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Access Consciousness
Access Consciousness is a pseudoscientific New Age movement founded by Gary Douglas in 1995 in Santa Barbara, California, initially called Access Energy Transformation. After a failed real estate business and subsequent bankruptcy in 1993, Douglas claimed to begin channeling spirits, including Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin, from whom he learned about "Access Bars" which are points on the head purported to help with energy, health, and wealth. As of 2024, the practice has since evolved into a global movement, offering a range of self-help and energy healing techniques. Access Consciousness promotes a mix of energy therapy, elements of phrenology, and prosperity gospel principles, with practitioners claiming to "run the bars" to manipulate energy fields for various life improvements. The organization has faced significant criticism, with skeptics denouncing its practices as pseudoscientific, and allegations of abuse, cult-like behavior, and exploitation have surfaced over ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pseudoscience
Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable claims; reliance on confirmation bias rather than rigorous attempts at refutation; lack of openness to evaluation by other experts; absence of systematic practices when developing hypotheses; and continued adherence long after the pseudoscientific hypotheses have been experimentally discredited. It is not the same as junk science. The demarcation between science and pseudoscience has scientific, philosophical, and political implications. Philosophers debate the nature of science and the general criteria for drawing the line between scientific theories and pseudoscientific beliefs, but there is widespread agreement "that creationism, astrology, homeopathy, Kirlian photography, dowsing, ufology, ancient astronaut theory, Holocaust den ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reiki
Reiki is a pseudoscientific form of energy healing, a type of alternative medicine originating in Japan. Reiki practitioners use a technique called ''palm healing'' or ''hands-on healing'' through which, according to practitioners, a " universal energy" is transferred through the palms of the practitioner to the client, to encourage emotional or physical healing. It is based on qi ("chi"), which practitioners say is a universal life force, although there is no empirical evidence that such a life force exists. Reiki is used as an illustrative example of pseudoscience in scholarly texts and academic journal articles. The marketing of reiki has been described as "fraudulent misrepresentation", and itself as a "nonsensical method", with a recommendation that the American government agency NCCAM should stop funding reiki research because it "has no substantiated health value and lacks a scientifically plausible rationale". Clinical research does not show reiki to be effective ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World Suicide Prevention Day
World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD) is an awareness day always observed on 10 September every year, in order to provide worldwide commitment and action to prevent suicides, with various activities around the world since 2003. The International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) collaborates with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) to host World Suicide Prevention Day. In 2011 an estimated 40 countries held awareness events to mark the occasion. According to WHO's Mental Health Atlas released in 2014, no low-income country reported having a national suicide prevention strategy, while less than 10% of lower-middle income countries, and almost a third of upper-middle and high-income countries had. On its first event in 2003, the 1999 WHO's global suicide prevention initiative is mentioned with regards to the main strategy for its implementation, requiring: # "The organisation of global, regional and national multi-sectoral ac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Gorski
David Henry Gorski is an American surgical oncologist and professor of surgery at Wayne State University School of Medicine. He specializes in breast cancer surgery at the Karmanos Cancer Institute. Gorski is an outspoken skeptic and critic of alternative medicine and the anti-vaccination movement. He writes as Orac at ''Respectful Insolence'' and as himself at ''Science-Based Medicine,'' where he is the managing editor. Early life and education Gorski attended a Roman Catholic high school. He went on to study medicine at the University of Michigan, earning an MD in 1988. He entered a residency in general surgery in 1989 at the University Hospitals of Cleveland. Gorski completed a PhD in cellular physiology at Case Western Reserve University in 1994. His dissertation was entitled "Homeobox Gene Expression and Regulation in Vascular Myocytes." Gorski continued his residency (1993–96) and completed a surgical oncology research fellowship (1996–99) at The University of C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scientology
Scientology is a set of beliefs and practices invented by the American author L. Ron Hubbard, and an associated movement. It is variously defined as a scam, a Scientology as a business, business, a cult, or a religion. Hubbard initially developed a set of Pseudoscience, pseudoscientific ideas that he called Dianetics, which he represented as a form of therapy. An organization that he established in 1950 to promote it went bankrupt, and his ideas were rejected as nonsense by the scientific community. He then recast his ideas as a religion, likely for tax purposes and to avoid prosecution, and renamed them Scientology. In 1953, he founded the Church of Scientology which, by one 2014 estimate, has around 30,000 members worldwide. Key Scientology beliefs include reincarnation, and that traumatic events cause subconscious command-like recordings in the mind (termed "Engram (Dianetics), engrams") that can be removed only through an activity called "Auditing (Scientology), auditing". ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jonathan Jarry
Jonathan Jarry is a Canadian scientist and Science education, science communicator working in Montreal, at McGill University's Office for Science and Society (OSS). He is frequently quoted by news media on topics such as misinformation. Education and scientific career Jarry developed an early interest in several paranormal topics such as ghosts and vampires as well as cryptozoology, but progressively abandoned those beliefs while studying biochemistry in university. Jarry has a B.Sc. in Biochemistry from McGill University and an M.Sc. in Molecular Biology from the Université de Montréal and three years of a PhD program. His work as a health researcher included muscular dystrophy research, low-vision rehabilitation and molecular Medical test, diagnostic testing. His interest for forensic biology led him to work for a time at identifying the remains of American soldiers through mitochondrial DNA. Science communication Jarry joined McGill University's Office for Science and Soc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Pacific Garbage Patch
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (also Pacific trash vortex and North Pacific Garbage Patch) is a garbage patch, a gyre of marine debris particles, in the central North Pacific Ocean. It is located roughly from 135°W to 155°W and 35°N to 42°N. The collection of plastic and floating trash originates from the Pacific Rim, including countries in Asia, North America, and South America. Despite the common public perception of the patch existing as giant islands of floating garbage, its low density () prevents detection by satellite imagery, or even by casual boaters or divers in the area. This is because the patch is a widely dispersed area consisting primarily of suspended "fingernail-sized or smaller"—often microscopic—particles in the upper water column known as microplastics. Researchers from the Ocean Cleanup project claimed that the patch covers consisting of of plastic as of 2018, later growing to twice the size of Texas. By the end of 2024, the Ocean Clea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and emotional dysregulation that are excessive and pervasive, impairing in multiple contexts, and Developmental psychology, developmentally inappropriate. ADHD symptoms arise from executive dysfunction. Impairments resulting from deficits in self-regulation such as time management, Cognitive inhibition, inhibition, task initiation, and sustained attention can include poor professional performance, relationship difficulties, and numerous health risks, collectively predisposing to a diminished Quality of life (healthcare), quality of life and a reduction in life expectancy. As a consequence, the disorder costs society hundreds of billions of US dollars each year, worldwide. It is associated with other mental disorders as well as non-psychiatric disorders, which can cause additional impairment. While ADHD involves a lack of su ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Depression (mood)
Depression is a mental state of low Mood (psychology), mood and aversion to activity. It affects about 3.5% of the global population, or about 280 million people worldwide, as of 2020. Depression affects a person's thoughts, behavior, feelings, and subjective well-being, sense of well-being. The pleasure or joy that a person gets from certain experiences is reduced, and the afflicted person often experiences a loss of motivation or interest in those activities. People with depression may experience sadness, feelings of dejection or hopelessness, difficulty in thinking and concentration, or a significant change in appetite or time spent sleeping; Suicidal ideation, suicidal thoughts can also be experienced. Depression can have multiple, sometimes overlapping, origins. Depression can be a symptom of some mood disorders, some of which are also commonly called ''depression'', such as major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder and dysthymia. Additionally, depression can be a norm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Office For Science And Society
The Office for Science and Society (OSS) is an organization dedicated to science education, operating from Montreal's McGill University. Its staff and contributors use courses, mass media, special events and books to debunk Pseudoscience, pseudo-scientific myths and improve scientific literacy. History The organization was founded in 1999 as the Office for Chemistry and Society by chemistry professors Joseph A. Schwarcz, Joseph Schwarcz, David Harpp, and Ariel Fenster, with Schwarcz heading the office. The name was changed to indicate its wider focus. Both its public education role and the wide range of covered topics were explicit from the beginning: The office pioneered the COursesOnline (COOL McGill) system, an initiative that started in 2000 with three professors and two programmers and now provides online versions of 350 courses. The office is funded by McGill University. In 2011, the office received a $5.5-million grant from the Lorne Trottier Family Foundation. It r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acupressure
Acupressure is an alternative medicine technique often used in conjunction with acupuncture or reflexology. It is based on the concept of "life energy" (qi), which purportedly flows through "meridians" in the body. There is no scientific evidence for the existence of acupuncture points, meridians, or qi. Although some medical studies have suggested that acupressure may be effective at helping manage nausea and vomiting, insomnia, low back pain, migraines, and constipation, among other things, such studies have been found to have a high likelihood of bias. There is no reliable evidence for the effectiveness of acupressure. History and origin There are different theories as to the origin of acupressure. One theory posits that it originated in India and then was brought to China. Another theory posits that it originated in China. Indian theory Acupressure therapy was prevalent in India. After the Chinese Buddhism#Han Dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), spread of Buddhism to China, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meridian (Chinese Medicine)
The meridian system (, 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. Meridians are not real anatomical structures: 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'' ''Zúbì Shíyī Mài Jiǔjīng'') and the ''Cauterization Canon of the Eleven Yin and Yang Channels'' ''Yīnyáng Shíyī Mài Jiǔjīng''). In the texts, the me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
