids were the ancestors of the Khoisan. === Athleticism === In the context of prominent successes of African-American athletes like Jesse Owens during the 1936 Summer Olympics, the speed advantage of the "Negroid type of calf, foot and heel bone" was discussed. Black Anthropologist W. Montague Cobb joined the debate in the same year, pointing out that "there is not a single physical characteristic, including skin color, which all the Negro stars have in common which definitely classify them as Negroes." Today, suggestions of biological differences in athletic ability between racial


id: neo-creationism-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-creationism-0.md
category: reference
title: Neo-creationism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-creationism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:16.829563+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: neo-creationism-20260505-0
summary:
Neo-creationism is a pseudoscientific movement which aims to restate creationism in terms more likely to be well received by the public, by policy makers, by educators and by the scientific community. It aims to re-frame the debate over the origins of life in non-religious terms and without appeals to scripture. In the United States, this comes in response to the 1987 ruling by the Supreme Court in Edwards v. Aguillard that creationism is an inherently religious concept and that advocating it as correct or accurate in public-school curricula violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. One of the principal claims of neo-creationism propounds that ostensibly objective orthodox science, with a foundation in naturalism, is actually a dogmatically atheistic religion. Its proponents argue that the scientific method excludes certain explanations of phenomena, particularly where they point towards supernatural elements, thus effectively excluding religious insight from contributing to understanding the universe. This leads to an open and often hostile opposition to what neo-creationists term "Darwinism", which they generally mean to refer to evolution, but which they may extend to include such concepts as abiogenesis, stellar evolution and the Big Bang theory. Notable neo-creationist organizations include the Discovery Institute and its Center


id: neuro-linguistic-programming-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming-0.md
category: reference
title: Neuro-linguistic programming
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:17.977876+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: neuro-linguistic-programming-20260505-0
summary:
Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is a pseudoscientific approach to communication, personal development, and psychotherapy that first appeared in Richard Bandler and John Grinder's book The Structure of Magic I (1975). NLP asserts a connection between neurological processes, language, and acquired behavioral patterns, and that these can be changed to achieve specific goals in life. According to Bandler and Grinder, NLP can treat problems such as phobias, depression, tic disorders, psychosomatic illnesses, near-sightedness, allergy, the common cold, and learning disorders, often in a single session. They also say that NLP can model the skills of exceptional people, allowing anyone to acquire them. NLP has been adopted by some hypnotherapists as well as by companies that run seminars marketed as leadership training to businesses and government agencies. No scientific evidence supports the claims made by NLP advocates, and it has been called a pseudoscience. Scientific reviews have shown that NLP is based on outdated metaphors of the brain's inner workings that are inconsistent with current neurological theory, and that NLP contains numerous factual errors. Reviews also found that research that favored NLP contained significant methodological flaws, and that three times as many studies of a much higher quality failed to reproduce the claims


id: neuro-linguistic-programming-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming-1.md
category: reference
title: Neuro-linguistic programming
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:17.977876+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: neuro-linguistic-programming-20260505-0
summary:
My memories about what we thought at the time of discovery (with respect to the classic code we developed—that is, the years 1973 through 1978) are that we were quite explicit that we were out to overthrow a paradigm and that, for example, I, for one, found it very useful to plan this campaign using in part as a guide the excellent work of Thomas Kuhn (The Structure of Scientific Revolutions) in which he detailed some of the conditions which historically have obtained in the midst of paradigm shifts. For example, I believe it was very useful that neither one of us were qualified in the field we first went after—psychology and in particular, its therapeutic application; this being one of the conditions which Kuhn identified in his historical study of paradigm shifts. The philosopher Robert Todd Carroll responded that Grinder has not understood Kuhn's text on the history and philosophy of science, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Carroll replies: (a) individual scientists never have nor are they ever able to create paradigm shifts volitionally and Kuhn does not suggest otherwise; (b) Kuhn's text does not contain the idea that being unqualified in a field of science is a prerequisite


id: neuro-linguistic-programming-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming-2.md
category: reference
title: Neuro-linguistic programming
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:17.977876+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: neuro-linguistic-programming-20260505-0
summary:
According to one study by Steinbach, a classic interaction in NLP can be understood in terms of several major stages including establishing rapport, gleaning information about a problem mental state and desired goals, using specific tools and techniques to make interventions, and integrating proposed changes into the client's life. The entire process is guided by the non-verbal responses of the client. The first is the act of establishing and maintaining rapport between the practitioner and the client which is achieved through pacing and leading the verbal (e.g., sensory predicates and keywords) and non-verbal behavior (e.g., matching and mirroring non-verbal behavior, or responding to eye movements) of the client. Once rapport is established, the practitioner may gather information about the client's present state as well as help the client define a desired state or goal for the interaction. The practitioner pays attention to the verbal and non-verbal responses as the client defines the present state and desired state and any resources that may be required to bridge the gap. The client is typically encouraged to consider the consequences of the desired outcome, and how they may affect their personal or professional life and relationships, taking into account any positive intentions of


id: neuro-linguistic-programming-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming-3.md
category: reference
title: Neuro-linguistic programming
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuro-linguistic_programming
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:17.977876+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: neuro-linguistic-programming-20260505-0
summary:
=== Other uses === Although the original core techniques of NLP were therapeutic in orientation their generic nature enabled them to be applied to other fields. These applications include persuasion, sales, negotiation, management training, sports, teaching, coaching, team building, public speaking, and in the process of hiring employees. == Scientific criticism == In the early 1980s, NLP was advertised as an important advance in psychotherapy and counseling, and attracted some interest in counseling research and clinical psychology. However, as controlled trials failed to show any benefit from NLP and its advocates made increasingly dubious claims, scientific interest in NLP faded. Numerous literature reviews and meta-analyses have failed to show evidence for NLP's assumptions or effectiveness as a therapeutic method. While some NLP practitioners have argued that the lack of empirical support is due to insufficient research which tests NLP, the consensus scientific opinion is that NLP is pseudoscience and that attempts to dismiss the research findings based on these arguments "[constitute]s an admission that NLP does not have an evidence base and that NLP practitioners are seeking a post-hoc credibility." Surveys in the academic community have shown NLP to be widely discredited among scientists. Among the reasons for considering NLP


id: nibiru-cataclysm-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibiru_cataclysm-0.md
category: reference
title: Nibiru cataclysm
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibiru_cataclysm
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:19.340542+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: nibiru-cataclysm-20260505-0
summary:
The Nibiru cataclysm is a supposed disastrous encounter between Earth and a large planetary object (either a collision or a near-miss) that certain groups believed would take place in the early 21st century. Believers in this doomsday event usually refer to this object as Nibiru or Planet X. The idea was first put forward in 1995 by Nancy Lieder, founder of the website ZetaTalk. Lieder claims she is a contactee with the ability to receive messages from extraterrestrials from the Zeta Reticuli star system through an implant in her brain. She states that she was chosen to warn mankind that the object would sweep through the inner Solar System in May 2003 (though that date was later postponed) causing Earth to undergo a physical pole shift that would destroy most of humanity. The prediction has subsequently spread beyond Lieder's website and has been embraced by numerous Internet doomsday groups. In the late 2000s, it became closely associated with the 2012 phenomenon. Since 2012, the Nibiru cataclysm has frequently reappeared in the popular media, usually linked to newsmaking astronomical objects such as Comet ISON or Planet Nine. Although the name "Nibiru" is derived from the works of the "ancient astronaut" writer


id: nibiru-cataclysm-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibiru_cataclysm-1.md
category: reference
title: Nibiru cataclysm
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibiru_cataclysm
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:19.340542+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: nibiru-cataclysm-20260505-0
summary:
Though Lieder herself has not specified a new date for the object's return, many groups have taken up her idea and cited their own dates. One frequently cited date was December 21, 2012. This date had many apocalyptic associations, as it was the end of a cycle (bʼakʼtun) in the long count in the Maya calendar. Several writers published books connecting the encounter with 2012. Despite that date having passed, many websites still contend that Nibiru/Planet X is en route to Earth. In 2012, Lieder claimed that U.S. President Barack Obama futilely attempted to announce the presence of Nibiru near the Sun. After 2012, she claimed that several world leaders had intended to announce the presence of Nibiru near the Sun on October 20, 2014. Two weeks after the supposed date of announcement, she claimed that it did not occur because of consternation amongst the establishment. === 2017 revival === In 2017, a conspiracy theorist and self-proclaimed "Christian numerologist" named David Meade revived the Nibiru cataclysm by tying it to various passages from the Bible. Meade declared that these passages contained secret numerological codes, which revealed the exact date on which Nibiru would arrive. He also based his predictions on


id: nibiru-cataclysm-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibiru_cataclysm-2.md
category: reference
title: Nibiru cataclysm
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibiru_cataclysm
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:19.340542+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: nibiru-cataclysm-20260505-0
summary:
== Scientific rejection == Astronomers reject the idea of Nibiru and have made efforts to inform the public that there is no threat to Earth. They point out that such an object so close to Earth would be easily visible to the naked eye and would cause noticeable effects in the orbits of the outer planets. Most photographs purporting to show "Nibiru" beside the Sun are lens flares, false images of the Sun caused by reflections within the lens. Claims that the object has been concealed behind the Sun are untenable. An orbit like that of Nibiru (within the planetary region of the Solar System) is inconsistent with celestial mechanics. David Morrison, a NASA space scientist, explains that after just one previous flyby of Earth, such as proponents claim happened in Sumerian times, Earth itself would no longer be in its current near-circular orbit and would be likely to have lost its Moon. If Nibiru were a brown dwarf it would have even worse effects, as brown dwarfs are far more massive. Since Pluto is now frequently observed by backyard telescopes, any giant planet beyond Pluto would be easily observed by an amateur astronomer, and if such an object existed


id: nibiru-cataclysm-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibiru_cataclysm-3.md
category: reference
title: Nibiru cataclysm
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibiru_cataclysm
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:19.340542+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: nibiru-cataclysm-20260505-0
summary:
=== Planet X === Lieder drew the name Planet X from the hypothetical planet once searched for by astronomers to account for discrepancies in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune. In 1894, Bostonian astronomer Percival Lowell became convinced that the planets Uranus and Neptune had slight discrepancies in their orbits. He concluded that they were being tugged by the gravity of another, more distant planet, which he called "Planet X". However, nearly a century of searching failed to turn up any evidence for such an object (Pluto was initially believed to be Planet X, but was later determined to be too small). The discrepancies remained through to the 1990s when the astronomer Robert Harrington put forward his hypothesis for an extra planet beyond Neptune with, as one example, a semi-major axis 101.2 AU and eccentricity 0.411 which makes its perihelion 59.60, so the closest to the Sun it would get is one and a half times the distance to Pluto. Six months before Harrington died of throat cancer in 1992, astronomer E. Myles Standish showed that the supposed discrepancies in the planets' orbits were illusory, the product of overestimating the mass of Neptune. When Neptune's newly determined mass was used


id: nibiru-cataclysm-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibiru_cataclysm-4.md
category: reference
title: Nibiru cataclysm
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibiru_cataclysm
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:19.340542+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: nibiru-cataclysm-20260505-0
summary:
Some associated Nibiru with Comet Elenin, a long-period comet discovered by Russian astronomer Leonid Elenin on December 10, 2010. On October 16, 2011, Elenin made its closest approach to Earth at a distance of 0.2338 AU (34,980,000 km; 21,730,000 mi), which is slightly closer than the planet Venus. Nevertheless, in the leadup to its closest approach, claims spread on conspiracy websites concluded that it was on a collision course, that it was as large as Jupiter or even a brown dwarf, and even that the name of the discoverer, Leonid Elenin, was in fact code for ELE, or an Extinction Level Event. Although the sizes of comets are difficult to determine without close observation, Comet Elenin is likely to be less than 10 km in diameter. Elenin himself estimates that the comet nucleus is roughly 3–4 km in diameter. This would make it millions of times smaller than the supposed Nibiru. Comet hysteria is not uncommon. Attempts have been made to correlate Elenin's alignments with the 2011 Japan earthquake, the 2010 Canterbury earthquake, and 2010 Chile earthquake; however, even discounting Elenin's tiny size, earthquakes are driven by forces within the earth, and cannot be triggered by the passage of nearby


id: nibiru-cataclysm-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibiru_cataclysm-5.md
category: reference
title: Nibiru cataclysm
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibiru_cataclysm
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:19.340542+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: nibiru-cataclysm-20260505-0
summary:
The impact of the public fear of the Nibiru cataclysm has been especially felt by professional astronomers. In 2008, Mike Brown said that Nibiru was the most common pseudoscientific topic he was asked about. Before his retirement after 2012, David Morrison, director of the SETI Institute, CSI Fellow and Senior Scientist at NASA's Astrobiology Institute at Ames Research Center, said he received 20 to 25 emails a week about the impending arrival of Nibiru: some frightened, others angry and naming him as part of the conspiracy to keep the truth of the impending apocalypse from the public, and still others asking whether or not they should kill themselves, their children or their pets. Half of these emails were from outside the US. Science writer Govert Schilling noted, "Planetary scientists are being driven to distraction by Nibiru. ... And it is not surprising; you devote so much time, energy and creativity to fascinating scientific research, and find yourself on the tracks of the most amazing and interesting things, and all the public at large is concerned about is some crackpot theory about clay tablets, god-astronauts and a planet that doesn't exist." Similarly, Professor Brian Cox posted on Twitter in 2012 that,


id: ni-a-de-las-peras-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niña_de_las_Peras-0.md
category: reference
title: Niña de las Peras
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niña_de_las_Peras
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:20.516221+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ni-a-de-las-peras-20260505-0
summary:
The Niña de las Peras (in English: Pear Girl) is one of the most popular Canarian legends, and although it has undergone many transformations over time, its basic premise has remained the same. This legend is believed to have originated between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, specifically between 1890 and 1910. The story takes place in the town of Güímar on the island of Tenerife, where parents sent their young daughter to the nearby barranco de Badajoz to look for fruit, but the girl disappeared. A frantic search by the local residents began, but to no avail. After a while, the girl was considered unrecoverable, and the neighbors returned to their daily routines. Several decades later, the girl knocked on the door of her parents' house, looking the same as the day she disappeared. Her parents, who had already grown old, could not hide their surprise and amazement at what had happened. The girl told her parents what had happened: after reaching the ravine, exhausted, she had fallen asleep at the foot of a pear tree, until a very tall being dressed in white woke her. This being asked the girl to accompany him into a cave, and


id: nobel-disease-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_disease-0.md
category: reference
title: Nobel disease
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_disease
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:21.663212+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: nobel-disease-20260505-0
summary:
Nobel disease or Nobelitis is an informal term for the embrace of strange or scientifically unsound ideas by some Nobel Prize winners, usually later in life. Use of the term embodies an attitude that has been illustrated and exemplified by the author Thomas Kuhn in his book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, which describes the friction opposed by those operating within an incumbent scientific paradigm to the motion imparted by those proposing new ideas and perspectives, which may herald a paradigm shift. It has been argued that the effect results, in part, from a tendency for Nobel winners to feel empowered by the award to speak on topics outside their specific area of expertise, although it is unknown whether Nobel Prize winners are more prone to this tendency than other individuals. Paul Nurse, co-winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, warned later laureates against "believing you are expert in almost everything, and being prepared to express opinions about most issues with great confidence, sheltering behind the authority that the Nobel Prize can give you". Nurse also noted that media play a role in reinforcing this tendency, observing that after receiving his Nobel Prize, journalists had begun to


id: nobel-disease-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_disease-1.md
category: reference
title: Nobel disease
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_disease
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:21.663212+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: nobel-disease-20260505-0
summary:
=== Kary Mullis === Kary Mullis won the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for development of the polymerase chain reaction. Mullis disagreed with the scientifically accepted view that AIDS is caused by HIV, claiming that the virus is barely detectable in people with the disease. He also expressed doubt in the evidence for human-caused climate change. In his autobiography, Mullis professed a belief in astrology and wrote about an encounter with a fluorescent, talking raccoon that he suggested might have been an extraterrestrial alien. === Louis J. Ignarro === Louis J. Ignarro was one of three winners of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his research on nitric oxide as a signaling molecule in the cardiovascular system, which led to the development of new medications to treat cardiovascular disease, as well as of Viagra. In 2003, he became a consultant for Herbalife (which has been investigated for various kinds of dishonesty about its products). As a member of their Scientific Advisory Board, he helped to promote dubious dietary supplements. He studied the effects of his pet invention, Niteworks, on mice, and is known for saying, "What's good for mice is good for humans," an unverified statement. ===


id: non-contact-thermography-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-contact_thermography-0.md
category: reference
title: Non-contact thermography
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-contact_thermography
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:22.839355+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: non-contact-thermography-20260505-0
summary:
Non-contact thermography, thermographic imaging, or medical thermology is the field of thermography that uses infrared images of the human skin to assist in the diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions. Medical thermology is sometimes referred to as medical infrared imaging or tele-thermology and utilizes thermographic cameras. According to the American Academy of Thermology, Medical Thermology practitioners are licensed health care practitioners who utilize IR imaging in consistent with medically established paradigms of care. Non-medically licensed alternative practitioners who are not held to the same standard may offer thermography services but that should not be confused with the field of medical thermology. Restated, medical thermology is the use of infrared (IR) imaging to assess skin temperature as an extension of the clinician's physical exam to aid in the formation of a medical diagnosis or treatment plan. Medical Thermology does not condone those who purport that "Thermography" can find disease by looking for areas of the body that have abnormal heat or irregular blood flow. IR imaging simply does not have the ability to assess temperature beyond the surface of the skin. Thermography is a physiologic study and is not a replacement for structural studies such as X-Ray, MRI, or Mammography. As


id: noni-juice-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noni_juice-0.md
category: reference
title: Noni juice
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noni_juice
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:24.039954+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: noni-juice-20260505-0
summary:
Noni juice is derived from the fruit of the Morinda citrifolia tree indigenous to Southeast Asia and Australasia. It has been promoted, illegally in several cases, as a cure for a number of human diseases. However, there is no evidence to support any claims of therapeutic benefit. == Regulatory warnings == === Tahitian Noni (Morinda, Inc.) === On August 26, 1998, the Attorneys General of Arizona, California, New Jersey, and Texas announced a multi-state settlement with Morinda, Inc. following charges that the company had made "unsubstantiated claims in consumer testimonials and other promotional material indicating that its Tahitian Noni juice could treat, cure or prevent numerous diseases such as diabetes, clinical depression, hemorrhoids and arthritis." Such claims rendered the beverage an unapproved new drug under state and federal food and drug laws and should not have been sold until it received approval. Under the terms of the agreement, Morinda agreed to: No longer make drug claims, or claims that the product can cure, treat, or prevent any disease until "Tahitian Noni" is approved and cleared for those uses by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Not make any other claims, whether health claims or others, regarding the benefits of Tahitian


id: oasis-of-hope-hospital-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oasis_of_Hope_Hospital-0.md
category: reference
title: Oasis of Hope Hospital
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oasis_of_Hope_Hospital
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:25.264029+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: oasis-of-hope-hospital-20260505-0
summary:
The Oasis of Hope Hospital is a clinic in Tijuana, Mexico providing alternative cancer treatments to its customers. The clinic was founded by the physician Ernesto Contreras. After his death in 2003, the management of the hospital was taken over by his son, Francisco Contreras, and nephew, Daniel Kennedy. Since the 1960s, it has administered amygdalin to its patients. The clinic has been characterized by Quackwatch as "dubious." == History == The Oasis of Hope hospital is based in Tijuana, Mexico. The city is significant as there is a concentration of more than 60 cancer treatment centres in the city, making it one of the largest concentrations of this type of treatment in the world. The Guardian reported in 2005 that the reason for the concentration is that most methods used by the hospitals are "discouraged by conventional medical science" and because health regulations aren't as strict as the United States, it is a logical place for them to operate. Tijuana is home to the largest concentration of cancer treatment centres offering unorthodox therapies anywhere in the world. More than 60 hospitals, clinics and semi-clandestine offices offer to cure or help control the disease in ways ranging from the unconventional


id: oasis-of-hope-hospital-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oasis_of_Hope_Hospital-1.md
category: reference
title: Oasis of Hope Hospital
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oasis_of_Hope_Hospital
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:25.264029+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: oasis-of-hope-hospital-20260505-0
summary:
== Reception == Edzard Ernst, a former professor at The University of Exeter stated that Britons in particular were attracted to Tijuana clinics "because the clinics there are famous." According to Quackwatch, the Oasis of Hope Hospital is a "dubious cancer clinic". Richard Sullivan of Cancer Research UK has said, "the Tijuana clinics are essentially set up to deceive and it's a disgrace." Barrie R. Cassileth commented on a small longterm follow-up study that had been carried out on patients of Mexican clinics, including those taking the Contreras treatments. She said that most patients did not know what stage their cancer was at, but that the mean survival time – of 7 months – was enough to conclude that "Contreras therapy is ineffective in treating late-stage cancer patients". The Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center lists "Contreras Therapy" alongside other alternative nutrition-based cancer treatments like the Gerson Therapy which "show no evidence of efficacy". == See also == List of ineffective cancer treatments Quackery Clinica 0-19 == References == == Further reading == Petersen, J. C.; Markle, G. E. (1979). "Politics and Science in the Laetrile Controversy" (PDF). Social Studies of Science. 9 (2): 139–66. doi:10.1177/030631277900900201. PMID 11645793. S2CID 14579797. "Unproven methods


id: objections-to-evolution-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objections_to_evolution-0.md
category: reference
title: Objections to evolution
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objections_to_evolution
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:26.533990+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: objections-to-evolution-20260505-0
summary:
Objections to evolution have been raised since evolutionary ideas came to prominence in the 19th century. When Charles Darwin published his 1859 book On the Origin of Species, his theory of evolution (the idea that species arose through descent with modification from a single common ancestor in a process driven by natural selection) initially met opposition from scientists with different theories, but eventually came to receive near-universal acceptance in the scientific community. The observation of evolutionary processes occurring (as well as the modern evolutionary synthesis explaining that evidence) has been uncontroversial among mainstream biologists since the 1940s. Since then, criticisms and denials of evolution have come from religious groups, rather than from the scientific community. Although many religious groups have found reconciliation of their beliefs with evolution, such as through theistic evolution, other religious groups continue to reject evolutionary explanations in favor of creationism, the belief that the universe and life were created by supernatural forces. The U.S.-centered creation–evolution controversy has become a focal point of perceived conflict between religion and science. Several branches of creationism, including creation science, neo-creationism, geocentric creationism and intelligent design, argue that the idea of life being directly designed by a god or intelligence is


id: objections-to-evolution-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objections_to_evolution-1.md
category: reference
title: Objections to evolution
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objections_to_evolution
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:26.533990+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: objections-to-evolution-20260505-0
summary:
Evolutionary ideas came to prominence in the early 19th century with the theory (developed between 1800 and 1822) of the transmutation of species put forward by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744–1829). The scientific community initially opposed the idea of evolution, with notable criticism from Georges Cuvier (1769–1832). The idea that laws control nature and society gained vast popular audiences with George Combe's The Constitution of Man of 1828 and with the anonymous Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation of 1844. When Charles Darwin published his 1859 book On the Origin of Species, he convinced most of the scientific community that new species arise through descent through modification in a branching pattern of divergence from common ancestors, but while most scientists accepted natural selection as a valid and empirically testable hypothesis, Darwin's view of it as the primary mechanism of evolution was rejected by some. Darwin's contemporaries eventually came to accept the transmutation of species based upon fossil evidence, and the X Club (operative from 1864 to 1893) formed to defend the concept of evolution against opposition from the church and wealthy amateurs. At that time the specific evolutionary mechanism which Darwin provided – natural selection – was actively disputed by scientists


id: objections-to-evolution-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objections_to_evolution-2.md
category: reference
title: Objections to evolution
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objections_to_evolution
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:26.533990+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: objections-to-evolution-20260505-0
summary:
Creationists have appealed to democratic principles of fairness, arguing that evolution is controversial and that science classrooms should therefore "Teach the Controversy". These objections to evolution culminated in the intelligent-design movement in the 1990s and early 2000s that unsuccessfully attempted to present itself as a scientific alternative to evolution.


id: objections-to-evolution-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objections_to_evolution-3.md
category: reference
title: Objections to evolution
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objections_to_evolution
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:26.533990+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: objections-to-evolution-20260505-0
summary:
== Defining evolution == A major source of confusion and ambiguity in any creation–evolution debate arises from the definition of evolution itself. In the context of biology, evolution is genetic changes in populations of organisms over successive generations. The word also has a number of different meanings in different fields, from evolutionary computation to molecular evolution to sociocultural evolution to stellar and galactic evolution. Evolution in colloquial contexts can refer to any sort of "progressive" development or gradual improvement, and a process that results in greater quality or complexity. When misapplied to biological evolution this common meaning can lead to frequent misunderstandings. For example, the idea of devolution ("backwards" evolution) is a result of erroneously assuming that evolution is directional or has a specific goal in mind (cf. orthogenesis). In reality, the evolution of a biological organism has no "objective" and is only showing increasing ability of successive generations to survive and reproduce in their environment; and increased suitability is only defined in relation to this environment. Biologists do not regard any one species (such as humans) as more highly evolved or advanced than another. Certain sources have been criticized for indicating otherwise due to a tendency to evaluate nonhuman


id: objections-to-evolution-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objections_to_evolution-4.md
category: reference
title: Objections to evolution
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objections_to_evolution
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:26.533990+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: objections-to-evolution-20260505-0
summary:
An objection is often made in the teaching of evolution that evolution is controversial or contentious. Unlike past creationist arguments which sought to abolish the teaching of evolution altogether, this argument makes the claim that evolution should be presented alongside alternative views since it is controversial, and students should be allowed to evaluate and choose between the options on their own. This objection forms the basis of the "Teach the Controversy" campaign by the Discovery Institute, a think tank based in Seattle, Washington, to promote the teaching of intelligent design in U.S. public schools. This goal followed the Institute's "wedge strategy", an attempt to gradually undermine evolution and ultimately to "reverse the stifling dominance of the materialist worldview, and to replace it with a science consonant with Christian and theistic convictions." Several other attempts were made to insert intelligent design or creationism into the U.S. public school curriculum, including the failed Santorum Amendment in 2001. Scientists and U.S. courts have rejected this objection on the grounds that science is not based on appeals to popularity, but on evidence. The scientific consensus of biologists determines what is considered acceptable science, not popular opinion or fairness, and although evolution is controversial in


id: objections-to-evolution-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objections_to_evolution-5.md
category: reference
title: Objections to evolution
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objections_to_evolution
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:26.533990+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: objections-to-evolution-20260505-0
summary:
Assuming for the purposes of argument, however, that evolution is a religion or religious tenet, the remedy is to stop the teaching of evolution, not establish another religion in opposition to it. Yet it is clearly established in the case law, and perhaps also in common sense, that evolution is not a religion and that teaching evolution does not violate the Establishment Clause, Epperson v. Arkansas, supra, Willoughby v. Stever, No. 15574-75 (D.D.C. May 18, 1973); aff'd. 504 F.2d 271 (D.C. Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 420 U.S. 924 (1975); Wright v. Houston Indep. School Dist., 366 F. Supp. 1208 (S.D. Tex 1978), aff.d. 486 F.2d 137 (5th Cir. 1973), cert. denied 417 U.S. 969 (1974). A related claim is that evolution is atheistic (see the Atheism section below); creationists sometimes merge the two claims and describe evolution as an "atheistic religion" (cf. humanism). This argument against evolution is also frequently generalized into a criticism of all science; it is argued that "science is an atheistic religion", on the grounds that its methodological naturalism is as unproven, and thus as "faith-based", as the supernatural and theistic beliefs of creationism. === Unfalsifiability === A statement is considered falsifiable if there is an


id: objections-to-evolution-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objections_to_evolution-6.md
category: reference
title: Objections to evolution
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objections_to_evolution
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:26.533990+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: objections-to-evolution-20260505-0
summary:
=== Lack of observation === A common claim of creationists is that evolution has never been observed. Challenges to such objections often come down to debates over how evolution is defined (see the Defining evolution section above). Under the conventional biological definition of evolution, it is a simple matter to observe evolution occurring. Evolutionary processes, in the form of populations changing their genetic composition from generation to generation, have been observed in different scientific contexts, including the evolution of fruit flies, mice, and bacteria in the laboratory, and of tilapia in the field. Such studies on experimental evolution, particularly those using microorganisms, are now providing important insights into how evolution occurs, especially in the case of antibiotic resistance. In response to such examples, creationists say there are two major subdivisions of evolution to be considered, microevolution and macroevolution, and it is questionable if macro-evolution has been physically observed to occur. Most creationist organizations do not dispute the occurrence of short-term, relatively minor evolutionary changes, such as that observed even in dog breeding. Rather, they dispute the occurrence of major evolutionary changes over long periods of time, which by definition cannot be directly observed, only inferred from microevolutionary processes and the


id: objections-to-evolution-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objections_to_evolution-7.md
category: reference
title: Objections to evolution
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objections_to_evolution
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:26.533990+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: objections-to-evolution-20260505-0
summary:
Critics of evolution commonly appeal to past scientific hoaxes such as the Piltdown Man forgery. It is argued that because scientists have been mistaken and deceived in the past about evidence for various aspects of evolution, the current evidence for evolution is likely to also be based on fraud and error. Much of the evidence for evolution has been accused of being fraudulent at various times, including Archaeopteryx, peppered moth melanism, and Darwin's finches; these claims have been subsequently refuted. It has also been claimed that certain former pieces of evidence for evolution which are now considered out-of-date and erroneous, such as Ernst Haeckel's 19th-century comparative drawings of embryos, used to illustrate his recapitulation theory ("ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny"), were not merely errors but frauds. Molecular biologist Jonathan Wells criticizes biology textbooks by alleging that they continue to reproduce such evidence after it has been debunked. In response, the National Center for Science Education notes that none of the textbooks reviewed by Wells makes the claimed error, as Haeckel's drawings are shown in a historical context with discussion about why they are wrong, and the accurate modern drawings and photos used in the textbooks are misrepresented by Wells. === Unreliable chronology


id: objections-to-evolution-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objections_to_evolution-8.md
category: reference
title: Objections to evolution
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objections_to_evolution
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:26.533990+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: objections-to-evolution-20260505-0
summary:
Supporters of evolution generally respond by arguing that this objection is simply an argument by lack of imagination, or argument from incredulity: a certain explanation is seen as being counterintuitive, and therefore an alternate, more intuitive explanation is appealed to instead. In actuality, evolution is not based on "chance", but on predictable chemical interactions: natural processes, rather than supernatural beings, are the "designer". Although the process involves some random elements, it is the non-random selection of survival-enhancing genes that drives the evolution of complex and ordered patterns. The fact that the results are ordered and seem "designed" is no more evidence for a supernatural intelligence than the appearance of complex non-living phenomena (e.g. snowflakes). It is also argued that there is insufficient evidence to make statements about the plausibility or implausibility of abiogenesis, that certain structures demonstrate poor design, and that the implausibility of life evolving exactly as it did is no more evidence for an intelligence than the implausibility of a deck of cards being shuffled and dealt in a certain random order. It has also been noted that arguments against some form of life arising "by chance" are really objections to nontheistic abiogenesis, not to evolution. Indeed, arguments


id: objections-to-evolution-20260505-9
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objections_to_evolution-9.md
category: reference
title: Objections to evolution
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objections_to_evolution
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:26.533990+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: objections-to-evolution-20260505-0
summary:
There's got to be a series of advantages all the way in the feather. If you can't think of one, then that's your problem not natural selection's problem... It's perfectly possible feathers began as fluffy extensions of reptilian scales to act as insulators... The earliest feathers might have been a different approach to hairiness among reptiles keeping warm. Creationist arguments have been made such as "What use is half an eye?" and "What use is half a wing?". Research has confirmed that the natural evolution of the eye and other intricate organs is entirely feasible. Creationist claims have persisted that such complexity evolving without a designer is inconceivable and this objection to evolution has been refined in recent years as the more sophisticated irreducible complexity argument of the intelligent design movement, formulated by Michael Behe. Biochemist Michael Behe has argued that current evolutionary theory cannot account for certain complex structures, particularly in microbiology. On this basis, Behe argues that such structures were "purposely arranged by an intelligent agent". Irreducible complexity is the idea that certain biological systems cannot be broken down into their constituent parts and remain functional, and therefore that they could not have evolved naturally from less complex


id: objections-to-evolution-20260505-10
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objections_to_evolution-10.md
category: reference
title: Objections to evolution
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objections_to_evolution
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:26.533990+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: objections-to-evolution-20260505-0
summary:
A recent objection of creationists to evolution is that evolutionary mechanisms such as mutation cannot generate new information. Creationists such as William A. Dembski, Werner Gitt, and Lee Spetner have attempted to use information theory to dispute evolution. Dembski has argued that life demonstrates specified complexity, and proposed a law of conservation of information that extremely improbable "complex specified information" could be conveyed by natural means but never originated without an intelligent agent. Gitt asserted that information is an intrinsic characteristic of life and that an analysis demonstrates the mind and will of their Creator. These claims have been widely rejected by the scientific community, which asserts that new information is regularly generated in evolution whenever a novel mutation or gene duplication arises. Dramatic examples of entirely new and unique traits arising through mutation have been observed in recent years, such as the evolution of nylon-eating bacteria which developed new enzymes to efficiently digest a material that never existed before the modern era. There is no need to account for the creation of information when an organism is considered together with the environment it evolved in. The information in the genome forms a record of how it was possible to


id: objections-to-evolution-20260505-11
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objections_to_evolution-11.md
category: reference
title: Objections to evolution
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objections_to_evolution
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:26.533990+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: objections-to-evolution-20260505-0
summary:
In 1917, Vernon Kellogg published Headquarters Nights: A Record of Conversations and Experiences at the Headquarters of the German Army in France and Belgium, which asserted that German intellectuals were totally committed to might-makes-right due to "whole-hearted acceptance of the worst of Neo-Darwinism, the Allmacht of natural selection applied rigorously to human life and society and Kultur." This strongly influenced the politician William Jennings Bryan, who saw Darwinism as a moral threat to America and campaigned against evolutionary theory; his campaign culminated in the Scopes Trial, which effectively prevented teaching of evolution in most public schools until the 1960s. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, wrote August 8, 2005, in NPR's Taking Issue essay series, that "Debates over education, abortion, environmentalism, homosexuality and a host of other issues are really debates about the origin — and thus the meaning — of human life. ...evolutionary theory stands at the base of moral relativism and the rejection of traditional morality." Henry M. Morris, engineering professor and founder of the Creation Research Society and the Institute of Creation Research, claims that evolution was part of a pagan religion that emerged after the Tower of Babel,


id: objections-to-evolution-20260505-12
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objections_to_evolution-12.md
category: reference
title: Objections to evolution
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objections_to_evolution
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:26.533990+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: objections-to-evolution-20260505-0
summary:
Another charge leveled at evolutionary theory by creationists is that belief in evolution is either tantamount to atheism, or conducive to atheism. It is commonly claimed that all proponents of evolutionary theory are "materialistic atheists". On the other hand, Davis A. Young argues that creation science itself is harmful to Christianity because its bad science will turn more away than it recruits. Young asks, "Can we seriously expect non-Christians to develop a respect for Christianity if we insist on teaching the brand of science that creationism brings with it?" However, evolution neither requires nor rules out the existence of a supernatural being. Philosopher Robert T. Pennock makes the comparison that evolution is no more atheistic than plumbing. H. Allen Orr, professor of biology at University of Rochester, notes that: Of the five founding fathers of twentieth-century evolutionary biology—Ronald Fisher, Sewall Wright, J. B. S. Haldane, Ernst Mayr, and Theodosius Dobzhansky—one was a devout Anglican who preached sermons and published articles in church magazines, one a practicing Unitarian, one a dabbler in Eastern mysticism, one an apparent atheist, and one a member of the Russian Orthodox Church and the author of a book on religion and science. In addition, a wide


id: objections-to-evolution-20260505-13
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objections_to_evolution-13.md
category: reference
title: Objections to evolution
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objections_to_evolution
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:26.533990+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: objections-to-evolution-20260505-0
summary:
== Bibliography == Behe, Michael J. (1996). Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution. New York: Free Press. ISBN 978-0-684-82754-4. LCCN 96000695. OCLC 34150540. Bowler, Peter J. (1992) [Original hardback edition published 1983]. The Eclipse of Darwinism: Anti-Darwinian Evolution Theories in the Decades Around 1900 (Johns Hopkins Paperbacks ed.). Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-4391-4. LCCN 82021170. OCLC 611262030. Bowler, Peter J. (2003). Evolution: The History of an Idea (3rd ed.). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-23693-6. LCCN 2002007569. OCLC 49824702. Butterfield, Nicholas J. (2001). "Ecology and evolution of Cambrian plankton". In Zhuravlev, Andrey Yu.; Riding, Robert (eds.). The Ecology of the Cambrian Radiation. Critical Moments in Paleobiology and Earth History Series; Perspectives in Paleobiology and Earth History Series. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-10613-9. LCCN 00063901. OCLC 44869047. Darwin, Charles (1859). On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (1st ed.). London: John Murray. LCCN 06017473. OCLC 741260650. The book is available from The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online. Retrieved 2015-03-30. Darwin, Charles (1866). On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured


id: objections-to-evolution-20260505-14
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objections_to_evolution-14.md
category: reference
title: Objections to evolution
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objections_to_evolution
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:26.533990+00:00
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parent: objections-to-evolution-20260505-0
summary:
Young, David A. (1988) [Originally published 1982; Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan]. Christianity and the Age of the Earth. Thousand Oak, CA: Artisan Publishers. ISBN 978-0-934666-27-5. LCCN 81016266. OCLC 20135091. Meyer, Stephen C., and Mark Terry. "Darwin's doubt: The explosive origin of animal life and the case for intelligent design Archived 2024-06-13 at the Wayback Machine." New York (2013). == Further reading == Coleman, Simon; Carlin, Leslie, eds. (2004). The Cultures of Creationism: Anti-Evolution in English-Speaking Countries. Aldershot, Hants, England; Burlington, VT: Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-0912-4. LCCN 2003045172. OCLC 51867865. Denton, Michael (1986) [Originally published in Great Britain in 1985 by Burnett Books Limited]. Evolution: A Theory in Crisis (1st U.S. ed.). Bethesda, MD: Adler & Adler. ISBN 978-0-917561-05-4. LCCN 85013556. OCLC 12214328. == External links == Video (10:56) − "Raising Doubts About Evolution... in Science Class" on YouTube − (NYT / Retro Report; November 2017)


id: odic-force-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odic_force-0.md
category: reference
title: Odic force
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odic_force
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:27.771379+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: odic-force-20260505-0
summary:
Odic force (also called Od , Odyle, Önd, Odes, Odylic, Odyllic, or Odems) was a hypothetical vital energy or life force believed in by some in the mid-19th century. The name was coined by Baron Carl von Reichenbach in 1845 in reference to the Germanic god Odin. == History == As von Reichenbach was investigating the manner in which the human nervous system could be affected by various substances, he conceived the existence of a new force allied to electricity, magnetism, and heat, a force which he thought was radiated by most substances, and to the influence of which different people are variously sensitive. He named this vitalist concept Odic force. Proponents say that Odic force permeates all plants, animals, and humans. Believers in Odic force said that it was visible in total darkness as colored auras surrounding living things, crystals, and magnets, but that viewing it required hours first spent in total darkness, and only very sensitive people had the ability to see it. They also said that it resembles the Asian concepts prana and qi. However, they regarded the Odic force as not associated with breath (like India's prana and the qi of Chinese martial arts) but rather


id: of-pandas-and-people-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Pandas_and_People-0.md
category: reference
title: Of Pandas and People
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Pandas_and_People
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:28.944697+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: of-pandas-and-people-20260505-0
summary:
Of Pandas and People: The Central Question of Biological Origins is a controversial 1989 (2nd edition 1993) school-level supplementary textbook written by Percival Davis and Dean H. Kenyon, edited by Charles Thaxton and published by the Texas-based Foundation for Thought and Ethics (FTE). The textbook endorses the pseudoscientific notion of intelligent design – the argument that life shows evidence of being designed by an intelligent agent. Although this agent is not named specifically in the book, proponents understand that it refers to the Christian God. They present various polemical arguments against the scientific theory of evolution. Before publication, early drafts used cognates of "creationist". After the Edwards v. Aguillard Supreme Court ruling that creationism is religion and not science, these were changed to refer to "intelligent design". The overview chapter was written by young Earth creationist Nancy Pearcey. The second edition published in 1993 included a contribution written by Michael Behe. A third edition of the book was published in 2007 under the title The Design of Life: Discovering Signs of Intelligence in Biological Systems. The book argues that the origin of new organisms is "in an immaterial cause: in a blueprint, a plan, a pattern, devised by an intelligent


id: of-pandas-and-people-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Pandas_and_People-1.md
category: reference
title: Of Pandas and People
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Pandas_and_People
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:28.944697+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: of-pandas-and-people-20260505-0
summary:
Creation means that the various forms of life began abruptly through the agency of an intelligent creator with their distinctive features already intact. Fish with fins and scales, birds with feathers, beaks, and wings, etc. A 1987 draft entitled Biology and Origins made only minor grammatical alterations to these statements. The FTE sought a publisher for the book, sending a Boston firm a prospectus which indicated that the draft had been sent to school districts for testing as well as to prospective publishers. In the prospectus, Buell stated that a "new independent scientific poll... shows almost half of the nation's biology teachers include some creation in their view of biological origins. Many more who don't still believe it should be included in science curriculum." Additionally, he enclosed projections showing expected revenue of over $6.5 million in five years based upon "modest expectations for the market." If creationist teaching in schools was explicitly permitted by the Supreme Court of the United States in the Louisiana "Balanced Treatment Act" case that was then ongoing, the FTE's founder Jon Buell wrote that "you can throw out these projections, the nationwide market would be explosive!" === From creationism to intelligent design: Pandas and "cdesign


id: of-pandas-and-people-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Pandas_and_People-2.md
category: reference
title: Of Pandas and People
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Pandas_and_People
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:28.944697+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: of-pandas-and-people-20260505-0
summary:
=== Publication and promotion === Of Pandas and People was published in 1989 by "Haughton Publishing Co." This was the assumed name of a Mesquite, Texas, printing firm, Horticultural Printers, Inc., which mainly served the agricultural industry and had no other books in print, nor any in-house writers or science advisors. (It should not be confused with the well-known children's and school textbook publisher, Houghton Mifflin). Printing costs were met by donations to the FTE, whose members were told in a December 1988 fundraising letter that donors would receive an enameled box with a panda on the lid as a gift. The box would "become a pleasant reminder to pray for our work", as Buell put it. Following the book's publication in 1989, the FTE embarked on a lengthy campaign to get the book into use in schools across the United States. Previous creationist efforts to dilute or overturn the teaching of evolutionary theory had relied largely on a "top-down" approach of pro-creationist legislators passing laws to regulate science education in schools. However, these had repeatedly failed to survive court challenges. The FTE took a "bottom-up" approach instead, mobilizing local Christian conservative groups to push school boards and individual teachers


id: of-pandas-and-people-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Pandas_and_People-3.md
category: reference
title: Of Pandas and People
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Pandas_and_People
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:28.944697+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: of-pandas-and-people-20260505-0
summary:
== Analysis == Many of the book's arguments are identical to those raised by creationists, which have been dismissed by the scientific community. A comparison of an early draft of Of Pandas and People to a later 1987 draft showed how in hundreds of instances the word "creationism" had been replaced by "intelligent design" and "creationist" replaced by "intelligent design proponent", while "creator" was replaced by "agency" or "designer". In his 2007 book Monkey Girl Edward Humes describes how this change was made after Edwards v. Aguillard settled that teaching "Creation Science" in public schools was unconstitutional. Scientific and education professional groups have strongly criticized Of Pandas and People and have opposed its use in schools. Science educator Gerald Skoog described it as "a vehicle to advance sectarian tenets and not to improve science education" and said "This book has no potential to improve science education and student understanding of the natural world." A review of Of Pandas and People by paleontologist Kevin Padian of the University of California at Berkeley for the National Center for Science Education's Bookwatch Reviews in 1989 called the book a "wholesale distortion of modern biology", and says that FTE's writers had misrepresented such topics


id: of-pandas-and-people-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Pandas_and_People-4.md
category: reference
title: Of Pandas and People
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Pandas_and_People
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:28.944697+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: of-pandas-and-people-20260505-0
summary:
=== 1994–1998 === In September 1994, residents of Louisville, Ohio, voted 121–2 to urge the local school board to adopt Of Pandas and People. Creationism had been taught openly in district schools until a lawsuit forced a change of policy in 1993. In the wake of the decision, the district was given 150 copies of the book. In October 1994, school officials in St. Lucie County, Florida, distributed copies of the book to every high school and one middle school in the county to be reviewed by teachers and principals for use as a possible supplement for science classes. The response from teachers was negative but county school officials still planned to distribute the books to school libraries so teachers and students could use it as a resource. According to the local Civic, Business and Ministry Coalition, copies of the book were purchased by the Coalition from the Institute for Creation Research in San Diego, California, and were sent to school administrators on the grounds that it was "a good, science-based text appropriate for school children". The Coalition was reported to have met administrators on several occasions to promote creation science. However, the county school board did not find out


id: of-pandas-and-people-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Pandas_and_People-5.md
category: reference
title: Of Pandas and People
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Pandas_and_People
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:28.944697+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: of-pandas-and-people-20260505-0
summary:
Of Pandas and People became the focus of a litigation and controversy in Dover, Pennsylvania in 2004 after the Dover Area School Board endorsed it as a reference book. The ensuing court case was dubbed the "Panda Trial" by the media in an allusion to the famous "Monkey Trial" of 1925. Although the board did not actually purchase the book, 60 copies were donated to the district by an anonymous party. It was revealed in court that a school board member asked his church for donations for the purchase of those books although that board member had denied all knowledge of the source of donation in an earlier deposition. Amid an international controversy, the board also became the first in the US to promote the teaching of intelligent design in the classroom, sparking a lawsuit, Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District, by the American Civil Liberties Union and other plaintiffs. The FTE became involved in the Dover controversy when it became clear that Of Pandas and People would be a major focus of litigation. The foundation filed a motion to join the defending side in June 2005, arguing that a finding that intelligent design was religious would destroy FTE's ability


id: offender-profiling-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offender_profiling-0.md
category: reference
title: Offender profiling
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offender_profiling
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:30.090119+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: offender-profiling-20260505-0
summary:
Offender profiling, also known as criminal profiling, is an investigative strategy used by law enforcement agencies to identify likely suspects and has been used by investigators to link cases that may have been committed by the same perpetrator. There are multiple approaches to offender profiling, including the FBI's typological method, geographic profiling, and investigative psychology, each utilizing different techniques to analyze offender behavior. Profiling is primarily applied in cases involving violent crimes such as serial murder, sexual offenses, and arson, where behavioral patterns may provide investigative leads. Despite its use in law enforcement, offender profiling remains controversial, with critics arguing that it often lacks empirical validation, relies heavily on subjective interpretation, and may contribute to cognitive biases in criminal investigations. Advances in forensic psychology and data-driven methodologies continue to shape the field, integrating psychological theories with statistical analysis to improve reliability and accuracy. The originator of modern profiling was FBI agent Robert Ressler. He defined profiling as the process of identifying all psychological characteristics of an individual and forming a general description of their personality based on an analysis of crimes they have committed. == History == The earliest reference to the use of profiling, according to R.S. Feldman, is


id: offender-profiling-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offender_profiling-1.md
category: reference
title: Offender profiling
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offender_profiling
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:30.090119+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: offender-profiling-20260505-0
summary:
=== Modern developments === Offender profiling was first introduced to the FBI in the 1960s, when several classes were taught to the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors. In 1972, after the death of J. Edgar Hoover, who was skeptical of psychiatry, the Behavioral Science Unit (BSU) of the FBI was formed by Patrick Mullany and Howard Teten in 1972, leading to the rapid development of the field. At the BSU, Robert Ressler and John Douglas began an informal series of ad hoc interviews with 36 convicts starting in early 1978. The BSU later became the Behavioral Analysis Unit. It led to the establishment of the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime in 1984, of which the BAU is now a part, after Douglas and Ressler created a typology of sexually motivated violent offenders. The Violent Criminal Apprehension Program was launched in 1985. The March 1980 issue of the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin invited local police to request profiles from the FBI. An article in the April 1980 issue, "The Lust Murderer," introduced the dichotomy of "organized" and "disorganized" offenders. The August 1985 issue described a third, "mixed" category. Investigations of serial killers Ted Bundy and Gary Ridgway


id: offender-profiling-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offender_profiling-2.md
category: reference
title: Offender profiling
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offender_profiling
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:30.090119+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: offender-profiling-20260505-0
summary:
=== Lack of regulation === The profession of criminal profiling is unregulated. There is no governing body which determines who is and who is not qualified to be a criminal profiler, and therefore those who identify themselves as criminal profilers may range from someone with minimal experience to someone with extensive experience in the realm of criminal investigation. In addition to the lack of criteria as to what makes an expert in the field of criminal profiling, there is little empirical evidence supporting the accuracy of criminal profiling. There is an abundance of anecdotal support for criminal profiling, much of which originates from reports made by police officers and investigators regarding the performance of criminal profilers. Law enforcement agents have been found to greatly support the use of criminal profiling, but studies have shown that detectives are poor profilers themselves. One study presented police officers with two different profiles for the same perpetrator, each of which varied greatly from the officers' own description. It was found that the officers were unable to determine whether one profile was more accurate than the other, and felt that all profiles accurately described the perpetrator. Officers were able to find truth in whichever profile


id: offender-profiling-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offender_profiling-3.md
category: reference
title: Offender profiling
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offender_profiling
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:30.090119+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: offender-profiling-20260505-0
summary:
1. Obtaining data from multiple sources. 2. Reviewing the data and identifying significant features of each crime across the series. 3. Classifying the significant features as either modus operandi or ritualistic. 4. Comparing the combination of modus operandi and ritual or fantasy-based features across the series to determine if a signature exists. 5. Compiling a written report highlighting the findings. === FBI method === There are six stages to developing a criminal profile: profiling inputs, decision process models, crime assessment, criminal profiling, investigation, and apprehension. The FBI and BAU tend to study specific categories of crimes such as white collar and serial murder. == Popularity == Profiling has continuously gotten more accurate throughout the years. In 2008, only 42% of cases were solved using criminal profiling. In 2019 the FBI was able to solve 56% of the cases that were not solved back in the year 2008. Profiling as an investigative tool has a high level of acceptance among both the general public and police. In the United States, between 1971 and 1981, the FBI had only profiled cases on 192 occasions. By 1986, FBI profilers were requested in 600 investigations in a single year. By 1996, 12 FBI profilers


id: offender-profiling-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offender_profiling-4.md
category: reference
title: Offender profiling
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offender_profiling
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:30.090119+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: offender-profiling-20260505-0
summary:
Alison, Laurence; Rainbow, Lee (2011). Professionalizing Offender Profiling: Forensic and Investigative Psychology in Prectice. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-66878-1. Canter, David; Youngs, Donna (2008). Principles of Geographical Offender Profiling. New York: Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 978-0-754-62549-0 Douglas, John; Olshaker, Mark (1997). Journey Into Darkness: The FBI's Premier Investigator Penetrates the Minds and Motives of the Most Terrifying Serial Killers. London: Arrow Books. ISBN 978-1-439-19981-7 Evans, Colin (1996). The Casebook of Forensic Detection: How Science Solved 100 of the World's Most Baffling Crimes. New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc. ISBN 978-0-471-07650-6. Jeffers, H. Paul (1991). Profiles in Evil: Chilling Case Histories from the FBI's Violent Crime Unit. London: Warner Books. ISBN 978-0-708-85449-5. Ressler, Robert; Schachtman, Tom (1992). Whoever Fights Monsters: The True Story of the Brilliant FBI Detective Behind Silence of the Lambs. New York: Pocket Books. ISBN 978-0-671-71561-8. Further reading Turvey, Brent E. (2022). Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis (5th ed.). Academic Press. ISBN 9780128155837. == External links == Criminal Investigative Research and Analysis (CiR&A) Group: Current research on evidence-based behavioural investigative practice in police investigations Swiss scientific research site on criminal profiling University of Liverpool Forensic Psychology – with articles History of Criminal Profiling – with


id: oil-constant-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_constant-0.md
category: reference
title: Oil constant
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_constant
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:31.259857+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: oil-constant-20260505-0
summary:
The term crude oil constant (Erdölkonstante in German) has been used as an inside joke and pun in the German petroleum industry, pointing out that the reserves-to-production ratio has been observed as roughly constant in the past decades, whereas oil constant (Ölkonstante in German) is a term describing various material properties of (vegetable and mineral) oils. == Reasons for reserve expansion == The so-called crude oil constant refers to the approximately constant estimate of available petroleum reserves to production ratio R/P. The estimated duration until the available petroleum reserves are depleted at current production has remained around 40 years since the late 80s. Prewar and immediately postwar estimates were sometimes lower, in 1919 as low as 9 years (USA) and in 1948 around 20 years (world) and rose up to 35 years until the 1970s. However, since then the duration value of static production T=R/P has been rather constant for decades despite rising oil consumption. === Price elasticity of reserves === One factor contributing to the apparent constancy of the R/P ratio is a neglect or misunderstanding of the fact that the term "proven reserves" does not refer to some absolute quantity of remaining oil that is thought to exist,


id: oil-pulling-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_pulling-0.md
category: reference
title: Oil pulling
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_pulling
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:32.675756+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: oil-pulling-20260505-0
summary:
Oil pulling is an alternative medical practice in which an edible oil is swished around the mouth for a period of time and then spat out, similar to mouthwash. It originates from Ayurvedic medicine. Practitioners of oil pulling claim it is capable of improving oral health. Its promoters claim it works by pulling out toxins, but there is no credible evidence to support this. == History == Oil pulling stems from traditional Ayurvedic medicine, whose practitioners may use sunflower oil, coconut oil, olive oil, or other herbal oils. == Criticism == There is no high-quality research on oil pulling, no understanding of a possible mechanism explaining how it would work, and no evidence that it provides any benefit. The American Dental Association agrees that there are no reliable scientific studies supporting the practice of oil pulling for any benefit to oral hygiene or overall wellbeing. The Canadian Dental Association assessed the practice of oil pulling in 2014 stating: "We sense oil pulling won't do any harm, we're not convinced there are any particular benefits to it." == See also == Traditional medicine List of topics characterized as pseudoscience == References == == Further reading == Dunning, Brian (8 April 2014).


id: ontogenetic-depth-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontogenetic_depth-0.md
category: reference
title: Ontogenetic depth
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontogenetic_depth
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:33.924994+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ontogenetic-depth-20260505-0
summary:
Ontogenetic depth is a pseudoscientific idea proposed in February 2003 by Paul Nelson, an American philosopher of science, young Earth creationist and intelligent design advocate; he is employed by the Discovery Institute. Basically, Nelson concludes in his 'hypothesis' that developmental complexity is unbreakable, and that if he shows Cambrian organisms to be complex, then it is therefore impossible for them to have evolved. Nelson proposes 'ontogenetic depth' as evidence of specified complexity, and a reliable marker of design by an intelligent agent, in opposition to modern evolutionary theory. Nelson subsequently stated that ontogenetic depth is "Currently Impossible to Measure". == Criticism == Biologist PZ Myers, who works in the field of evolutionary developmental biology, dismissed the concept, stating in 2010 that "Nelson is a creationist who made up this wacky claim of "ontogenetic depth", saying he had a way of objectively measuring the complexity of the developmental process in organisms with a number that described the distance from egg to adult. Unfortunately, he forgot to tell us how one calculated this number, or how it actually accounted for the complexity of a network, or even how we'd get a number that was different for a sponge and a cat. But


id: onychomancy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onychomancy-0.md
category: reference
title: Onychomancy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onychomancy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:35.089672+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: onychomancy-20260505-0
summary:
Onychomancy or onymancy (from Greek onychos, 'fingernail', and manteia, 'fortune-telling') is an ancient form of divination using fingernails as a "crystal ball" or "scrying mirror" and is considered a subdivision of palmistry (also called chiromancy). As with palmistry, the contradictions between different interpretations and the lack of evidence for the predictions have led onychomancy to be viewed as a pseudoscience by academics. It consists of gazing in bright sunlight at one's own fingernails or another person's fingernails that often are coated in oil and then interpreting the "symbols" that appear on them. In medieval times onychomancy was performed by gazing at the fingernails of a prepubescent (unspoiled) boy. The symbols are interpreted in relation to chakra points, reflexology points, astrological planetary interpretations or tarot card representations. The fingers on which symbols appear and the position of the symbols on the fingernails are interpreted as indications of health conditions, changes in fortune and wealth, the character of the person being "read" and other typical subjects covered by divinations. A separate subdivision of onychomancy interprets personalities based on the artificial nails the person has chosen to wear. == Interpretation == Practitioners of onychomancy relate patterns observed on the fingernails with chakras, reflexology


id: optography-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optography-0.md
category: reference
title: Optography
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optography
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:36.341609+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: optography-20260505-0
summary:
Optography is the process of viewing or retrieving an optogram, an image on the retina of the eye. A belief that the eye "recorded" the last image seen before death was widespread in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and was a frequent plot device in fiction of the time, to the extent that police photographed the victims' eyes in several real-life murder investigations, in case the theory was true. The concept has been repeatedly debunked as a forensic method. == Scientific basis == Much of the scientific work on optography was performed by the German physiologist Wilhelm Kühne. Inspired by Franz Christian Boll's discovery of rhodopsin (or "visual purple")—a photosensitive pigment present in the rods of the retina—Kühne discovered that, under ideal circumstances, the rhodopsin could be "fixed" like a photographic negative. Kühne experimented on numerous animals to refine the process and determine the chemicals used to fix the image on the retina. His most successful optogram was obtained from an albino rabbit, with its head fastened to face a barred window. The rabbit's head was covered for several minutes to allow rhodopsin to accumulate on the retina. It was then uncovered for three minutes to expose it


id: optography-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optography-1.md
category: reference
title: Optography
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optography
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:36.341609+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: optography-20260505-0
summary:
== Optography in fiction == The first apparent description of optography in fiction was in Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam's 1867 short story "Claire Lenoir", later expanded into the novel Tribulat Bonhomet in 1887. Like the reference in Rudyard Kipling's 1891 short story "At the End of the Passage", Villiers de l'Isle-Adam's story portrays the optogram in a metaphysical sense, rather than scientific. Jules Verne's 1902 novel, Les Frères Kip (The Brothers Kip), contains a reference to optography as a key plot point. The Kip brothers of the title are arrested and imprisoned for the murder of a ship's captain. When the victim's son examines an enlarged photograph of his late father's head, he discerns in the eyes the faces of the true murderers—two of the captain's shipmates—and the brothers are exonerated. Verne explained the scientific basis of the conclusion in the book's final chapter: For some time now it has been known—as a result of various interesting ophthalmological experiments done by certain ingenious scientists, authoritative observers that they are—that the image of exterior objects imprinted upon the retina of the eye are conserved there indefinitely. The organ of vision contains a particular substance, retinal purple, on which is imprinted in


id: orgone-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orgone-0.md
category: reference
title: Orgone
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orgone
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:37.581532+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: orgone-20260505-0
summary:
Orgone ( OR-gohn) is a pseudoscientific concept variously described as an esoteric energy or hypothetical universal life force. Originally proposed in the 1930s by Wilhelm Reich, and developed by Reich's student Charles Kelley after Reich's death in 1957, orgone was conceived as the anti-entropic principle of the universe, a creative substratum in all of nature comparable to Mesmer's animal magnetism (1779), to the Odic force (1845) of Carl Reichenbach and to Henri Bergson's élan vital (1907). Orgone was seen as a massless, omnipresent substance, similar to luminiferous aether, but more closely associated with living energy than with inert matter. It could allegedly coalesce to create organization on all scales, from the smallest microscopic units—called "bions" in orgone theory—to macroscopic structures like organisms, clouds, or even galaxies. Reich argued that deficits or constrictions in bodily orgone were at the root of many diseases, most prominently cancer, much as deficits or constrictions in the libido could produce neuroses in Freudian theory. Reich founded the Orgone Institute ca. 1942 to pursue research into orgone energy after he immigrated to the US in 1939; he used it to publish literature and distribute material relating to the topic for over a decade. Reich designed special


id: orgone-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orgone-1.md
category: reference
title: Orgone
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orgone
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:37.581532+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: orgone-20260505-0
summary:
Reich took an increasingly bioenergetic view of libido, perhaps influenced by his tutor Paul Kammerer and another biologist, Otto Heinrich Warburg. In the early 20th century, when molecular biology was in its infancy, developmental biology in particular still presented mysteries that made the idea of a specific life energy respectable, as was articulated by theorists such as Hans Driesch. As a psycho-analyst, Reich aligned such theories with the Freudian libido, while as a materialist, he believed such a life force must be susceptible to physical experiments. Reich wrote in his best-known book, The Function of the Orgasm: "Between 1919 and 1921, I became familiar with Driesch's 'Philosophie des Organischen' and his 'Ordnungslehre'… Driesch's contention seemed incontestable to me. He argued that, in the sphere of the life function, the whole could be developed from a part, whereas a machine could not be made from a screw… However, I couldn't quite accept the transcendentalism of the life principle. Seventeen years later I was able to resolve the contradiction on the basis of a formula pertaining to the function of energy. Driesch's theory was always present in my mind when I thought about vitalism. The vague feeling I had about the irrational


id: orion-correlation-theory-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_correlation_theory-0.md
category: reference
title: Orion correlation theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_correlation_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:38.746320+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: orion-correlation-theory-20260505-0
summary:
The Orion correlation theory is a fringe theory in Egyptology attempting to explain the arrangement of the Giza pyramid complex. It posits that there is a correlation between the location of the three largest pyramids of the Giza pyramid complex and Orion's Belt of the constellation Orion, and that this correlation was intended as such by the original builders of the Giza pyramid complex. The stars of Orion were associated with Osiris, the god of rebirth and afterlife by the ancient Egyptians. Depending on the version of the idea, additional pyramids can be included to complete the picture of the Orion constellation, and the Nile river can be included to match with the Milky Way. The idea was first published in 1989 in Discussions in Egyptology, volume 13. It was the subject of the book The Orion Mystery, in 1994, as well as a BBC documentary, The Great Pyramid: Gateway to the Stars (February 1994), and appears in some New Age books. == History == The Orion correlation theory was put forward by Robert Bauval, and mentioned that Mintaka, the dimmest and most westerly of the stars making up Orion's belt, was offset slightly from the others. Bauval then made


id: orion-correlation-theory-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_correlation_theory-1.md
category: reference
title: Orion correlation theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_correlation_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:38.746320+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: orion-correlation-theory-20260505-0
summary:
== BBC documentary == On 4 November 1999, the BBC broadcast a documentary entitled Atlantis Reborn which tested the ideas of Robert Bauval and his colleague, Graham Hancock. Bauval and Hancock afterwards complained to the Broadcasting Standards Commission (BSC) that they had been treated unfairly. A hearing followed and in November 2000 the BSC ruled in favour of the documentary makers on all but one of the ten principal complaints brought by Hancock and Bauval. The one complaint upheld regarded the omission of their rebuttal of a specific argument against the Orion Correlation Theory. In regard of the nine remaining principal complaints, the BSC ruled against Hancock and Bauval, concluding that they had not been treated unfairly in the criticism of their theories concerning carbon-dating, the Great Sphinx of Egypt, Cambodia's Angkor temples, Japan's Yonaguni formation and the mythical land of Atlantis. The BBC offered to broadcast a revised version of the documentary, which was welcomed by Hancock and Bauval. It was broadcast as Atlantis Reborn Again on 14 December 2000. The revised documentary continued to present serious doubts about Bauval and Hancock's ideas, as held by astronomer Anthony Fairall, Ed Krupp of the Griffith Observatory, Egyptologist Kate Spence of


id: osteopathy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteopathy-0.md
category: reference
title: Osteopathy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteopathy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:40.057202+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: osteopathy-20260505-0
summary:
Osteopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine that emphasizes physical manipulation of the body's muscle tissue and bones. In most countries, practitioners of osteopathy are not medically trained and are referred to as osteopaths. It is distinct from osteopathic medicine, which is a branch of the medical profession in the United States. Osteopathic manipulation is the core set of techniques in osteopathy. Parts of osteopathy, such as craniosacral therapy, have been described by Quackwatch as having no therapeutic value and have been labeled by them as pseudoscience and quackery. The techniques are based on an ideology created by Andrew Taylor Still (1828–1917) that posits the existence of a "myofascial continuity"—a tissue layer that "links every part of the body with every other part". Osteopaths attempt to diagnose and treat what was originally called "the osteopathic lesion", but which is now named "somatic dysfunction", by manipulating a person's bones and muscles. Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT) techniques are most commonly used to treat back pain and other musculoskeletal issues. Osteopathic manipulation is still included in the curricula of osteopathic physicians or Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) training in the US; however, the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree became a medical degree


id: osteopathy-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteopathy-1.md
category: reference
title: Osteopathy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteopathy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:40.057202+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: osteopathy-20260505-0
summary:
The practice of osteopathy (from Ancient Greek ὀστέον (ostéon) 'bone' and πάθος (páthos) 'pain, suffering') began in the United States in 1874. The profession was founded by Andrew Taylor Still, a 19th-century American physician (MD), Civil War surgeon, and Kansas territorial and state legislator. He lived near Baldwin City, Kansas, during the American Civil War and it was there that he founded the practice of osteopathy. Still claimed that human illness was rooted in problems with the musculoskeletal system, and that osteopathic manipulations could solve these problems by harnessing the body's own self-repairing potential. Still's patients were forbidden from treatment by conventional medicine, as well as from other practices such as drinking alcohol. These practices derive from the belief, common in the early 19th century among proponents of alternative medicine, that the body's natural state tends toward health and inherently contains the capacity to battle any illness. This was opposed to orthodox practitioners, who held that intervention by a physician was necessary to restore health in the patient. Still established the basis for osteopathy, and the division between alternative medicine and traditional medicine had already been a major conflict for decades. The foundations of this divergence may be traced back


id: osteopathy-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteopathy-2.md
category: reference
title: Osteopathy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteopathy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:40.057202+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: osteopathy-20260505-0
summary:
According to the American Osteopathic Association (AOA), osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) is considered to be only one component of osteopathic medicine and may be used alone or in combination with pharmacotherapy, rehabilitation, surgery, patient education, diet, and exercise. OMT techniques are not necessarily unique to osteopathic medicine; other disciplines, such as physical therapy or chiropractic, use similar techniques. Indeed, many DOs do not practice OMT at all, and, over time, DOs in general practice use OMT less and less and instead apply the common medical treatments. One integral tenet of osteopathy is that problems in the body's anatomy can affect its proper functioning. Another tenet is the body's innate ability to heal itself. Many of osteopathic medicine's manipulative techniques are aimed at reducing or eliminating the impediments to proper structure and function so the self-healing mechanism can assume its role in restoring a person to health. Osteopathic medicine defines a concept of health care that embraces the concept of the unity of the living organism's structure (anatomy) and function (physiology). The AOA states that the four major principles of osteopathic medicine are the following: The body is an integrated unit of mind, body, and spirit. The body possesses self-regulatory mechanisms,


id: osteopathy-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteopathy-3.md
category: reference
title: Osteopathy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteopathy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:40.057202+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: osteopathy-20260505-0
summary:
== Effectiveness == A 2005 Cochrane review of osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT) in asthma treatment concluded that there was insufficient evidence that OMT can be used to treat asthma. In 2013, a Cochrane review reviewed six randomized controlled trials which investigated the effect of four types of chest physiotherapy (including OMT) as adjunctive treatments for pneumonia in adults and concluded that "based on current limited evidence, chest physiotherapy might not be recommended as routine additional treatment for pneumonia in adults." Techniques investigated in the study included paraspinal inhibition, rib raising, and myofascial release. The review found that OMT did not reduce mortality and did not increase cure rate, but that OMT slightly reduced the duration of hospital stay and antibiotic use. A 2013 systematic review of the use of OMT for treating pediatric conditions concluded that its effectiveness was unproven. In 2014, a systematic review and meta-analysis of 15 randomized controlled trials found moderate-quality evidence that OMT reduces pain and improves functional status in acute and chronic nonspecific low back pain. The same analysis also found moderate-quality evidence for pain reduction for nonspecific low back pain in postpartum women and low-quality evidence for pain reduction in nonspecific low back pain


id: osteopathy-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteopathy-4.md
category: reference
title: Osteopathy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteopathy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:40.057202+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: osteopathy-20260505-0
summary:
== Regulation and legal status == The osteopathic profession has evolved into two branches: non-physician manual medicine osteopaths and full-scope medical practice osteopathic physicians. The two groups are so distinct that in practice they function as separate professions. The regulation of non-physician manual medicine osteopaths varies greatly between jurisdictions. In Australia, Denmark, New Zealand, Switzerland, the UAE and the UK, non-physician manual medicine osteopaths are regulated by statute; their practice of osteopathy requires registration with the relevant regulatory authority. The Osteopathic International Alliance (OIA) publishes a country guide that details registration and practice rights, while the International Osteopathic Association maintains a list of all accredited osteopathic colleges. Several international and national organizations are involved in osteopathic education and political advocacy. The OIA is an international body that oversees national osteopathic and osteopathic medical associations, statutory regulators, and universities or medical schools offering osteopathic and osteopathic medical education. The following sections describe the legal status of osteopathy and osteopathic medicine in each country listed. === Australia === A majority of osteopaths work in private practice, with osteopaths working within aged care, traffic and workers compensation schemes or co-located with medical practitioners. Osteopaths are not considered physicians or medical doctors in Australia,


id: osteopathy-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteopathy-5.md
category: reference
title: Osteopathy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteopathy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:40.057202+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: osteopathy-20260505-0
summary:
=== Egypt and the Middle East === Hesham Khalil introduced osteopathy in the Middle East at a local physical therapy conference in Cairo, Egypt in 2005 with a lecture titled "The global Osteopathic Concept / Holistic approach in Somatic Dysfunction". Since then he has toured the Middle East to introduce osteopathy in other Middle Eastern and North African countries, including Sudan, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait and Oman. In December 2007 the first Workshop on Global osteopathic approach was held at the Nasser Institute Hospital for Research and Treatment, sponsored by the Faculty of Physical Therapy, University of Cairo, Egypt. On 6 August 2010, the Egyptian Osteopathic Society (OsteoEgypt) was founded. OsteoEgypt promotes a two-tier model of osteopathy in Egypt and the Middle East. The event was timed to coincide with the birthday of A.T. Still. === European Union === There is no European regulatory authority for the practice of osteopathy or osteopathic medicine within the European Union; each country has its own rules. The UK's General Osteopathic Council, a regulatory body set up under the country's Osteopaths Act 1993, issued a position paper on European regulation of osteopathy in 2005. ==== Belgium ==== Since the early 1970s, osteopaths


id: osteopathy-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteopathy-6.md
category: reference
title: Osteopathy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteopathy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:40.057202+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: osteopathy-20260505-0
summary:
=== United Kingdom === The British School of Osteopathy (now the University College of Osteopathy) was the first school of osteopathy in Britain, established in London in 1917 by John Martin Littlejohn, a pupil of A.T. Still, who had been Dean of the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine. After many years of existing outside the mainstream of health care provision, the osteopathic profession in the United Kingdom was accorded formal recognition by Parliament by the Osteopaths Act 1993. This legislation provides the profession of osteopathy with the same legal framework of statutory self-regulation as other healthcare professions, such as medicine and dentistry. The Act provides for "protection of title": a person who expressly or implicitly describes themself as an osteopath, osteopathic practitioner, osteopathic physician, osteopathist, osteotherapist, or any kind of osteopath, is guilty of an offence unless registered as an osteopath. The General Osteopathic Council (GOsC) regulates the practice of osteopathy under the terms of the Act. Under British law, an osteopath must be registered with the GOsC to practice in the United Kingdom. More than 5,300 osteopaths were registered in the UK as of 2021. The GOsC has a statutory duty to promote, develop and regulate the profession of


id: ozone-therapy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone_therapy-0.md
category: reference
title: Ozone therapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone_therapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:41.272056+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ozone-therapy-20260505-0
summary:
Ozone therapy is an alternative medical treatment that introduces ozone or ozonides to the body. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) prohibits all medical uses of ozone "in any medical condition for which there is no proof of safety and effectiveness", stating "ozone is a toxic gas with no known useful medical application in specific, adjunctive, or preventive therapy. For ozone to be germicidal, it must be present in a concentration far greater than that which can be safely tolerated by man and animals." Ozone therapy has been sold as an unproven treatment for various illnesses, including cancer, a practice which has been characterized as "pure quackery". The therapy can cause serious adverse effects, including death. == Proposed uses == Ozone therapy consists of the introduction of ozone into the body via various methods, usually involving its mixture with various gases and liquids before injection, with potential routes including the vagina, rectum, into a muscle, under the skin, or directly into a vein. Ozone can also be introduced via autohemotherapy, in which blood is drawn from the patient, exposed to ozone, and re-injected into the patient. This therapy has been proposed as a primary or adjunct therapy for


id: ozone-therapy-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone_therapy-1.md
category: reference
title: Ozone therapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone_therapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:41.272056+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: ozone-therapy-20260505-0
summary:
The FDA prohibits the medical use of ozone "in any medical condition for which there is no proof of safety and effectiveness", stating that "ozone is a toxic gas with no known useful medical application in specific, adjunctive, or preventive therapy. For ozone to be germicidal, it must be present in a concentration far greater than that which can be safely tolerated by man and animals." Beginning in 1991 the FDA has prosecuted and sent to jail several people presenting themselves as medical doctors and selling ozone therapy products as a medical cure or operating medical clinics using ozone therapy for healing human illness. Arrests following similar activity have been made in other countries as well, including Uganda and Thailand. Ozone therapy is sold as an expensive alternative cancer treatment in Germany. David Gorski has described the practice as "pure quackery". Proponents of the therapy falsely claim it is a recognized therapy there, but the German medical establishment has not approved ozone therapy. In 2009, a panel of experts consulted by Forbes recommended that ozone therapy be included on a "list of the most egregious, dangerous, aggressively marketed health scams." Ozone therapy was banned in Malaysia in 2017. The Malaysian


id: salvatore-pais-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Pais-0.md
category: reference
title: Salvatore Pais
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Pais
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:42.498554+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: salvatore-pais-20260505-0
summary:
Salvatore Cezar Pais (born September 7, 1967) is a Romanian-American aerospace engineer and inventor. He currently works for the United States Space Force, having previously been employed at the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, the U.S. Navy's Strategic Systems Programs (SSP), and the United States Air Force. Beginning in 2015, Pais filed a series of patent applications on behalf of the U.S. Navy describing technologies with radical claims, including a room temperature superconductor, a compact fusion reactor, an inertial mass reduction device, and a high-frequency gravitational wave generator. Collectively dubbed the "UFO patents" in the media, these inventions attracted widespread attention for their potential energy and military applications, but also significant skepticism from physicists who questioned their scientific basis. The Navy spent over $500,000 testing Pais's core concept, the "Pais Effect," from 2016 to 2019, but NAWCAD concluded that the effect could not be proven. No working prototype of any of the patented inventions was ever produced, and multiple physicists consulted by journalists described the patents as containing pseudoscientific language. Some commentators have speculated that the patents may constitute disinformation intended to mislead the United States' strategic adversaries about the direction of


id: salvatore-pais-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Pais-1.md
category: reference
title: Salvatore Pais
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Pais
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:42.498554+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: salvatore-pais-20260505-0
summary:
Electromagnetic field generator (filed 2015, granted November 20, 2018): A device to generate high-energy electromagnetic fields, with a principal stated application of deflecting asteroids on collision courses with Earth. The patent is assigned to the United States Secretary of the Navy. Craft using an inertial mass reduction device (filed 2016, granted December 4, 2018): A patent describing a conical "hybrid aerospace/undersea craft" that could purportedly "engineer the fabric of our reality at the most fundamental level" by utilizing an inertial mass reduction device. The patent was initially rejected, but was granted after James Sheehy, the Naval Aviation Enterprise's chief technology officer, wrote to the United States Patent and Trademark Office asserting that the invention was operable and warning that the Chinese military were developing similar technology. This patent expired on January 9, 2023, due to non-payment of maintenance fees. Piezoelectricity-induced room temperature superconductor (filed 2017, published February 21, 2019): A device purportedly capable of achieving superconductivity at room temperature, which would enable "the transmission of electrical power with no losses." The Institution of Engineering and Technology noted that no evidence was presented to demonstrate that the device worked, and that the highest-temperature superconductors achieved at that time operated at approximately


id: salvatore-pais-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Pais-2.md
category: reference
title: Salvatore Pais
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Pais
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:42.498554+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: salvatore-pais-20260505-0
summary:
=== Scientific reception === The patents have been met with widespread skepticism from the physics community. The Drive reported that every physicist its journalists consulted over a two-year period asserted that the "Pais Effect" had no scientific basis in reality and that the patent language was filled with pseudoscientific jargon. Despite this, Pais maintained confidence in his work. In a November 2019 email to The Drive, he stated that his work "culminates in the enablement of the Pais Effect" and that "as far as the doubting SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) are concerned, my work shall be proven correct one fine day." In comments quoted by Vice, Pais argued that publication of his compact fusion reactor paper in IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science supported the importance and credibility of his underlying concepts. Forbes contributor Ariel Cohen, writing about the patents in 2021, outlined several possible explanations: that the technologies could be genuine breakthroughs, that they could be disinformation intended to send adversaries like China on a "wild goose chase" (analogous to Reagan's "Star Wars" initiative), or that they could be related to other classified programs. Pais said his paper The Plasma Compression Fusion Device had been cited in at least four


id: paleolithic-diet-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic_diet-0.md
category: reference
title: Paleolithic diet
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic_diet
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:43.730781+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: paleolithic-diet-20260505-0
summary:
The Paleolithic diet, Paleo diet, caveman diet, or Stone Age diet is a modern fad diet consisting of foods thought by its proponents to mirror those eaten by humans during the Paleolithic era. The diet avoids food processing and typically includes vegetables, fruits, nuts, roots, and meat and excludes dairy products, grains, sugar, legumes, processed oils, salt, alcohol, and coffee. Historians can trace the ideas behind the diet to "primitive" diets advocated in the 19th century. In the 1970s, Walter L. Voegtlin popularized a meat-centric "Stone Age" diet; in the 21st century, the best-selling books of Loren Cordain popularized the "Paleo diet". As of 2019 the Paleolithic diet industry was worth approximately US$500 million. In the 21st century, the sequencing of the human genome and DNA analysis of the remains of anatomically modern humans have found evidence that humans evolved rapidly in response to changing diet. This evidence undermines a core premise of the Paleolithic diet—that human digestion has remained essentially unchanged over time. Paleoanthropological evidence has indicated that prehistoric humans ate plant-heavy diets that regularly included grains and other starchy vegetables, in contrast to the claims made by proponents of the Paleolithic diet. Advocates promote the Paleolithic diet as


id: paleolithic-diet-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic_diet-1.md
category: reference
title: Paleolithic diet
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic_diet
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:43.730781+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: paleolithic-diet-20260505-0
summary:
Adopting the Paleolithic diet assumes that modern humans can reproduce the hunter-gatherer diet. Molecular biologist Marion Nestle argues that "knowledge of the relative proportions of animal and plant foods in the diets of early humans is circumstantial, incomplete, and debatable and that there are insufficient data to identify the composition of a genetically determined optimal diet. The evidence related to Paleolithic diets is best interpreted as supporting the idea that diets based largely on plant foods promote health and longevity, at least under conditions of food abundance and physical activity." Ideas about Paleolithic diet and nutrition are at best hypothetical. The data for Cordain's book came from six contemporary hunter-gatherer groups, mainly living in marginal habitats. One of the studies was on the !Kung, whose diet was recorded for a single month, and one was on the diet of the Inuit. Due to these limitations, the book has been criticized as painting an incomplete picture of the diets of Paleolithic humans. It has been noted that the rationale for the diet does not adequately account for the fact that, due to the pressures of artificial selection, most modern domesticated plants and animals differ drastically from their Paleolithic ancestors; likewise, their


id: paleolithic-diet-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic_diet-2.md
category: reference
title: Paleolithic diet
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic_diet
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:43.730781+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: paleolithic-diet-20260505-0
summary:
The stated rationale for the Paleolithic diet is that human genes today are not different from human genes of 10,000 years ago, and that the diet of that time is therefore the best fit with humans today. Loren Cordain has described the paleo diet as "the one and only diet that ideally fits our genetic makeup". The argument is that modern humans have not been able to biologically adapt to contemporary circumstances. According to Cordain, before the agricultural revolution, hunter-gatherer diets rarely included grains, and obtaining milk from wild animals would have been "nearly impossible". Advocates of the diet argue that the increase in diseases of affluence after the dawn of agriculture was caused by these changes in diet. Others, however, have countered that it may be that pre-agricultural hunter-gatherers did not suffer from the diseases of affluence because they did not live long enough to develop them. According to the model from the evolutionary discordance hypothesis, "many chronic diseases and degenerative conditions evident in modern Western populations have arisen because of a mismatch between Stone Age genes and modern lifestyles." Advocates of the modern paleo diet have formed their dietary recommendations based on this hypothesis. They argue that modern


id: palmistry-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmistry-0.md
category: reference
title: Palmistry
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmistry
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:44.945429+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: palmistry-20260505-0
summary:
Palmistry is the pseudoscientific practice of fortune-telling through the study of the palm. Also known as palm reading, chiromancy, chirology or cheirology, the practice is found all over the world, with numerous cultural variations. Those who practice palmistry are generally called palmists, palm readers, hand readers, hand analysts, or chirologists. There are many—and often conflicting—interpretations of various lines and palmar features across various teachings of palmistry. Palmistry is widely viewed as a pseudoscience due to various contradictions between different interpretations and the lack of evidence for palmistry's predictions. == History == === Ancient palmistry === Palmistry is a practice common to many different places on the Eurasian landmass; it has been practiced in the cultures of Sumer, Babylonia, Arabia, Canaan, Persia, India, Nepal, Tibet and China. The acupuncturist Yoshiaki Omura describes its roots in Hindu astrology (known in Sanskrit as jyotish), Chinese Yijing (I Ching), and Romani fortune tellers. In medieval times, Sanskrit texts on palmistry start to be written, locating themselves as a branch of Sāmudrika Śāstra (Sanskrit: सामुद्रिक शास्त्र) which included the studies of marks all over a person's body such as astrology and palmistry (Hast-rekhā), as well as phrenology (kapāl-sāmudrik) and face reading (physiognomy, mukh-samudrik). From India,


id: panchagavya-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panchagavya-0.md
category: reference
title: Panchagavya
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panchagavya
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:46.156128+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: panchagavya-20260505-0
summary:
Panchagavya or panchakavyam is a mixture used in traditional Hindu rituals that is prepared by mixing five ingredients. The three direct constituents are cow dung, cow urine, and milk; the two derived products are curd and ghee. These are mixed and then allowed to ferment. The Sanskrit word panchagavya means "five cow-derivatives". When used in Ayurvedic medicine, it is also called cowpathy. == Risks == Proponents claim that cow urine therapy is capable of curing several diseases, including certain types of cancer, although these claims have no scientific backing. In fact, studies concerning ingesting individual components of panchagavya, such as cow urine, have shown no positive benefit, and significant side effects, including convulsion, depressed respiration, and death. Cow urine can also be a source of harmful bacteria and infectious diseases, including leptospirosis. == Non-medicinal applications == Panchgavya is used as a fertilizer and pesticide in agricultural operations. Proponents claim that it is a growth promoter in the poultry diet, that it is capable of increasing the growth of plankton for fish feed, and that it increases the production of milk in cows, increases the weight of pigs, and increases the egg laying capacity of poultry. It is sometimes used as


id: pangamic-acid-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangamic_acid-0.md
category: reference
title: Pangamic acid
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangamic_acid
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:47.310674+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pangamic-acid-20260505-0
summary:
Pangamic acid, also called pangamate, is the name given to a chemical compound discovered by Ernst T. Krebs Sr. His son, Ernst T. Krebs Jr., promoted it as a medicinal compound for use in treatment of a wide range of diseases. They also termed this chemical "vitamin B15", though it is not a true vitamin, has no nutritional value, has no known use in the treatment of any disease, and has been called a "quack remedy". Although a number of compounds labelled "pangamic acid" have been studied or sold (including the 1951 d-gluconodimethylamino acetic acid), no chemical compound, including those claimed by the Krebses to be pangamic acid, has been scientifically verified to have the characteristics that defined the original description of the compound. The Krebses derived the term "pangamic" to describe this compound which they asserted to be ubiquitous and highly concentrated in seeds (pan meaning "universal" and gamic meaning "seed"). == Chemistry == Pangamic acid is the name given to the chemical compound with the empirical formula C10H19O8N and a molecular weight of 281 which appeared to be an ester derived from d-gluconic acid and dimethylglycine. In 1943, the Krebses applied for a patent for a process for


id: paranormal-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranormal-0.md
category: reference
title: Paranormal
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranormal
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:48.478006+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: paranormal-20260505-0
summary:
Paranormal events are purported or imagined phenomena described in popular culture, folklore, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Notable paranormal beliefs include those that pertain to extrasensory perceptions (for example, telepathy), and the pseudosciences of ghost hunting, cryptozoology, and ufology. Proposals regarding the paranormal are different from scientific hypotheses, or speculations extrapolated from scientific evidence, because scientific ideas are grounded in empirical observations and experimental data gained through the scientific method. In contrast, those who argue for the existence of the paranormal explicitly do not base their arguments on empirical evidence but rather on anecdote, testimony, and suspicion. The standard scientific models give the explanation that what appears to be paranormal phenomena is usually a misinterpretation, misunderstanding, or anomalous variation of natural phenomena. == Etymology == The term paranormal has existed in the English language since at least 1920. The word consists of two parts: para and normal. The definition implies that the scientific explanation of the world around us is normal and anything that is above, beyond, or contrary to that is para. == Paranormal subjects == On the classification of paranormal subjects,


id: paranormal-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranormal-1.md
category: reference
title: Paranormal
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranormal
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:48.478006+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: paranormal-20260505-0
summary:
== Paranormal research == Approaching the paranormal from a research perspective is often difficult because of the lack of acceptable physical evidence from most of the purported phenomena. By definition, the paranormal (or supernatural) does not conform to conventional expectations of nature. Therefore, a phenomenon cannot be confirmed as paranormal using the scientific method because, if it could be, it would no longer fit the definition. (However, confirmation would result in the phenomenon being reclassified as part of science.) Despite this problem, studies on the paranormal are periodically conducted by researchers from various disciplines. Some researchers simply study the beliefs in the paranormal regardless of whether the phenomena are considered to objectively exist. This section deals with various approaches to the paranormal: anecdotal, experiment, al, and participant-observer approaches and the skeptical investigation approach. === Anecdotal approach === An anecdotal approach to the paranormal involves the collection of stories told about the paranormal. Charles Fort (1874–1932) is perhaps the best-known collector of paranormal anecdotes. Fort is said to have compiled as many as 40,000 notes on unexplained paranormal experiences, though there were no doubt many more. These notes came from what he called "the orthodox conventionality of Science", which were odd


id: paranormal-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranormal-2.md
category: reference
title: Paranormal
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranormal
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:48.478006+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: paranormal-20260505-0
summary:
Scientific skeptics advocate critical investigation of claims of paranormal phenomena: applying the scientific method to reach a rational, scientific explanation of the phenomena to account for the paranormal claims, taking into account that alleged paranormal abilities and occurrences are sometimes hoaxes or misinterpretations of natural phenomena. A way of summarizing this method is by the application of Occam's razor, which suggests that the simpler solution is usually the correct one. The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), formerly the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), is an organization that aims to publicize the scientific, skeptical approach. It carries out investigations aimed at understanding paranormal reports in terms of scientific understanding, and publishes its results in the Skeptical Inquirer magazine. CSI's Richard Wiseman draws attention to possible alternative explanations for perceived paranormal activity in his article, The Haunted Brain. While he recognizes that approximately 15% of people believe they have experienced an encounter with a ghost, he reports that only 1% report seeing a full-fledged ghost, while the rest report strange sensory stimuli, such as seeing fleeting shadows or wisps of smoke, or the sensation of hearing footsteps or feeling a presence. Wiseman makes the claim that,


id: paranormal-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranormal-3.md
category: reference
title: Paranormal
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranormal
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:48.478006+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: paranormal-20260505-0
summary:
In his article 'Creative or Defective', Radin (2005) asserts that many academics explain the belief in the paranormal by using one of the three following hypotheses: Ignorance, deprivation, or deficiency. 'The ignorance hypothesis asserts that people believe in the paranormal because they're uneducated or stupid. The deprivation hypothesis proposes that these beliefs exist to provide a way to cope in the face of psychological uncertainties and physical stressors. The deficiency hypothesis asserts that such beliefs arise because people are mentally defective in some way, ranging from low intelligence or poor critical thinking ability to a full-blown psychosis (Radin). The deficiency hypothesis gets some support from the fact that the belief in the paranormal is an aspect of a schizotypical personality (Pizzagalli, Lehman, and Brugger, 2001). A psychological study involving 174 members of the Society for Psychical Research completed a delusional ideation questionnaire and a deductive reasoning task. As predicted, the study showed that "individuals who reported a strong belief in the paranormal made more errors and displayed more delusional ideation than skeptical individuals". There was also a reasoning bias, which was limited to people who reported a belief in, rather than experience of, paranormal phenomena. The results suggested that reasoning


id: paranormal-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranormal-4.md
category: reference
title: Paranormal
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranormal
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:48.478006+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: paranormal-20260505-0
summary:
While the existence of paranormal phenomena is controversial and debated passionately by both proponents of the paranormal and by skeptics, surveys are useful in determining the beliefs of people regarding paranormal phenomena. These opinions, while not constituting scientific evidence for or against, may give an indication of the mindset of a certain portion of the population (at least among those who answered the polls). The number of people worldwide who believe in parapsychological powers has been estimated to be 3 to 4 billion. A survey conducted in 2006 by researchers from Australia's Monash University sought to determine the types of phenomena that people claim to have experienced and the effects these experiences have had on their lives. The study was conducted as an online survey with over 2,000 respondents from around the world participating. The results revealed that around 70% of the respondents believe they have had an unexplained paranormal event that changed their life, mostly in a positive way. About 70% also claimed to have seen, heard, or been touched by an animal or person that they knew was not there; 80% have reported having a premonition, and almost 50% stated they recalled a previous life. Polls were conducted


id: paranormal-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranormal-5.md
category: reference
title: Paranormal
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranormal
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:48.478006+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: paranormal-20260505-0
summary:
== Further reading == French, Chris. The Science of Weird Shit: Why Our Minds Conjure the Paranormal. United States, MIT Press, 2024. Bader, Christopher D.; Mencken, F. Carson; Baker, Joseph O. (2017). Paranormal America: Ghost Encounters, UFO Sightings, Bigfoot Hunts, and Other Curiosities in Religion and Culture (Second ed.). New York: New York University Press. ISBN 978-1-4798-1965-2. Bell, V.; Halligan, P. W. (2013). "The Neural Basis of Abnormal Personal Belief". In Krueger, Frank; Grafman, Jordan (eds.). The Neural Basis of Human Belief Systems (First ed.). Hove: Psychology Press. ISBN 978-1-84169-881-6. Cohen, Daniel (1989). The Encyclopedia of the Strange (Hardcover ed.). New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 978-0-88029-451-5. Crawley, S.E. (2001). "Psychic or fantasy-prone?". The Skeptic. 14 (1): 11–12. French, Christopher C. (March 1992). "Population stereotypes and belief in the paranormal: Is there a relationship?". Australian Psychologist. 27 (1): 57–58. doi:10.1080/00050069208257576. French, Christopher C. (January 1992). "Factors underlying belief in the paranormal: Do sheep and goats think differently?". The Psychologist. 5: 295–299. Hatton, K. (2001). "Developmental origins of magical beliefs". The Skeptic. 14 (1): 18–19. Hines, Terence (2003). Pseudoscience and the Paranormal (2nd Revised ed.). Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-1-57392-979-0. Holden, K.J.; French, C.C. (2002). "Alien abduction experiences: Clues from neuropsychology


id: paranormal-television-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranormal_television-0.md
category: reference
title: Paranormal television
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranormal_television
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:49.718089+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: paranormal-television-20260505-0
summary:
Paranormal television is a genre of reality television that purports to document factual investigations of the paranormal rather than fictional representations seen in traditional narrative films and TV. Over the years, the genre has grown to be a staple of television and even changed the programming focus of networks like the History Channel and the Travel Channel. By highlighting beliefs in topics ranging from Bigfoot to aliens, paranormal television continues to elevate popular interest in the paranormal. == History == === Early precursors (1950s–1999) === Accounts of supernatural occurrences have always been common in the print media. The 1705 pamphlet "A True Relation of the Apparition of One Mrs Veal" by Daniel Defoe is a well-known example. Paranormal television proper can trace its genesis to local TV news programs in the UK and US, which have featured ghost stories since the 1960s. The earliest TV show devoted exclusively to the paranormal was One Step Beyond which broadcast 96 episodes on the ABC network from 1959 to 1961. The stories were promoted as being based on actual real-life experiences, including historically well-known events such as sinking of RMS Titanic, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. It


id: parapsychology-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology-0.md
category: reference
title: Parapsychology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:50.897577+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: parapsychology-20260505-0
summary:
Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, telepathy, teleportation, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis (also called telekinesis), and psychometry) and other paranormal claims, for example, those related to near-death experiences, synchronicity, apparitional experiences, etc. Criticized as being a pseudoscience, the majority of mainstream scientists reject it. Parapsychology has been criticized for continuing investigation despite being unable to provide reproducible evidence for the existence of any psychic phenomena after more than a century of research. Parapsychology research rarely appears in mainstream scientific journals; a few niche journals publish most papers about parapsychology. == Terminology == The term parapsychology was coined in 1889 by philosopher Max Dessoir as the German parapsychologie. It was adopted by J. B. Rhine in the 1930s as a replacement for the term psychical research to indicate a significant shift toward experimental methodology and academic discipline. The term originates from the Greek: παρά para meaning "alongside", and psychology. In parapsychology, psi is the unknown factor in extrasensory perception and psychokinesis experiences that is not explained by known physical or biological mechanisms. The term is derived from ψ psi, the 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet and the initial letter of the Greek: ψυχή psyche, "mind, soul". The


id: parapsychology-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology-1.md
category: reference
title: Parapsychology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:50.897577+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: parapsychology-20260505-0
summary:
=== Rhine era === In 1911, Stanford University became the first academic institution in the United States to study extrasensory perception (ESP) and psychokinesis (PK) in a laboratory setting. The effort was headed by psychologist John Edgar Coover and funded by Thomas Welton Stanford, brother of the university's founder. After conducting approximately 10,000 experiments, Coover concluded that "statistical treatments of the data fail to reveal any cause beyond chance." In 1930, Duke University became the second major U.S. academic institution to engage in the critical study of ESP and psychokinesis in the laboratory. Under the guidance of psychologist William McDougall, and with the help of others in the department—including psychologists Karl Zener, Joseph B. Rhine, and Louisa E. Rhine—laboratory ESP experiments using volunteer subjects from the undergraduate student body began. As opposed to the approaches of psychical research, which generally sought qualitative evidence for paranormal phenomena, the experiments at Duke University proffered a quantitative, statistical approach using cards and dice. As a consequence of the ESP experiments at Duke, standard laboratory procedures for the testing of ESP were developed and adopted by interested researchers worldwide. George Estabrooks conducted an ESP experiment using cards in 1927. Harvard students were used as


id: parapsychology-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology-2.md
category: reference
title: Parapsychology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:50.897577+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: parapsychology-20260505-0
summary:
In 1938, the psychologist Joseph Jastrow wrote that much of the evidence for extrasensory perception collected by Rhine and other parapsychologists was anecdotal, biased, dubious and the result of "faulty observation and familiar human frailties". Rhine's experiments were discredited due to the discovery that sensory leakage or cheating could account for all his results, such as the subject being able to read the symbols from the back of the cards and being able to see and hear the experimenter to note subtle clues. Illusionist Milbourne Christopher wrote years later that he felt "there are at least a dozen ways a subject who wished to cheat under the conditions Rhine described could deceive the investigator". When Rhine took precautions in response to criticisms of his methods, he failed to find any high-scoring subjects. Another criticism, made by chemist Irving Langmuir, among others, was one of selective reporting. Langmuir stated that Rhine did not report scores of subjects that he suspected were intentionally guessing wrong and that this, he felt, biased the statistical results higher than they should have been. Rhine and his colleagues attempted to address these criticisms through new experiments described in the book Extrasensory Perception After Sixty Years (1940).


id: parapsychology-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology-3.md
category: reference
title: Parapsychology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:50.897577+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: parapsychology-20260505-0
summary:
=== Establishment of the Parapsychological Association === The Parapsychological Association (PA) was created in Durham, North Carolina, on June 19, 1957. J. B. Rhine proposed its formation at a parapsychology workshop held at the Parapsychology Laboratory of Duke University. Rhine proposed that the group form itself into the nucleus of an international professional society in parapsychology. The aim of the organization, as stated in its Constitution, became "to advance parapsychology as a science, to disseminate knowledge of the field, and to integrate the findings with those of other branches of science". In 1969, under the direction of anthropologist Margaret Mead, the Parapsychological Association became affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the largest general scientific society in the world. In 1979, physicist John A. Wheeler said that parapsychology is pseudoscientific and that the affiliation of the PA to the AAAS needed to be reconsidered. His challenge to parapsychology's AAAS affiliation was unsuccessful. Today, the PA consists of about three hundred full, associate, and affiliated members worldwide. === Stargate Project === Beginning in the early 1950s, the CIA started extensive research into behavioral engineering. The findings from these experiments led to the formation of the Stargate Project,


id: parapsychology-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology-4.md
category: reference
title: Parapsychology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:50.897577+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: parapsychology-20260505-0
summary:
Since the 1980s, contemporary parapsychological research has waned considerably in the United States. Early research was considered inconclusive, and parapsychologists faced strong skepticism from their academic colleagues. Some effects thought to be paranormal, for example, the effects of Kirlian photography (thought by some to represent a human aura), disappeared under more stringent controls, leaving those avenues of research at dead-ends. Most parapsychology research in the US is now confined to private institutions funded by private sources. After 28 years of research, Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Laboratory (PEAR), which studied psychokinesis, closed in 2007. Two universities in the United States have academic parapsychology laboratories. The Division of Perceptual Studies, a unit at the University of Virginia's Department of Psychiatric Medicine, studies the possibility of survival of consciousness after bodily death, near-death experiences, and out-of-body experiences. Gary Schwartz at the University of Arizona's Veritas Laboratory conducted laboratory investigations of mediums, criticized by scientific skeptics. Several private institutions, including the Institute of Noetic Sciences, conduct and promote parapsychological research. Over the last two decades, some new sources of funding for parapsychology in Europe have seen a "substantial increase in European parapsychological research so that the center of gravity for the field has swung


id: parapsychology-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology-5.md
category: reference
title: Parapsychology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:50.897577+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: parapsychology-20260505-0
summary:
The Ganzfeld experiment studies that were examined by Ray Hyman and Charles Honorton had methodological problems that were well documented. Honorton reported only 36% of the studies used duplicate target sets of pictures to avoid handling cues. Hyman discovered flaws in all of the 42 Ganzfeld experiments, and to assess each experiment, he devised a set of 12 categories of flaws. Six of these concerned statistical defects, and the other six covered procedural flaws such as inadequate documentation, randomization, security, and possibilities of sensory leakage. Over half of the studies failed to safeguard against sensory leakage, and all of the studies contained at least one of the 12 flaws. Because of the flaws, Honorton agreed with Hyman the 42 Ganzfeld studies could not support the claim for the existence of psi. Possibilities of sensory leakage in the Ganzfeld experiments included the receivers hearing what was going on in the sender's room next door as the rooms were not soundproof and the sender's fingerprints to be visible on the target object for the receiver to see. Hyman reviewed the autoganzfeld experiments and discovered a pattern in the data that implied a visual cue may have taken place. Hyman wrote the autoganzfeld


id: parapsychology-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology-6.md
category: reference
title: Parapsychology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:50.897577+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: parapsychology-20260505-0
summary:
The advent of powerful and inexpensive electronic and computer technologies has allowed the development of fully automated experiments studying possible interactions between mind and matter. In the most common experiment of this type, a random number generator (RNG), based on electronic or radioactive noise, produces a data stream that is recorded and analyzed by computer software. A subject attempts to mentally alter the distribution of the random numbers, usually in an experimental design that is functionally equivalent to getting more "heads" than "tails" while flipping a coin. In the RNG experiment, design flexibility can be combined with rigorous controls while collecting a large amount of data quickly. This technique has been used both to test individuals for psychokinesis and to test the possible influence on RNGs of large groups of people. Major meta-analyses of the RNG database have been published every few years since appearing in the journal Foundations of Physics in 1986. PEAR founder Robert G. Jahn and his colleague Brenda Dunne say that the experiments produced "a very small effect" not significant enough to be observed over a brief experiment but over a large number of trials resulted in a tiny statistical deviation from chance. According to Massimo


id: parapsychology-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology-7.md
category: reference
title: Parapsychology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:50.897577+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: parapsychology-20260505-0
summary:
A near-death experience (NDE) is an experience reported by a person who nearly died, or who experienced clinical death and then revived. NDEs include one or more of the following experiences: a sense of being dead; an out-of-body experience; a sensation of floating above one's body and seeing the surrounding area; a sense of overwhelming love and peace; a sensation of moving upwards through a tunnel or narrow passageway; meeting deceased relatives or spiritual figures; encountering a being of light, or a light; experiencing a life review; reaching a border or boundary; and a feeling of being returned to the body, often accompanied by reluctance. Interest in the NDE was spurred initially by the research of psychiatrists Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, George G. Ritchie, and Raymond Moody. In 1975, Moody wrote the best-selling book Life After Life and in 1977, he wrote a second book, Reflections on Life After Life. In 1998, Moody was appointed chair in "consciousness studies" at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The International Association for Near-death Studies (IANDS) was founded in 1978 to meet the needs of early researchers and experiencers within this field of research. Later researchers, such as psychiatrist Bruce Greyson, psychologist Kenneth Ring, and


id: parapsychology-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology-8.md
category: reference
title: Parapsychology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:50.897577+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: parapsychology-20260505-0
summary:
=== Evaluation === The scientific consensus is that there is insufficient evidence to support the existence of psi phenomena. Scientists critical of parapsychology state that its extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence if they are to be taken seriously. Scientists who have evaluated parapsychology have written the entire body of evidence is of poor quality and not adequately controlled. In support of this view, critics cite instances of fraud, flawed studies, and cognitive biases (such as clustering illusion, availability error, confirmation bias, illusion of control, magical thinking, and the bias blind spot) as ways to explain parapsychological results. Research has also shown that people's desire to believe in paranormal phenomena causes them to discount strong evidence that it does not exist. The psychologists Donovan Rawcliffe (1952), C. E. M. Hansel (1980), Ray Hyman (1989), and Andrew Neher (2011) have studied the history of psi experiments from the late 19th century up until the 1980s. Flaws and weaknesses were discovered in every experiment investigated, so the possibility of sensory leakage and trickery were not ruled out. The data from the Creery sister and the Soal-Goldney experiments were proven to be fraudulent, one of the subjects from the Smith-Blackburn experiments confessed to fraud,


id: parapsychology-20260505-9
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology-9.md
category: reference
title: Parapsychology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:50.897577+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: parapsychology-20260505-0
summary:
In 2003, James Alcock Professor of Psychology at York University published Give the Null Hypothesis a Chance: Reasons to Remain Doubtful about the Existence of Psi, where he claimed that parapsychologists never seem to take seriously the possibility that psi does not exist. Because of that, they interpret null results as indicating only that they were unable to observe psi in a particular experiment rather than taking it as support for the possibility that there is no psi. The failure to take the null hypothesis as a serious alternative to their psi hypotheses leads them to rely upon many arbitrary "effects" to excuse failures to find predicted effects, excuse the lack of consistency in outcomes, and excuse failures to replicate. Fundamental endemic problems in parapsychological research include, amongst others: insufficient definition of the subject matter, total reliance on negative definitions of their phenomena (e.g., psi is said to occur only when all known normal influences are ruled out); failure to produce a single phenomenon that neutral researchers can independently replicate; the invention of "effects" such as the psi-experimenter effect to explain away inconsistencies in the data and failures to achieve predicted outcomes; unfalsifiability of claims; the unpredictability of effects; lack


id: parapsychology-20260505-10
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology-10.md
category: reference
title: Parapsychology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:50.897577+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: parapsychology-20260505-0
summary:
=== Physics === The ideas of psi (precognition, psychokinesis and telepathy) violate well-established laws of physics. Psychokinesis violates the inverse-square law, the second law of thermodynamics, and the conservation of momentum. There is no known mechanism for psi. On the subject of psychokinesis, the physicist Sean M. Carroll has written that both human brains and the spoons they try to bend are made, like all matter, of quarks and leptons; everything else they do emerges as properties of the behavior of quarks and leptons. The quarks and leptons interact through the four forces: strong, weak, electromagnetic, and gravitational. Thus, either it is one of the four known forces, or it is a new force, and any new force with a range over 1 millimeter must be at most a billionth the strength of gravity, or it will have been captured in experiments already done. This leaves no physical force that could account for psychokinesis. Physicist John G. Taylor, who investigated parapsychological claims, wrote that an unknown fifth force causing psychokinesis would have to transmit a great deal of energy. The energy would have to overcome the electromagnetic forces binding the atoms together. The atoms would need to respond more strongly


id: parapsychology-20260505-11
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology-11.md
category: reference
title: Parapsychology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:50.897577+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: parapsychology-20260505-0
summary:
Parapsychology relies on an ill-defined ontology and typically shuns exact thinking. The hypotheses and theories of parapsychology have not been proven and are in bad shape. Extremely little progress has taken place in parapsychology on the whole and parapsychology conflicts with established science. Parapsychology has poor research problems, being concerned with establishing the existence of its subject matter and having practically no theories to create proper research problems. While in parts of parapsychology there are attempts to use the methods of science there are also unscientific areas; and in any case parapsychological research can at best qualify as prescientific because of its poor theoretical foundation. Parapsychology is a largely isolated research area. The methods of parapsychologists are regarded by critics, including those who wrote the science standards for the California State Board of Education, to be pseudoscientific. Some of the more specific criticisms state that parapsychology does not have a clearly defined subject matter, an easily repeatable experiment that can demonstrate a psi effect on demand, nor an underlying theory to explain the paranormal transfer of information. James Alcock has stated that few of parapsychology's experimental results have prompted interdisciplinary research with more mainstream sciences such as physics or biology


id: parapsychology-20260505-12
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology-12.md
category: reference
title: Parapsychology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:50.897577+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: parapsychology-20260505-0
summary:
For nearly thirty years the telepathic experiments conducted by Mr. G. A. Smith and myself have been accepted and cited as the basic evidence of the truth of thought transference... ...the whole of those alleged experiments were bogus, and originated in the honest desire of two youths to show how easily men of scientific mind and training could be deceived when seeking for evidence in support of a theory they were wishful to establish. The experiments of Samuel Soal and K. M. Goldney of 1941–1943 (suggesting the precognitive ability of a single participant) were long regarded as some of the best in the field because they relied upon independent checking and witnesses to prevent fraud. However, many years later, statistical evidence, uncovered and published by other parapsychologists in the field, suggested that Soal had cheated by altering some of the raw data. In 1974, many experiments by Walter J. Levy, J. B. Rhine's successor as director of the Institute for Parapsychology, were exposed as fraudulent. Levy had reported on a series of successful ESP experiments involving computer-controlled manipulation of non-human subjects, including rats. His experiments showed very high positive results. However, Levy's fellow researchers became suspicious about his methods. They


id: parapsychology-20260505-13
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology-13.md
category: reference
title: Parapsychology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parapsychology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:50.897577+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: parapsychology-20260505-0
summary:
=== The psi assumption === A typical measure of psi phenomena is a statistical deviation from chance expectation. However, critics point out that statistical deviation is, strictly speaking, only evidence of a statistical anomaly, and the cause of the deviation is not known. Hyman contends that even if psi experiments that regularly reproduce similar deviations from chance could be designed, they would not necessarily prove psychic functioning. Critics have coined the term The psi assumption to describe "the assumption that any significant departure from the laws of chance in a test of psychic ability is evidence that something anomalous or paranormal has occurred...[in other words] assuming what they should be proving." These critics hold that concluding the existence of psychic phenomena based on chance deviation in inadequately designed experiments is affirming the consequent or begging the question. === Selection bias and meta-analysis === Selective reporting has been offered by critics as an explanation for the positive results reported by parapsychologists. Selective reporting is sometimes called a "file drawer" problem, which arises when only positive study results are made public, while studies with negative or null results are not made public. Selective reporting has a compounded effect on meta-analysis, which is


id: pasilalinic-sympathetic-compass-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasilalinic-sympathetic_compass-0.md
category: reference
title: Pasilalinic-sympathetic compass
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasilalinic-sympathetic_compass
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:52.066068+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pasilalinic-sympathetic-compass-20260505-0
summary:
The pasilalinic-sympathetic compass, also referred to as the snail telegraph, was a device built to test the hypothesis that snails create a permanent telepathic link when they mate. The device was developed by French occultist Jacques-Toussaint Benoît (de l'Hérault), with the supposed assistance of an American colleague, Monsieur Biat-Chrétien in the 1850s. == The hypothesis == Benoit claimed that when snails mate, an etheric escargotic fluid forms a permanent telepathic link between them. This fluid forms an invisible thread that keeps the snails in "sympathetic communication" by using animal magnetism similar to an electric current pulsating along it. They claimed that this method would work instantly, wirelessly, over any distance, and be more reliable than a telegraph. This was not the first attempt to create a form of sympathetic communication. There are stories of Rosicrucians cutting pieces off the flesh of their arm and transplanting it with another person, with the alphabet tattooed on the flesh. By using a magnetized needle to prick the letters they wished to communicate, telepathy would be achieved. It was upon these stories that Benoit built his theory. William Brooke O'Shaughnessy is one prominent telegrapher who experimented with using human skin to send and receive


id: penta-water-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penta_Water-0.md
category: reference
title: Penta Water
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penta_Water
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:54.438628+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: penta-water-20260505-0
summary:
Penta Water is a brand of bottled water produced by United Beverage, based in Southern California. Penta Water undergoes a patented process which the company claims to result in specific health benefits. These claims have been heavily contested by scientists and regulators and do not have any genuine scientific basis. == History == Penta Water was created by Bill Holloway in Carlsbad, California. Holloway says that he was diagnosed with fibromyalgia which he contracted due to working with mercury at a previous job. His son, Mike Holloway, then came up with the formula for the highly purified water by accident, and the resulting water "caused him to feel better and to lead a relatively normal life." At this point he realized that he should manufacture and sell this water. Southern California-based United Beverage acquired the patent for Penta Water in 2009, and is still manufacturing and distributing the water as of 2019. == Claims == Founder Bill Holloway claimed that "the water formula actually saved his life." He also claimed to have thousands of written testimonials from people with such conditions as cancer, arthritis, cirrhosis, heart disease, and teenage acne who claim to receive relief from his purified water as


id: pet-psychic-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pet_psychic-0.md
category: reference
title: Pet psychic
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pet_psychic
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:56.779448+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pet-psychic-20260505-0
summary:
A pet psychic is a person who claims to communicate by psychic means with animals, either living or dead. They are also known as animal communicators, and their practice as intuitive animal communication or intuitive interspecies communication. The term psychic refers to the claimed ability to perceive information unavailable to the normal senses by what is claimed to be extrasensory perception. It is the opinion of scientific skeptics that people believe in such abilities due to cognitive biases and the use of various techniques by the practitioners, including intentional deception. == Claims == Pet psychics rely on different techniques when doing an animal "reading". These psychics allegedly communicate with animals and connect with an animal's spirit. Some claim that the readings are done by communicating with their electromagnetic energy, similar to reiki and/or therapeutic touch healing. Others claim the animal does not need to be alive or physically close to the psychic, as phone readings are sometimes done. In the early twentieth century, the Association for Research and Enlightenment began researching paranormal and psychic abilities in humans. The first animal communicators claimed they could communicate telepathically with animals living or dead. == Scientific analysis == Skeptical investigator Joe Nickell reported


id: phiten-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phiten-0.md
category: reference
title: Phiten
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phiten
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:57.975988+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: phiten-20260505-0
summary:
The Company Phiten, headquartered in Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan, sells quasi-drugs, cosmetics, hair care products, sports-related products, health foods, and health goods. == Overview == AQUA TITAN/AQUA-TITANIUM products worn as necklaces (such as RAKUWA Neck) are well known and used by many famous athletes. Some of the athletes who have made endorsement agreements with Phiten are Yuzuru Hanyu, Hideki Matsuyama,Tomoaki Kanemoto, Yoshio Itoi, Yoshihiro Maru, Tetsuto Yamada, Daichi Osera, Katsuya Kakunaka, Sora Matsushima, Hina Hayata and Hikari Fujita. Athletes who have signed agreements with Phiten in the past include Daisuke Matsuzaka, Yu Darvish, Yukari Baba, Shintaro Fujinami, Yasuyuki Kataoka, Toshiaki Imae, Yuki Saito, Kengo Nakamura, Tsuyoshi Shinjo, Shinnosuke Abe, Shingo Katayama, Randy Johnson, Paula Radcliffe and Naoko Takahashi. The company makes endorsement agreements exclusively with athletes who need and enjoy Phiten products. The company also develops and sells sportswear, although the variety and production numbers are very small. The company is also involved in the development of health food products with functional claims. In 2007, it became the first Japanese company to sign the MLB/Major League Baseball Authentication Program. == Aqua Metal == There is still a lack of scientific evidence to support the efficacy of Aqua Titan/Aqua-Titanium, and there has


id: phrenology-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology-0.md
category: reference
title: Phrenology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:59.145844+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: phrenology-20260505-0
summary:
Phrenology is a pseudoscience that involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits. It is based on the concept that the brain is the organ of the mind, and that certain brain areas have localized, specific functions or modules. It was said that the brain was composed of different muscles, so those that were used more often were bigger, resulting in the different skull shapes. This provided reasoning for the common presence of bumps on the skull in different locations. The brain "muscles" not being used as frequently remained small and were therefore not present on the exterior of the skull. Although both of those ideas have a basis in reality, phrenology generalizes beyond empirical knowledge in a way that departs from science. The central phrenological notion that measuring the contour of the skull can predict personality traits is discredited by empirical research. Developed by German physician Franz Joseph Gall in 1796, the discipline was influential in the 19th century, especially from about 1810 until 1840. The principal British centre for phrenology was Edinburgh, where the Edinburgh Phrenological Society was established in 1820. Phrenology is today recognized as pseudoscientific. The methodological rigor of phrenology was doubtful


id: phrenology-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology-1.md
category: reference
title: Phrenology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:59.145844+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: phrenology-20260505-0
summary:
Phrenology is a process that involves observing and/or feeling the skull to determine an individual's psychological attributes. Franz Joseph Gall believed that the brain was made up of 27 individual organs that determined personality, the first 19 of these "organs" he believed to exist in other animal species. Phrenologists would run their fingertips and palms over the skulls of their patients to feel for enlargements or indentations. The phrenologist would often take measurements with a tape measure of the overall head size and more rarely employ a craniometer, a special version of a caliper. In general, instruments to measure sizes of cranium continued to be used after the mainstream phrenology had ended. The phrenologists put emphasis on using drawings of individuals with particular traits, to determine the character of the person and thus many phrenology books show pictures of subjects. From absolute and relative sizes of the skull the phrenologist would assess the character and temperament of the patient. Gall's list of the "brain organs" was specific. An enlarged organ meant that the patient used that particular "organ" extensively. The number—and more detailed meanings—of organs were added later by other phrenologists. The 27 areas varied in function, from sense of


id: phrenology-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology-2.md
category: reference
title: Phrenology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:59.145844+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: phrenology-20260505-0
summary:
The popularization of phrenology in the middle and working classes was due in part to the idea that scientific knowledge was important and an indication of sophistication and modernity. Cheap and plentiful pamphlets, as well as the growing popularity of scientific lectures as entertainment, also helped spread phrenology to the masses. Combe created a system of philosophy of the human mind that became popular with the masses because of its simplified principles and wide range of social applications that were in harmony with the liberal Victorian world view. George Combe's book On the Constitution of Man and its Relationship to External Objects sold more than 200,000 copies through nine editions. Combe also devoted a large portion of his book to reconciling religion and phrenology, which had long been a sticking point. Another reason for its popularity was that phrenology balanced between free will and determinism. A person's inherent faculties were clear, and no faculty was viewed as evil, though the abuse of a faculty was. Phrenology allowed for self-improvement and upward mobility, while providing fodder for attacks on aristocratic privilege. Phrenology also had wide appeal because of its being a reformist philosophy not a radical one. Phrenology was not limited


id: phrenology-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology-3.md
category: reference
title: Phrenology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:59.145844+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: phrenology-20260505-0
summary:
Phrenology was mostly discredited as a scientific theory by the 1840s. This was due only in part to a growing amount of evidence against phrenology. Phrenologists had never been able to agree on the most basic mental organ numbers, going from 27 to over 40, and had difficulty locating the mental organs. Phrenologists relied on cranioscopic readings of the skull to find organ locations. Jean Pierre Flourens' experiments on the brains of pigeons indicated that the loss of parts of the brain either caused no loss of function, or the loss of a completely different function than what had been attributed to it by phrenology. Flourens' experiment, while not perfect, seemed to indicate that Gall's supposed organs were imaginary. Scientists had also become disillusioned with phrenology since its exploitation with the middle and working classes by entrepreneurs. The popularization had resulted in the simplification of phrenology and mixing in it of principles of physiognomy, which had from the start been rejected by Gall as an indicator of personality. Phrenology from its inception was tainted by accusations of promoting materialism and atheism, and being destructive of morality. These were all factors that led to the downfall of phrenology. Recent studies, using


id: phrenology-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology-4.md
category: reference
title: Phrenology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:59.145844+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: phrenology-20260505-0
summary:
=== Criminology === Phrenology was one of the first to bring about the idea of rehabilitation of criminals instead of vindictive punishments that would not stop criminals, only with the reorganizing a disorganized brain would bring about change. Voisin believed along with others the accuracy of phrenology in diagnosing criminal tendencies. Diagnosis could point to the type of offender, the insane, an idiot or brute, and by knowing this an appropriate course of action could be taken. A strict system of reward and punishment, hard work and religious instruction, was thought to be able to correct those who had been abandoned and neglected with little education and moral ground works. Those who were considered intellectually disabled could be put to work and housed collectively while only criminals of intellect and vicious intent needed to be confined and isolated. Phrenology also advocated variable prison sentences, the idea being that those who were only defective in education and lacking in morals would soon be released while those who were "mentally deficient" could be watched and the truly abhorrent criminals would never be released. For other patients phrenology could help redirect impulses, one homicidal individual became a butcher to control his impulses, while


id: phrenology-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology-5.md
category: reference
title: Phrenology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:59.145844+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: phrenology-20260505-0
summary:
=== Ireland === Phrenology arrived in Ireland in 1815, through Spurzheim. While Ireland largely mirrored British trends, with scientific lectures and demonstrations becoming a popular pastime of the age, by 1815 phrenology had already been ridiculed in some circles priming the audiences to its skeptical claims. Because of this the general public valued it more for its comic relief than anything else; however, it did find an audience in the rational dissenters who found it an attractive alternative to explain human motivations without the attached superstitions of religion. The supporters of phrenology in Ireland were relegated to scientific subcultures because the Irish scholars neglected marginal movements like phrenology, denying it scientific support in Ireland. In 1830 George Combe came to Ireland, his self-promotion barely winning out against his lack of medical expertise, still only drawing lukewarm crowds. This was due to not only the Vatican's decree that phrenology was subversive of religion and morality but also that, based on phrenology, the "Irish Catholics were sui generis a flawed and degenerate breed". Because of the lack of scientific support, along with religious and prejudicial reasons, phrenology never found a wide audience in Ireland. === United States === The first publication in


id: phrenology-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology-6.md
category: reference
title: Phrenology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:23:59.145844+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: phrenology-20260505-0
summary:
=== Intellectual faculties === These are to know the external world and physical qualities. Coloring Eventuality Form Hearing Individuality Language Locality Number Order Sight Size Smell Taste Time Touch Tune Weight === Reflecting faculties === These produce ideas of relation or reflect. They minister to the direction and gratification of all the other powers: Causality Comparison == Phrenology as popular science == Part of phrenology's rise in popularity was the availability of ideas from scholars that were shared throughout the nineteenth century. Various societies all over Europe and in the United States kept the middle class well informed on the developments in the pseudoscientific field of research by way of regularly publishing journals. One of the earliest publications of phrenology was George Combe's Phrenological Journal which sat among other books, pamphlets, and articles he published in order to popularize the pseudoscience. As mentioned previously, phrenology had a wide reach and a multi-faceted appeal from nobility to working class, and this would be his breakthrough publication in Great Britain. The most compelling argument Combe would make for the superiority of European nations and people over that of the rest of the world would be in an article he published titled "On


id: physiognomy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physiognomy-0.md
category: reference
title: Physiognomy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physiognomy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:00.325563+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: physiognomy-20260505-0
summary:
Physiognomy or face reading, sometimes known by the later term anthroposcopy, is the practice of assessing a person's character or personality from their outer appearance—especially the face. The term physiognomy can also refer to the general appearance of a person, object, or terrain without reference to its implied characteristics—as in the physiognomy of an individual plant (see plant life-form) or of a plant community (see vegetation). Physiognomy as a practice meets the contemporary definition of pseudoscience and is regarded as such by academics because of its unsupported claims; popular belief in the practice of physiognomy is nonetheless still widespread and modern advances in artificial intelligence have sparked renewed interest in the field of study. The practice was well-accepted by ancient Greek philosophers, but fell into disrepute in the 16th century while practised by vagabonds and mountebanks. It revived and was popularised by Johann Kaspar Lavater, before falling from favour in the late 19th century. Physiognomy in the 19th century is particularly noted as a basis for scientific racism. Physiognomy as it is understood today is a subject of renewed scientific interest, especially as it relates to machine learning and facial recognition technology. The main interest for scientists today are the


id: physiognomy-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physiognomy-1.md
category: reference
title: Physiognomy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physiognomy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:00.325563+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: physiognomy-20260505-0
summary:
Lavater received mixed reactions from scientists, with some accepting his research and others criticizing it. His harshest critic was scientist Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, who said pathognomy, or discovering the character of a person by observing their behavior, was more effective. English religious writer Hannah More (1745–1833) complained to her contemporary writer Horace Walpole, "In vain do we boast ... that philosophy had broken down all the strongholds of prejudice, ignorance, and superstition; and yet, at this very time ... Lavater's physiognomy books sell at fifteen guineas a set." === Thomas Browne === Lavater found confirmation of his ideas from the English physician-philosopher Sir Thomas Browne (1605–1682), and the Italian Giambattista Della Porta (1535–1615). Browne in his Religio Medici (1643) discusses the possibility of the discernment of inner qualities from the outer appearance of the face, and wrote: there is surely a Physiognomy, which those experienced and Master Mendicants observe. ... For there are mystically in our faces certain Characters that carry in them the motto of our Souls, wherein he that cannot read A.B.C. may read our natures. Browne reaffirmed his physiognomic beliefs in Christian Morals (circa 1675): Since the Brow speaks often true, since Eyes and Noses have Tongues,


id: physiognomy-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physiognomy-2.md
category: reference
title: Physiognomy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physiognomy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:00.325563+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: physiognomy-20260505-0
summary:
=== Criminology === During the late 19th century, English psychometrician Sir Francis Galton attempted to define physiognomic characteristics of health, disease, beauty, and criminality, via a method of composite photography. Galton's process involved the photographic superimposition of two or more faces by multiple exposures. After averaging together photographs of violent criminals, he found that the composite image appeared "more respectable" than any of the faces comprising it; this was likely due to the irregularities of the skin across the constituent images being averaged out in the final blend. With the advent of computer technology during the early 1990s, Galton's composite technique has been adopted and greatly improved using computer graphics software. Physiognomy also became of use in the field of Criminology through efforts made by Italian army doctor and scientist, Cesare Lombroso. Lombroso, during the mid-19th century, championed the notion that "criminality was inherited and that criminals could be identified by physical attributes such as hawk-like noses and bloodshot eyes". Lombroso took inspiration from Charles Darwin's recently released theories of evolution and carried many of the misunderstandings that he had regarding evolution into the propagation of the use of physiognomy in criminology. His logic stemmed from the idea that "criminals


id: physiognomy-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physiognomy-3.md
category: reference
title: Physiognomy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physiognomy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:00.325563+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: physiognomy-20260505-0
summary:
=== Artificial intelligence === Artificial intelligence (AI) has been reported to heavily employ physiognomy, such as the ability to predict homosexuality, criminality, and political affiliation from images of faces or other records of outwards appearance. Critics have said that this is a result of the biased databases that AI systems are trained on, and have noted its use and potential weaponization by governments and corporations. == Scientific investigation == Due to its legacy of racism and junk science masquerading as criminology, scientific study or discussion of the relationship between facial features and character has become taboo. It had previously posited many links. For example, there is evidence that character can influence facial appearance. Also, facial characteristics influence first impressions of others, which influences our expectations and behavior, which in turn influences character. Lastly, there are several biological factors that influence both facial appearance and character traits, such pre- and post-natal hormone levels and gene expression. The relationship between facial features and character traits such as political or sexual orientation is complex, but involves the fact that facial features can shape social behavior, partially as a result of the self-fulfilling prophecy effect. The self-fulfilling prophesy effect asserts that people perceived to


id: pigasus-award-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigasus_Award-0.md
category: reference
title: Pigasus Award
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigasus_Award
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:01.599134+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pigasus-award-20260505-0
summary:
The Pigasus Award is the name of an annual tongue-in-cheek award, which was presented by the late James Randi, a skeptic. The purpose of the award was to expose parapsychological, paranormal, and psychic frauds whom Randi had noted over the previous year. Randi usually made his announcements of the awards from the previous year on April 1 (April Fools' Day). == History == The award was originally called the Uri trophy, after Uri Geller, and was first announced in the appendix of Randi's book Flim-Flam!. The 1982 edition lists the award's "recipients" in 1979, 1980 and 1981. In Flim-Flam!, Randi states: The trophy consists of a stainless-steel spoon bent in a pleasing curve (paranormally, of course) and supported by a base of plastic. Please note that the base is flimsy and quite transparent. I am personally responsible for the nomination of the candidates. The sealed envelopes are read by me, while blindfolded, at the official announcement ceremony on April 1. Any baseless claims are rationalized in approved parapsychological fashion, and the results will be published immediately without being checked in any way. Winners are notified telepathically and are allowed to predict their victory in advance. The bent spoon trophy is


id: pigasus-award-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigasus_Award-1.md
category: reference
title: Pigasus Award
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigasus_Award
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:01.599134+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pigasus-award-20260505-0
summary:
=== Category 2 – Funding === 1979 – The McDonnell Foundation, who gave $500,000 to Washington University in St. Louis to study spoon-bending children. (See Project Alpha) 1980 – The Millennium Foundation for giving $1 million to parapsychological research. (The award was withdrawn in 1982 when the foundation decided, instead, to invest the million dollars in a "psychically discovered" oil site, which turned out to be dry.) 1981 – The Pentagon for spending $6 million to determine whether or not burning a photograph of a Soviet missile would destroy the missile. (Randi 1982, pp. 327–329) 1996 – Robert Bigelow for funding John E. Mack and Budd Hopkins, and for purchasing the so-called Skinwalker Ranch in Utah known for alleged UFO attacks, "interdimensional portals", and cattle mutilations. 1999 – The Human Resources Administration of the City of New York, for training welfare recipients to work as telephone psychics. 2001 – The University of Paris for awarding a doctorate in Sociology to Élizabeth Teissier for a 900-page thesis on the validity of astrology. 2004 – The United States Air Force Research Laboratory, who paid $25,000 to Eric W. Davis at a Las Vegas company called Warp Drive Metrics to study the "conveyance


id: polygraph-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph-0.md
category: reference
title: Polygraph
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:02.796379+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: polygraph-20260505-0
summary:
A polygraph, often incorrectly referred to as a lie detector test, is a pseudoscientific device or procedure that measures and records several physiological indicators such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while a person is asked and answers a series of questions. The belief underpinning the use of the polygraph is that deceptive answers will produce physiological responses that can be differentiated from those associated with non-deceptive answers; however, there are no specific physiological reactions associated with lying, making it difficult to identify factors that separate those who are lying from those who are telling the truth. In some countries, polygraphs are used as an interrogation tool with criminal suspects or candidates for sensitive public or private sector employment. Some United States law enforcement and federal government agencies, as well as many police departments, use polygraph examinations to interrogate suspects and screen new employees. Within the US federal government, a polygraph examination is also referred to as a psychophysiological detection of deception examination. Assessments of polygraphy by scientific and government bodies generally suggest that polygraphs are highly inaccurate, may easily be defeated by countermeasures, and are an imperfect or invalid means of assessing truthfulness. A comprehensive 2003 review


id: polygraph-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph-1.md
category: reference
title: Polygraph
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:02.796379+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: polygraph-20260505-0
summary:
Although the CQT [Control Question Test] may be useful as an investigative aid and tool to induce confessions, it does not pass muster as a scientifically credible test. CQT theory is based on naive, implausible assumptions indicating (a) that it is biased against innocent individuals and (b) that it can be beaten simply by artificially augmenting responses to control questions. Although it is not possible to adequately assess the error rate of the CQT, both of these conclusions are supported by published research findings in the best social science journals (Honts et al., 1994; Horvath, 1977; Kleinmuntz & Szucko, 1984; Patrick & Iacono, 1991). Although defense attorneys often attempt to have the results of friendly CQTs admitted as evidence in court, there is no evidence supporting their validity and ample reason to doubt it. Members of scientific organizations who have the requisite background to evaluate the CQT are overwhelmingly skeptical of the claims made by polygraph proponents. Polygraphs measure arousal, which can be affected by anxiety, anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), nervousness, fear, confusion, hypoglycemia, psychosis, depression, substance-induced states (nicotine, stimulants), substance-withdrawal state (alcohol withdrawal) or other emotions; polygraphs do not measure "lies". A polygraph cannot differentiate


id: polygraph-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph-2.md
category: reference
title: Polygraph
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:02.796379+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: polygraph-20260505-0
summary:
== Use == Law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies in the United States are by far the largest users of polygraph technology. In the United States alone most federal law enforcement agencies either employ their own polygraph examiners or use the services of examiners employed by other agencies. In 1978 Richard Helms, the eighth Director of Central Intelligence, stated: We discovered there were some Eastern Europeans who could defeat the polygraph at any time. Americans are not very good at it, because we are raised to tell the truth and when we lie it is easy to tell we are lying. But we find a lot of Europeans and Asiatics can handle that polygraph without a blip, and you know they are lying and you have evidence that they are lying. Susan McCarthy of Salon said in 2000 that "The polygraph is an American phenomenon, with limited use in a few countries, such as Canada, Israel and Japan." === Armenia === In Armenia, government administered polygraphs are legal, at least for use in national security investigations. The National Security Service (NSS), Armenia's primary intelligence service, requires polygraph examinations of all new applicants. === Australia === Polygraph evidence became inadmissible in


id: polygraph-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph-3.md
category: reference
title: Polygraph
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:02.796379+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: polygraph-20260505-0
summary:
In 2018, Wired magazine reported that an estimated 2.5 million polygraph tests were given each year in the United States, with the majority administered to paramedics, police officers, firefighters, and state troopers. The average cost to administer the test is more than $700 and is part of a $2 billion industry. In 2007, polygraph testimony was admitted by stipulation in 19 states, and was subject to the discretion of the trial judge in federal court. The use of polygraph in court testimony remains controversial, although it is used extensively in post-conviction supervision, particularly of sex offenders. In Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (1993), the old Frye standard was lifted and all forensic evidence, including polygraph, had to meet the new Daubert standard in which "underlying reasoning or methodology is scientifically valid and properly can be applied to the facts at issue." While polygraph tests are commonly used in police investigations in the US, no defendant or witness can be forced to undergo the test unless they are under the supervision of the courts. In United States v. Scheffer (1998), the US Supreme Court left it up to individual jurisdictions whether polygraph results could be admitted as evidence in court


id: polygraph-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph-4.md
category: reference
title: Polygraph
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:02.796379+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: polygraph-20260505-0
summary:
In 1995, Harold James Nicholson, a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee later convicted of spying for Russia, had undergone his periodic five-year reinvestigation, in which he showed a strong probability of deception on questions regarding relationships with a foreign intelligence unit. This polygraph test later led to an investigation which resulted in his eventual arrest and conviction. In most cases, however, polygraphs are more of a tool to "scare straight" those who would consider espionage. Jonathan Pollard was advised by his Israeli handlers that he was to resign his job from American intelligence if he was ever told he was subject to a polygraph test. Likewise, John Anthony Walker was advised by his handlers not to engage in espionage until he had been promoted to the highest position for which a polygraph test was not required, to refuse promotion to higher positions for which polygraph tests were required, and to retire when promotion was mandated. In 1983, CIA employee Edward Lee Howard was dismissed when, during a polygraph screening, he truthfully answered a series of questions admitting to minor crimes such as petty theft and drug abuse. In retaliation for his perceived unjust punishment for minor offenses, he later sold


id: polygraph-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph-5.md
category: reference
title: Polygraph
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:02.796379+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: polygraph-20260505-0
summary:
== History == Earlier societies utilized elaborate methods of lie detection which mainly involved torture. For instance, in the Middle Ages, boiling water was used to detect liars, as it was believed honest men would withstand it better than liars. Early devices for lie detection include an 1895 invention of Cesare Lombroso used to measure changes in blood pressure for police cases, a 1904 device by Vittorio Benussi used to measure breathing, the Mackenzie-Lewis Polygraph first developed by James Mackenzie in 1906 and an abandoned project by American William Moulton Marston which used blood pressure to examine German prisoners of war (POWs). Marston said he found a strong positive correlation between systolic blood pressure and lying. Marston wrote a second paper on the concept in 1915, when finishing his undergraduate studies. He entered Harvard Law School and graduated in 1918, re-publishing his earlier work in 1917. Marston's main inspiration for the device was his wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston. "According to Marston’s son, it was his mother Elizabeth, Marston's wife, who suggested to him that 'When she got mad or excited, her blood pressure seemed to climb'" (Lamb, 2001). Although Elizabeth is not listed as Marston’s collaborator in his early work,


id: polygraph-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph-6.md
category: reference
title: Polygraph
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygraph
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:02.796379+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: polygraph-20260505-0
summary:
=== Hand-held lie detector for US military === A hand-held lie detector is being deployed by the US Department of Defense according to a report in 2008 by investigative reporter Bill Dedman of NBC News. The Preliminary Credibility Assessment Screening System, or PCASS, captures less physiological information than a polygraph, and uses an algorithm, not the judgment of a polygraph examiner, to render a decision whether it believes the person is being deceptive or not. The device was first used in Afghanistan by US Army troops. The Department of Defense ordered its use be limited to non-US persons, in overseas locations only. === Notable cases === Polygraphy has been faulted for failing to trap known spies such as double-agent Aldrich Ames, who passed two polygraph tests while spying for the Soviet Union. Ames failed several tests while at the CIA that were never acted on. Other spies who passed the polygraph include Karl Koecher, Ana Montes, and Leandro Aragoncillo. CIA spy Harold James Nicholson failed his polygraph examinations, which aroused suspicions that led to his eventual arrest. Polygraph examination and background checks failed to detect Nada Nadim Prouty, who was not a spy but was convicted for improperly obtaining US


id: polyvagal-theory-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyvagal_theory-0.md
category: reference
title: Polyvagal theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyvagal_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:03.987197+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: polyvagal-theory-20260505-0
summary:
Polyvagal theory (PVT) is a collection of proposed evolutionary, neuroscientific, and psychological constructs pertaining to the role of the vagus nerve in emotion regulation, social connection, and fear responses. The theory was introduced in 1994 by Stephen Porges. PVT is popular among some clinical practitioners and patients. However, multiple aspects of the theory are widely criticized for being at odds with known science. For example, neuroanatomists point out that the theory is incorrect in claiming direct communication between the brainstem branchiomotor nuclei and the visceromotor portion of the nucleus ambiguus. Evolutionary biologists consider the presence of myelinated vagus nerve fibers in lungfish leading from the nucleus ambiguus to the heart a contradiction of the theory's view of the mammalian nucleus ambiguus. Polyvagal theory takes its name from the vagus nerve, a cranial nerve that forms a primary component of the parasympathetic nervous system. The traditional view of the autonomic nervous system presents a two-part system: the sympathetic nervous system, which is more activating ("fight or flight"), and the parasympathetic nervous system, which supports health, growth, and restoration ("rest and digest"). Polyvagal theory views the parasympathetic nervous system as being further split into two distinct branches: a "ventral vagal system" which


id: polyvagal-theory-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyvagal_theory-1.md
category: reference
title: Polyvagal theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyvagal_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:03.987197+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: polyvagal-theory-20260505-0
summary:
=== Proposed ventral vagal complex (VVC) === With increased neural complexity as seen in mammals (due to phylogenetic development), there is said to have evolved a more sophisticated system to enrich behavioral and affective responses to an increasingly complex environment. The ventral branch of the vagus originates in the nucleus ambiguus and is myelinated to provide more speed in responding. Polyvagal theory calls this the "smart vagus" because it associates it with the regulation of sympathetic "fight or flight" behaviors by way of social affiliative behaviors. These behaviors are said to include social communication and self-soothing and calming. In other words, this branch of the vagus is said to inhibit or disinhibit defensive limbic circuits, depending on the situation. Note: Attributing defensive behaviours purely to the limbic system is an oversimplification, as these are triggered by perceived threats, thus requiring an interplay of brain areas performing sensory integration, memory, and semantic knowledge with the limbic system to be elicited. Similarly, the regulation of emotions requires a complex interplay of higher cognitive areas with limbic ones. The vagus nerve mediates the control of supradiaphragmatic visceral organs, such as the esophagus, bronchi, pharynx, and larynx. It also exerts an important influence on


id: polyvagal-theory-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyvagal_theory-2.md
category: reference
title: Polyvagal theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyvagal_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:03.987197+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: polyvagal-theory-20260505-0
summary:
=== Neuroscientific claims === Neuhuber and Berthoud (2022) state that polyvagal theory's "basic phylogenetic and functional-anatomical tenets do not withstand closer scrutiny". They argue that polyvagal theory incorrectly portrays the role of the different vagal nuclei in mediating the freeze response. According to their analysis, the evidence "does not support a role of the 'dorsal vagal complex' in freezing as proposed by the PVT" and the dorsal vagal complex "should not be linked to passive defensive behavior". Regarding the proposed "ventral vagal complex", they state that "the PVT, by construeing a 'new ventral vagal complex' encompassing the entire branchiomotor column ascribed to the vagus much more than it actually can serve." They see it as "misleading to propose that brainstem branchiomotor ('source') nuclei 'communicate directly with the visceromotor portion of the nucleus ambiguus'", and conclude that the relevant networks "should not be termed 'ventral vagal complex'. This terminology may insinuate that the vagus is a "prime mover". This not the case [...]". Taylor, Wang & Leite (2022) similarly regard it as "invalid to refer to this as a 'vagal system' or to postulate the existence of a 'smart vagus'." === Evolutionary claims === Grossman and Taylor (2007) argue that there


id: postpartum-confinement-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postpartum_confinement-0.md
category: reference
title: Postpartum confinement
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postpartum_confinement
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:05.181298+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: postpartum-confinement-20260505-0
summary:
Postpartum confinement is a traditional practice following childbirth. Those who follow these customs typically begin immediately after the birth, and the seclusion or special treatment lasts for a culturally variable length: typically for one month or 30 days, 26 days, up to 40 days, two months, or 100 days. This postnatal recuperation can include care practices in regards of "traditional health beliefs, taboos, rituals, and proscriptions." The practice used to be known as "lying-in", which, as the term suggests, centres on bed rest. In some cultures, it may be connected to taboos concerning impurity after childbirth. == Overview == Postpartum confinement refers both to the mother and the baby. Human newborns are so underdeveloped that pediatricians such as Harvey Karp refer to the first three months as the "fourth trimester". The weeks of rest while the mother heals also protect the infant as it adjusts to the world, and both learn the skills of breastfeeding. Almost all countries have some form of maternity leave. Many countries encourage men to take some paternal leave, but even those that mandate that some of the shared parental leave must be used by the father ("father's quota") acknowledge that the mother needs time off


id: postpartum-confinement-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postpartum_confinement-1.md
category: reference
title: Postpartum confinement
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postpartum_confinement
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:05.181298+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: postpartum-confinement-20260505-0
summary:
===== Everyday habits and personal hygiene practices ===== Traditionally in China, the mother and child were kept separate from the rest of the household. The mother was not permitted to bathe, wash her hair, or weep, because these activities were believed to put the mother at risk of falling ill by catching cold and affect the quality of her breast milk. Nowadays, however, new mothers may wash their hair or take a bath or shower infrequently during the postpartum period, but it is claimed to be important to dry their body immediately afterwards with a clean towel and their hair properly using a hair dryer. It is also claimed to be important for women to wrap up warm and minimize the amount of skin exposed, as it was believed that they may catch a cold during this vulnerable time. In Dalian, some women even take to wrapping themselves in plastic to avoid the wind. Ref ===== Special foods ===== The custom of confinement advises new mothers to choose energy and protein-rich foods to recover energy levels, help shrink the uterus, and for the perineum to heal. This is also important for the production of breastmilk. Among the traditionally recommended galactogogues


id: postpartum-confinement-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postpartum_confinement-2.md
category: reference
title: Postpartum confinement
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postpartum_confinement
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:05.181298+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: postpartum-confinement-20260505-0
summary:
==== Korea ==== In Korea, the traditional postpartum practice is known as sanhujori (산후조리), and women historically observed a confinement period called samchil-il (삼칠일, "three seven days," or 21 days). In the past, during the samchil-il period, geumjul (taboo rope) made with saekki and various symbolic objects, such as chili peppers (for a boy) and coal (for a girl), was hung over the gate to denote the childbirth and restrict visitor access. Sanhujori practices traditionally include consuming warm foods believed to aid recovery, such as seaweed soup (miyeokguk), which is rich in iron and iodine and is considered essential for postpartum mothers. New mothers are also encouraged to keep warm, rest extensively, and avoid cold foods and environments. Since the late 20th century, South Korea has seen the widespread establishment of specialized postpartum care facilities known as sanhujoriwon (산후조리원). These centers provide professional nursing care, newborn monitoring, lactation support, and traditional postpartum meals in a residential setting, typically for a stay of approximately two weeks. A 2023 study examining first-time mothers' satisfaction with sanhujoriwon found that both individual factors and environmental ecological factors influenced maternal satisfaction with these facilities. The growth of sanhujoriwon parallels the development of postpartum care centers


id: postpartum-confinement-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postpartum_confinement-3.md
category: reference
title: Postpartum confinement
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postpartum_confinement
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:05.181298+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: postpartum-confinement-20260505-0
summary:
==== Malaysia ==== In Malaysia, postpartum confinement is practiced across ethnic Malay, Chinese, and Indian communities, each with distinct traditions. Malay mothers typically observe a 44-day confinement period, during which they undergo traditional practices including bertungku (application of a heated stone to the abdomen) and traditional massage (urut). Special herbal baths are also common throughout the recovery period. A comparative study of confinement practices in Singapore found that Chinese and Indian mothers tended to follow more specific dietary regimens than Malay mothers, and that Chinese mothers were more likely to depend on confinement nannies for support. ==== Vietnam ==== Vietnamese postpartum confinement traditions emphasize keeping the mother warm to avoid gio (wind), which is believed to cause headaches, joint pain, and other long-term ailments. New mothers are encouraged to stay warm, avoid cold water and drafts, and consume warming foods and herbal preparations. A 2021 meta-ethnography examining postpartum practices among Southeast and East Asian immigrant mothers found that Vietnamese women, along with Chinese, Korean, and Hmong women, frequently adapted their traditional confinement practices when living abroad, negotiating between cultural expectations and the realities of their new environments. === Europe === The term used in English, now old-fashioned or archaic, was


id: power-balance-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Balance-0.md
category: reference
title: Power Balance
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Balance
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:06.337286+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: power-balance-20260505-0
summary:
Power Balance is the original brand of hologram bracelets claimed by its manufacturers and vendors to use "holographic technology" to "resonate with and respond to the natural energy field of the body" to increase athletic performance. Numerous independent studies of the device have found it to be no more effective than a placebo for enhancing athletic performance. As a result, in 2010, the Australian distributor, Power Balance Australia Pty Ltd, was forced by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) to retract any previous claims. == History == The product was originally promoted at trade shows in the beginning of 2006 using applied kinesiology as its effective sales tool. The bracelets went on sale in 2007 and had several celebrity endorsements. The bracelets became a trend among high school, collegiate, and professional sports teams between 2008 and 2012. This sustained prevalence compelled journalist Darren Rovell to remark that "a growing number of professional sportsmen and their attendants are starting to sound like New Age crystal healers." CNBC Sports named Power Balance Product of the Year in 2010 for its strong sales and celebrity endorsements. Power Balance headquarters, which was located in Laguna Niguel, California, at the time, denied that they


id: power-balance-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Balance-1.md
category: reference
title: Power Balance
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Balance
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:06.337286+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: power-balance-20260505-0
summary:
Experts are of the opinion that the Power Balance bracelet is nothing more than a placebo. Victor Thompson, a sports psychologist based in London, said: "I'm not aware of any research that supports the technology behind these bands." Greg Whyte, professor of applied sport and exercise science at Liverpool John Moores University, said that "for generations there have been devices that claim to mediate the body's flow of energy. In most instances, the 'proof' is based on anecdotal evidence." The Center for Inquiry noted Power Balance's use of pseudoscientific applied kinesiology tests, which it described as "problematic and full of flaws." The illustrative videos on the company's website were considered vague and unclear, and the Center noted that "most people's flexibility seems to improve from their first stretch to their second stretch regardless of whether they are wearing the bracelet." In 2010, Harriet A. Hall wrote in the Skeptical Inquirer that she would believe anyone who claimed that a Power Balance product made them feel better, or that their performance was improved, but would not be convinced that "the improvement has anything to do with bioresonating frequencies in the holograms—or even with the cards themselves. It's like the tooth fairy.


id: pranic-therapy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pranic_therapy-0.md
category: reference
title: Pranic therapy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pranic_therapy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:07.489104+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pranic-therapy-20260505-0
summary:
Pranic therapy is the umbrella term for pseudoscientific forms of energy healing. It is a range of holistic therapies and alternative medicine that claim to have healing benefits. It is a form of energy healing which has shown in some medical studies to be effective in reducing pain, anxiety and other physical and mental conditions. == History == Pranic therapies are techniques that include pranic healing is a modern interpretation of numerous ancient healing techniques, including Chinese Qi, Chakras and most notably Prana, from which it gets its name. Starting as an eastern alternative medicine, it has become more commonly used in the west in recent years, and often used in spas and similar businesses. India where prana is used across various alternative medical techniques, has also seen a rise in pranic therapies. Medical practices in the United States have also used pranic therapies on patients, although successful treatments have not been accurately measured. Its adoption in the west has led to some using the technique as a front for unethical practices, or to make unsubstantiated claims. == Principles == Pranic therapies focus on 11 major chakras in the body, each of which corresponds with the position of a vital


id: precognition-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precognition-0.md
category: reference
title: Precognition
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precognition
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:09.812996+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: precognition-20260505-0
summary:
Precognition (from the Latin prae- 'before', and cognitio 'acquiring knowledge') is the purported psychic phenomenon of seeing, or otherwise becoming directly aware of, events in the future. There is no accepted scientific evidence that precognition is a real effect, and it is widely considered to be pseudoscience. Precognition violates the principle of causality, that an effect cannot occur before its cause. Precognition has been widely believed in throughout history. Despite the lack of scientific evidence, many people believe it to be real; it is still widely reported and remains a topic of research and discussion within the parapsychology community. == Precognitive phenomena == Precognition is sometimes treated as an example of the wider phenomenon of prescience or foreknowledge, to understand by any means what is likely to happen in the future. It is distinct from premonition, which is a vaguer feeling of some impending disaster. Related activities such as predictive prophecy and fortune telling have been practised throughout history. Precognitive dreams are the most widely reported occurrences of precognition. Usually, a dream or vision can only be identified as precognitive after the putative event has taken place. When such an event occurs after a dream, it is said to have


id: precognition-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precognition-1.md
category: reference
title: Precognition
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precognition
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:09.812996+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: precognition-20260505-0
summary:
=== Early 20th century === In the early 20th century J. W. Dunne, a British soldier and aeronautics engineer, experienced several dreams which he regarded as precognitive. He developed techniques to record and analyse them, identifying any correspondences between his future experiences and his recorded dreams. He reported his findings in his 1927 book An Experiment with Time. In it he alleges that 10% of his dreams appeared to include some element of future experience. He also persuaded some friends to try the experiment on themselves, with mixed results. He noted a strong cognitive bias in which subjects, including himself, were reluctant to ascribe their dream correspondences to precognition and determinedly sought alternative explanations. Dunne concluded that precognitive elements in dreams are common and that many people unknowingly have them. He suggested also that dream precognition did not reference future events of all kinds, but specifically the future experiences of the dreamer. He was led to this idea when he found that a dream of a volcanic eruption appeared to foresee not the disaster itself but his subsequent misreading of an inaccurate account in a newspaper. Edith Lyttelton, who became President of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR), regarded his


id: precognition-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precognition-2.md
category: reference
title: Precognition
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precognition
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:09.812996+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: precognition-20260505-0
summary:
The dream should be reported to a credible witness before the event. The time interval between the dream and the event should be short. The event should be unexpected at the time of the dream. The description should be of an event destined literally, and not symbolically, to happen. The details of dream and event should tally. David Ryback, a psychologist in Atlanta, used a questionnaire survey approach to investigate precognitive dreaming in college students during the 1980s. His survey of over 433 participants showed that 290 or 66.9 per cent reported some form of paranormal dream. He rejected many of these reports, but claimed that 8.8 per cent of the population was having actual precognitive dreams. === 21st century === In 2011 the psychologist Daryl Bem, a Professor Emeritus at Cornell University, published findings showing statistical evidence for precognition in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The paper was heavily criticised, and the criticism widened to include the journal itself and the validity of the peer-review process. In 2012, an independent attempt to reproduce Bem's results was published, but it failed to do so. The widespread controversy led to calls for improvements in practice and for more research.


id: princeton-engineering-anomalies-research-lab-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princeton_Engineering_Anomalies_Research_Lab-0.md
category: reference
title: Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Lab
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princeton_Engineering_Anomalies_Research_Lab
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:11.025440+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: princeton-engineering-anomalies-research-lab-20260505-0
summary:
The Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) was a research program at Princeton University that studied parapsychology. Established in 1979 by then Dean of Engineering Robert G. Jahn, PEAR conducted formal studies on two primary subject areas, psychokinesis (PK) and remote viewing. Owing to the controversial nature of the subject matter, the program had a strained relationship with Princeton and was considered by the administration and some faculty to be an embarrassment to the university. Critics stated that it lacked scientific rigor, used poor methodology, and misused statistics, and characterized it as pseudoscience. PEAR closed in February 2007, being incorporated into the "International Consciousness Research Laboratories (ICRL). == Parapsychological experiments with random event generators == PEAR employed electronic random event generators (REGs) to explore the ability of test subjects to use psychokinesis to influence the random output distribution of these devices to conform to their pre-recorded intentions to produce higher numbers, lower numbers, or nominal baselines. Most of these experiments utilized a microelectronic REG, but experiments were also conducted with "a giant, wall-mounted pachinko-like machine with a cascade of bouncing balls". In 1986 associates of PEAR published data collected over the course of seven years from a group of subjects attempting


id: pseudomathematics-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudomathematics-0.md
category: reference
title: Pseudomathematics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudomathematics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:29.008938+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pseudomathematics-20260505-0
summary:
Pseudomathematics, or mathematical crankery, is a mathematics-like activity that does not adhere to the framework of rigor of formal mathematical practice. Common areas of pseudomathematics are solutions of problems proved to be unsolvable or recognized as extremely hard by experts, as well as attempts to apply mathematics to non-quantifiable areas. A person engaging in pseudomathematics is called a pseudomathematician or a pseudomath. Pseudomathematics has equivalents in other scientific fields, and may overlap with other topics characterized as pseudoscience. Pseudomathematics often contains mathematical fallacies whose executions are tied to elements of deceit rather than genuine, unsuccessful attempts at tackling a problem. Excessive pursuit of pseudomathematics can result in the practitioner being labelled a crank. Because it is based on non-mathematical principles, pseudomathematics is not related to misguided attempts at genuine proofs. Indeed, such mistakes are common in the careers of amateur mathematicians, some of whom go on to produce celebrated results. The topic of mathematical crankery has been extensively studied by mathematician Underwood Dudley, who has written several popular works about mathematical cranks and their ideas. == Examples == One common type of approach is claiming to have solved a classical problem that has been proven to be mathematically unsolvable. Common


id: pseudoskepticism-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoskepticism-0.md
category: reference
title: Pseudoskepticism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoskepticism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:30.208872+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pseudoskepticism-20260505-0
summary:
Pseudoskepticism (also spelled as pseudoscepticism) is a philosophical or scientific position that appears to be that of skepticism or scientific skepticism but in reality is a form of dogmatism. == Nineteenth and early twentieth centuries == An early use of the word was in self-denigration: on 31 August 1869, Swiss philosopher Henri-Frédéric Amiel wrote in his diary: My instinct is in harmony with the pessimism of Buddha and of Schopenhauer. It is a doubt which never leaves me, even in my moments of religious fervor. Nature is indeed for me a Maïa; and I look at her, as it were, with the eyes of an artist. My intelligence remains skeptical. What, then, do I believe in? I do not know. And what is it I hope for? It would be difficult to say. Folly! I believe in goodness, and I hope that good will prevail. Deep within this ironical and disappointed being of mine there is a child hidden — a frank, sad, simple creature, who believes in the ideal, in love, in holiness, and all heavenly superstitions. A whole millennium of idyls sleeps in my heart; I am a pseudo-skeptic, a pseudo-scoffer. It soon acquired its usual meaning where


id: pseudoskepticism-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoskepticism-1.md
category: reference
title: Pseudoskepticism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoskepticism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:30.208872+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: pseudoskepticism-20260505-0
summary:
== Subsequent usage == Susan Blackmore, who lost her initial belief in parapsychology and in 1991 became a CSICOP fellow, later described what she termed the "worst kind of pseudoskepticism": There are some members of the skeptics' groups who clearly believe they know the right answer prior to inquiry. They appear not to be interested in weighing alternatives, investigating strange claims, or trying out psychic experiences or altered states for themselves (heaven forbid!), but only in promoting their own particular belief structure and cohesion. Hugo Anthony Meynell from the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Calgary, labels the "extreme position that all significant evidence supporting paranormal phenomena is a result of deception or lies" as pseudoskepticism. While Truzzi's characterization was aimed at the holders of majority views whom he considered were excessively impatient of minority opinions, the term has been used to describe advocates of minority intellectual positions who engage in pseudoskeptical behavior when they characterize themselves as "skeptics" despite cherry picking evidence that conforms to a preexisting belief. Thus according to Richard Cameron Wilson, some advocates of AIDS denial are indulging in "bogus scepticism" when they argue in this way. Wilson argues that the characteristic feature of


id: psionics-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psionics-0.md
category: reference
title: Psionics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psionics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:31.453514+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: psionics-20260505-0
summary:
In American science fiction of the 1950s and 1960s, psionics was a proposed discipline that applied principles of engineering (especially electronics) to the study (and employment) of paranormal or psychic phenomena, such as extrasensory perception, telepathy and psychokinesis. The term is a blend word of psi (in the sense of "psychic phenomena") and the -onics from electronics. The word "psionics" began as, and always remained, a term of art within the science fiction community and—despite the promotional efforts of editor John W. Campbell, Jr.—it never achieved general currency, even among academic parapsychologists. In the years after the term was coined in 1951, it became increasingly evident that no scientific evidence supports the existence of "psionic" abilities. == Etymology == In 1942, two authors—biologist Bertold Wiesner and psychologist Robert Thouless—had introduced the term "psi" (from ψ psi, 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet) to parapsychology in an article published in the British Journal of Psychology. (This Greek character was chosen as apropos since it is the initial letter of the Greek word ψυχή [psyche]—meaning "mind" or "soul".) The intent was that "psi" would represent the "unknown factor" in extrasensory perception and psychokinesis, experiences believed to be unexplained by any known physical


id: psionics-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psionics-1.md
category: reference
title: Psionics
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psionics
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:31.453514+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: psionics-20260505-0
summary:
=== The "psi-boom" === With Campbell's encouragement, or at his direction, "psionic" abilities began to appear frequently in magazine science fiction stories in the mid-1950s, providing characters with supernormal or supernatural abilities. The first example was Murray Leinster's novella The Psionic Mousetrap published in early 1955. Examples of psychic abilities in fiction, whether attributed to supernatural agencies or otherwise, predated the "psionics" vogue. But the editors of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction describe and define a post-war "psi-boom" in genre science fiction—"which he [Campbell] engineered"—dating it from the mid-1950s to the early 1960s. They cite James Blish's Jack of Eagles (1952), Theodore Sturgeon's More Than Human (1953), Wilson Tucker's Wild Talent (1954) and Frank M. Robinson's The Power (1956) as examples. Alfred Bester's The Demolished Man (1953) is a pioneering example of a work depicting a society in which people with "psi" abilities are fully integrated. Since the "psi-boom" years coincided with the darkest and most paranoid period of the Cold War, it is natural that many examples of the utility of telepathy in espionage (for example those of Randall Garrett) would be produced. In terms of literary continuity, the editors of The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction point out that


id: psychic-detective-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_detective-0.md
category: reference
title: Psychic detective
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_detective
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:32.645851+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: psychic-detective-20260505-0
summary:
A psychic detective is a person who purports to investigate crimes using paranormal psychic abilities. Claimed techniques and abilities have included postcognition (paranormal perception of the past), psychometry (information psychically gained from objects), telepathy, dowsing, clairvoyance, and remote viewing. In murder cases, psychic detectives may purport to be in communication with the spirits of the murder victims. Individuals claiming psychic abilities have stated they have helped police departments to solve crimes, however, there is a lack of police corroboration of their claims. Many police departments around the world have released official statements saying that they do not regard psychics as credible or useful on cases.


id: psychic-detective-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_detective-1.md
category: reference
title: Psychic detective
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_detective
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:32.645851+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: psychic-detective-20260505-0
summary:
== Prominent cases == Many prominent police cases, often involving missing persons, have received the attention of alleged psychics. In November 2004, purported psychic Sylvia Browne told the mother of kidnapping victim Amanda Berry, who had disappeared 19 months earlier: "She's not alive, honey." Browne also claimed to have had a vision of Berry's jacket in the garbage with "DNA on it". Berry's mother died two years later believing that her daughter had been killed; Berry was found alive in May 2013 having been a kidnapping victim of Ariel Castro along with Michelle Knight and Gina DeJesus. After Berry was found alive, Browne received criticism for the false declaration that Berry was dead. Browne also became involved in the case of Shawn Hornbeck, which received the attention of psychics after the eleven-year-old went missing on 6 October 2002. Browne appeared on The Montel Williams Show and provided the parents of Shawn Hornbeck a detailed description of the abductor and where Hornbeck could be found. Browne responded "No" when asked if he was still alive. When Hornbeck was found alive more than four years later, few of the details given by Browne were correct. Shawn Hornbeck's father, Craig Akers, has stated


id: psychic-detective-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_detective-2.md
category: reference
title: Psychic detective
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_detective
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:32.645851+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: psychic-detective-20260505-0
summary:
But decades later it has yet to be located, and as of 2024 the Government of the Province of Nova Scotia is still offering rewards of up to $150,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for Kimberly's disappearance. In 2023, Charlotte Sena was reported missing from a campground in Moreau Lake State Park in Saratoga County, New York resulting in a huge search effort involving over 400 people, including teams from the New York State Police, New York State Park Police, Forest Rangers, the FBI, and other agencies. Suspecting a possible abduction case, the State Police put the family's home under surveillance, and after a suspicious vehicle drew attention of the police, a ransom note was found in the family's mailbox. Forensic evidence was soon matched to Ballston Spa resident Craig Nelson Ross Jr. (born March 17, 1977), who had a previous criminal history and was living about eighteen miles away from the campground where Sena was found safe and Ross was arrested. A segment from WNYT NewsChannel 13 called "Psychic helps police, family of a kidnapped girl" featured Christine Seebold-Walrath, a self-styled psychic medium. In the segment, journalist Dan Levy claimed that Seebold-Walrath


id: psychic-detective-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_detective-3.md
category: reference
title: Psychic detective
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_detective
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:32.645851+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: psychic-detective-20260505-0
summary:
== Official police responses == Many police departments around the world have released official statements saying that they do not regard psychics as credible or useful on cases. === In Australia === Australian police, officially, in general have said that they do not accept assistance from psychics. This was in response to an Australian TV show Sensing Murder in which psychics attempt to crack unsolved murders. Western Australian Police have a policy that they do not contact psychics for assistance with investigations, however they will accept information contributed by psychics. An unnamed Australian federal police officer was suspended following his seeking the aid of a clairvoyant in regard to death threats made against Prime Minister John Howard. A federal police spokesman said they do "not condone the use of psychics in security matters". There are still cases of psychics professing to have trained with the Australian police and failing to provide credible evidence to support qualifications or evidence of being a psychic profiler or intuitive profiler with the Australian police. While official policy for police forces in Australia does not advocate the use of psychics for investigations, one former Detective Senior Constable, Jeffrey Little, has said police do use them


id: psychic-detective-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_detective-4.md
category: reference
title: Psychic detective
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_detective
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:32.645851+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: psychic-detective-20260505-0
summary:
== Scientific studies == A number of tests have been conducted on psychics detectives, using control groups, to try to establish any psychic ability relating to crime solving. One of the earliest was carried out by Dutch Police officer, Filippus Brink in 1960. He conducted a year-long study of psychics, but found no evidence of any crime-solving abilities. Another study was conducted in 1982 where evidence from four crimes was given to three groups: psychic detectives, students and police detectives. The clues related to four crimes, two crimes that had been solved, and two that had not been. The study found no difference between the three groups in ability to indicate what crimes had been committed by looking at the evidence. Some flaws in the scientific method were apparent in these two tests. A further test was conducted in 1997, this test focusing on improving on the scientific methods used in the previous tests. This study used two groups, one consisting of three students from the University of Hertfordshire, the other group consisting of three psychics (two psychic detectives and a non-detective psychic who had a media profile and had been endorsed by police due to his abilities). The two


id: psychic-detective-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_detective-5.md
category: reference
title: Psychic detective
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_detective
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:32.645851+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: psychic-detective-20260505-0
summary:
== Critical commentary == In 2023, the podcast, Worldwide: The Disappearance of the Thai Silk King, released an episode featuring a professional skeptic discussing the dangers of psychic detectives getting involved in missing person cases. The episode examines Peter Hurkos and Sylvia Brown, in particular, and categorizes and demystifies psychics and their manipulation tools. ABC's Nightline Beyond Belief program for 17 August 2011 featured psychic detectives and their involvement with the case of Ali Lowitzer. Typical of missing person cases, families are approached by people claiming they will help bring the missing home. "They told me, I see trees, water, dirt... but it is all very vague" according to Susan Lowitzer a mother whose daughter has been missing since 26 April 2010. Retired FBI agent and ABC consultant Brad Garrett states, "In 30 years...I have never seen a psychic solve a mystery", while Bob Nygaard, a retired 20-year veteran of the Nassau County police department and currently a private investigator specializing in the investigation of psychics, noted that he had not worked with, nor did he know of anyone on the force who had worked with, any psychic detectives. JREF investigator and mentalist Banachek feels that psychic detectives take advantage


id: psychic-detective-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_detective-6.md
category: reference
title: Psychic detective
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_detective
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:32.645851+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: psychic-detective-20260505-0
summary:
There is a long history of psychic detectives in horror and crime fiction, and in other genres as well. One of the earliest forms of the genre was the character Flaxman Low, created in 1897 by mother and son Kate and Hesketh Hesketh-Prichard under the pseudonyms H. Heron and E. Heron. The Prichards wrote their stories at the behest of the press baron Cyril Pearson for his monthly Pearson's Magazine, though they were disconcerted to find the tales promoted by Pearson as "real". The collected work was published as The Experiences of Flaxman Low in 1899. Other literary examples include Jules de Grandin (created by Seabury Quinn), Doctor Occult (created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster) and Agent Jasi McLellan created by Cheryl Kaye Tardif. The popular TV show Psych features Shawn Spencer (James Roday Rodriguez), a charlatan paranormal detective helping the Santa Barbara police with crimes that range from robberies to kidnappings to murders. However, the man actually uses an acute sense of observation that he acquired as a child; an eidetic memory; excellent vision; and deduction and reasoning to solve cases, making a running gag of his claim to be a psychic. In Douglas Adams's Dirk Gently novels,


id: psychic-reading-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_reading-0.md
category: reference
title: Psychic reading
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychic_reading
date_saved: 2026-05-05T09:24:33.863585+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: psychic-reading-20260505-0
summary:
A psychic reading is a specific attempt to discern information through the use of heightened perceptive abilities, or natural extensions of the basic human senses of sight, sound, touch, taste and instinct. These natural extensions are claimed to be clairvoyance (vision), clairsentience (feeling), claircognisance (factual knowing) and clairaudience (hearing) and the resulting statements made during such an attempt. The term is commonly associated with paranormal-based consultation given for a fee in such settings as over the phone, in a home, or at psychic fairs. Though psychic readings are controversial and a focus of skeptical inquiry, a popular interest in them persists. Extensive experimentation to replicate psychic results in laboratory conditions have failed to find any precognitive phenomena in humans. A cold reading technique allows psychics to produce seemingly specific information about an individual from social cues and broad statements. == Types == There are many types of psychic readings practiced. Although psychic readings might not incorporate the use of any tools, a professional psychic may have one or more specialized areas of expertise. Some of the more common readings include Tarot reading, email psychic reading, palm reading, psychometry, aura readings, or astrological readings. === Astrology === Astrology is the study


