List of topics characterized as pseudoscience

This is a list of topics that have, either currently or in the past, been characterized as pseudoscience by academics or researchers. Detailed discussion of these topics may be found on their main pages. These characterizations were made in the context of educating the public about questionable or potentially fraudulent or dangerous claims and practices—efforts to define the nature of science, or humorous parodies of poor scientific reasoning.

Criticism of pseudoscience, generally by the scientific community or skeptical organizations, involves critiques of the logical, methodological, or rhetorical bases of the topic in question. Though some of the listed topics continue to be investigated scientifically, others were only subject to scientific research in the past and today are considered refuted, but resurrected in a pseudoscientific fashion. Other ideas presented here are entirely non-scientific, but have in one way or another impinged on scientific domains or practices.

Many adherents or practitioners of the topics listed here dispute their characterization as pseudoscience. Each section here summarizes the alleged pseudoscientific aspects of that topic.

Physical sciences

Astronomy and space sciences

* 2012 phenomenon – a range of eschatological beliefs that cataclysmic or otherwise transformative events would occur on or around 21 December 2012. This date was regarded as the end-date of a 5,126-year-long cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar and as such, festivities to commemorate the date took place on 21 December 2012 in the countries that were part of the Maya civilization (Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador), with main events at Chichén Itzá in Mexico and Tikal in Guatemala. Professional Mayanist scholars stated that no extant classic Maya accounts forecast impending doom and that the idea that the Long Count calendar ends in 2012 misrepresented Maya history and culture, while astronomers rejected the various proposed doomsday scenarios easily refuted by elementary astronomical observations.
* Ancient astronauts – a concept based on the belief that intelligent extraterrestrial beings visited Earth and made contact with humans in antiquity and prehistoric times. Proponents suggest that this contact influenced the development of modern cultures, technologies and religions. A common claim is that deities from most, if not all, religions are actually extraterrestrial in origin and that advanced technologies brought to Earth by ancient astronauts were interpreted as evidence of divine status by early humans. The idea that ancient astronauts existed is not taken seriously by academics and has received no credible attention in peer-reviewed studies.
:* Anunnaki from Nibiru (Sitchin) (''variant'') – proposed by Zecharia Sitchin in his series ''The Earth Chronicles'', beginning with ''The 12th Planet'' (1976), it revolves around Sitchin's unique interpretation of ancient Sumerian and Middle Eastern texts, megalithic sites, and artifacts from around the world. He hypothesizes that the gods of old Mesopotamia were actually astronauts from the planet " Nibiru", which Sitchin claims the Sumerians believed was a remote "12th planet" (counting the Sun, Moon and Pluto as planets) associated with the god Marduk. According to Sitchin, Nibiru continues to orbit our Sun on a 3,600-year elongated orbit.
:* Ancient astronauts from the Sirius star-system (Temple) (''variant'') – Robert K. G. Temple's proposal in his book '' The Sirius Mystery'' (1976) argues that the Dogon people of northwestern Mali preserved an account of extraterrestrial visitation from around 5,000 years ago. He quotes various lines of evidence, including supposed advanced astronomical knowledge inherited by the tribe, descriptions, and comparative belief systems with ancient civilizations such as ancient Egypt and Sumer.
* Astrology (see also Astrology and science) – consists of a number of belief systems that hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events or descriptions of personality in the human world. Several systems of divination are based on the relative positions and movement of various real and construed celestial bodies. Scientific testing of astrology has been conducted and no evidence has been found to support the premises or purported effects outlined in astrological traditions. Where astrology has made falsifiable predictions, it has been falsified.
* Creationist cosmologies are explanations of the origins and form of the universe in terms of the Genesis creation narrative (Genesis 1), according to which the God of the Bible created the cosmos in eight creative acts over the six days of the "creation week".
* Evidence for life on Mars
:* The Face on Mars is a rock formation in Cydonia Mensae on Mars asserted to be evidence of intelligent, native life on the planet. High-resolution images taken recently show it to appear less face-like. It features prominently in the works of Richard C. Hoagland and Tom Van Flandern. This effect can also be explained by the psychological phenomenon pareidolia, whereby one assigns meaning (such as facial perception) to an otherwise ambiguous or meaningless stimulus.
* Lunar effect – the belief that the full Moon influences human behavior.
* Modern flat Earth beliefs propose that Earth is a flat, disc-shaped planet that accelerates upward, producing the illusion of gravity. Proposers of a flat Earth, such as the Flat Earth Research Society, do not accept compelling evidence, such as photos of Earth from space.
* Modern geocentrism – In astronomy, the geocentric model (also known as geocentrism or the Ptolemaic system) is a superseded description of the universe with Earth at the center. Under the geocentric model, the Sun, Moon, stars and planets all circled Earth. The geocentric model served as the predominant description of the cosmos in many ancient civilizations, such as those of Aristotle and Ptolemy.
* Moon landing conspiracy theories – claim that some or all elements of the Apollo program and the associated Moon landings were hoaxes staged by NASA with the aid of other organizations. The most notable claim is that the six manned landings (1969–72) were faked and that 12 Apollo astronauts did not actually walk on the Moon. Various groups and individuals have made claims since the mid-1970s that NASA and others knowingly misled the public into believing the landings happened by manufacturing, tampering with or destroying evidence, including photos, telemetry tapes, radio and TV transmissions and Moon rock samples, and even killing some key witnesses.
* Nibiru cataclysm – a prediction first made by contactee Nancy Lieder that a mythological planet Nibiru would collide with Earth. After having adjusted her prediction many times, she later claimed the year of the occurrence to be 2012. In 2017, a conspiracy theorist known as David Meade claimed 2017 was the year Nibiru would hit.
* Vaimānika Shāstra – claim that airplanes were invented in ancient India during the Vedic period. A 1974 study by researchers at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore found that the heavier-than-air aircraft that the ''Vaimānika Shāstra'' described were aerodynamically unfeasible. The authors remarked that the discussion of the principles of flight in the text were largely perfunctory and incorrect, in some cases violating Newton's laws of motion.
* ''Worlds in Collision'' – writer Immanuel Velikovsky proposed in his book ''Worlds in Collision'' that ancient texts and geographic evidence show mankind was witness to catastrophic interactions of other planets in our Solar System.

Earth sciences

* Megalithic geometry or 366 geometry – posits the existence of an Earth-based geometry dating back to at least 3500 BCE and the possibility that such a system is still in use in modern Freemasonry. According to proponents, megalithic civilizations in Britain and Brittany had advanced knowledge of geometry and the size of Earth. The megalithic yard is correlated to the polar circumference of Earth using a circle divided into 366 degrees.
* The Bermuda Triangle – a region of the Atlantic Ocean that lies between Bermuda, Puerto Rico and (in its most popular version) Florida. Ship and aircraft disasters and disappearances perceived as frequent in this area have led to the circulation of stories of unusual natural phenomena, paranormal encounters and interactions with extraterrestrials.
* Climate change denial – involves denial, dismissal, unwarranted doubt or contrarian views which depart from the scientific consensus on climate change, including the extent to which it is caused by humans, its impacts on nature and human society, or the potential of adaptation to global warming by human actions.: "The first pillar of climate change denial—that climate change is bad science—attacks various aspects of the scientific consensus about climate change...there are climate change deniers:
* who deny that significant climate change is occurring
* who...deny that human activity is significantly responsible
* who...deny the scientific evidence about its significant effects on the world and our society...
* who...deny that humans can take significant actions to reduce or mitigate its impact.
Of these varieties of climate change denial, the most visible are the first and the second.": "Anatomy of Denial—Global warming deniers...throw up a succession of claims, and fall back from one line of defense to the next as scientists refute each one in turn. Then they start over:
'The earth is not warming.'
'All right, it is warming but the Sun is the cause.'
'Well then, humans are the cause, but it doesn't matter, because it warming will do no harm. More carbon dioxide will actually be beneficial. More crops will grow.'
'Admittedly, global warming could turn out to be harmful, but we can do nothing about it.'
'Sure, we could do something about global warming, but the cost would be too great. We have more pressing problems here and now, like AIDS and poverty.'
'We might be able to afford to do something to address global warming some-day, but we need to wait for sound science, new technologies, and geoengineering.'
'The earth is not warming. Global warming ended in 1998; it was never a crisis.'
* Flood geology – creationist form of geology that advocates most of the geologic features on Earth are explainable by a global flood.
* The Hollow Earth – a proposal that Earth is either entirely hollow or consists of hollow sections beneath the crust. Certain folklore and conspiracy theories hold this idea and suggest the existence of subterranean life.
* Welteislehre, a.k.a. the World Ice Theory or Glacial Cosmogony – ice is proposed to be the basic substance of all cosmic processes and ice moons, ice planets and the "global ether" (also made of ice) had determined the entire development of the universe.

Physics

* Autodynamics – a physics theory proposed in the 1940s that claims the equations of the Lorentz transformation are incorrectly formulated to describe relativistic effects, which would invalidate Einstein's theories of special relativity and general relativity, and Maxwell's equations. The theory is discounted by the mainstream physics community.
* E-Cat – a claimed cold fusion reactor.Patent application
* Einstein–Cartan–Evans theory – a unified theory of physics proposed by Myron Wyn Evans which claims to unify general relativity, quantum mechanics and electromagnetism.: "ECE Theory was discovered by chemist, physicist, and mathematician, Myron Wyn Evans...". The hypothesis was largely published in the journal ''Foundations of Physics Letters'' between 2003 and 2005; in 2008, the editor published an editorial note effectively retracting the journal's support for the hypothesis due to incorrect mathematical claims.
* Electrogravitics – claimed to be an unconventional type of effect or anti-gravity propulsion created by an electric field's effect on a mass. The name was coined in the 1920s by Thomas Townsend Brown, who first described the effect and spent most of his life trying to develop it and sell it as a propulsion system. Follow-ups on the claims (R. L. Talley in a 1990 U.S. Air Force study, NASA scientist Jonathan Campbell in a 2003 experiment and Martin Tajmar in a 2004 paper) have found that no thrust could be observed in a vacuum, consistent with the phenomenon of ion wind.
* Free energy – a class of perpetual motion that purports to create energy (violating the first law of thermodynamics) or extract useful work from equilibrium systems (violating the second law of thermodynamics).
:* Water-fueled cars – an instance of perpetual motion machines. Such devices are claimed to use water as fuel or produce fuel from water on board with no other energy input. Many such claims are part of investment frauds.
:* Gasoline pill or ''gasoline powder'', which was claimed to turn water into gasoline.
:* Hongcheng Magic Liquid – a scam in China where Wang Hongcheng (Chinese: 王洪成; pinyin: Wáng Hóngchéng), a bus driver from Harbin with no scientific education, claimed in 1983 that he could turn regular water into a fuel as flammable as petrol by simply dissolving a few drops of his liquid in it.
* Hydrinos – a supposed state of the hydrogen atom that, according to its proponent, is of lower energy than ground state and has extremely high efficiency as a fuel. and Critics say it lacks corroborating scientific evidence and is a relic of cold fusion. Critical analysis of the claims have been published in the peer reviewed journals ''Physics Letters A'', ''New Journal of Physics'', ''Journal of Applied Physics'', and '' Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics'' stating that the proposed hydrino states are unphysical and incompatible with key equations of quantum mechanics.

*Orgone – a pseudoscientific concept described as an esoteric energy or hypothetical universal life force, originally proposed in the 1930s.

Applied sciences

Agriculture

* Lysenkoism, or Lysenko-Michurinism – was a political campaign against genetics and science-based agriculture conducted by Trofim Lysenko, his followers and Soviet authorities. Lysenko served as the director of the Soviet Union's Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Lysenkoism began in the late 1920s and formally ended in 1964. The pseudoscientific ideas of Lysenkoism built on Lamarckian concepts of the heritability of acquired characteristics. Lysenko's theory rejected Mendelian inheritance and the concept of the "gene"; it departed from Darwinian evolutionary theory by rejecting natural selection.
* Biodynamic agriculture – method of organic farming that treats farms as unified and individual organisms. Biodynamics uses a calendar which has been characterized as astrological. The substances and composts used by biodynamicists have been described as unconventional and homeopathic. For example, field mice are countered by deploying ashes prepared from field mice skin when Venus is in the Scorpius constellation. No difference in beneficial outcomes has been scientifically established between certified biodynamic agricultural techniques and similar organic and integrated farming practices. Biodynamic agriculture lacks strong scientific evidence for its efficacy and has been labeled a pseudoscience because of its overreliance upon esoteric knowledge and mystical beliefs.

Architecture

* Feng shui – ancient Chinese system of mysticism and aesthetics based on astronomy, geography and the putative flow of '' qi''. Evidence for its effectiveness is based on anecdote and there is a lack of a plausible method of action; this leads to conflicting advice from different practitioners of feng shui. Feng shui practitioners use this as evidence of variations or different schools; critical analysts have described it thus: "Feng shui has always been based upon mere guesswork." Modern criticism differentiates between feng shui as a traditional proto-religion and the modern practice: "A naturalistic belief, it was originally used to find an auspicious dwelling place for a shrine or a tomb. However, over the centuries it...has become distorted and degraded into a gross superstition."
* Ley lines – proposed intentional alignment of ancient monuments and landscape features was later explained by a statistical analysis of lines that concluded: "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." Additional New Age and feng shui concepts have been proposed building on the original concept and pseudoscientific claims about energy flowing through the lines have been made.
* Vastu shastra is the ancient Hindu system of architecture, which lays down a series of rules for building houses in relation to ambiance. Vastu Shastra is considered as pseudoscience by rationalists like Narendra Nayak of Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations and astronomer Jayant Narlikar, who writes that Vastu does not have any "logical connection" to the environment.

Finance

* Technical analysis is a security analysis methodology for forecasting the direction of prices through the study of past market data, primarily price and volume. Behavioral economics and quantitative analysis use many of the same tools of technical analysis, which, being an aspect of active management, stands in contradiction to much of modern portfolio theory. The efficacy of both technical and fundamental analysis is disputed by the efficient-market hypothesis, which states that stock market prices are essentially unpredictable. It is still considered by many academics to be pseudoscience. Academics such as Eugene Fama say the evidence for technical analysis is sparse and is inconsistent with the '' weak form'' of the efficient-market hypothesis.

Health and medicine

Pseudoscientific medical practices are often known as quackery. In contrast, modern medicine is (or seeks to be) evidence-based.
* Acupuncture – use of fine needles to stimulate ''acupuncture points'' and balance the flow of ''qi''. There is no known anatomical or histological basis for the existence of ''acupuncture points'' or ''meridians'' and acupuncture is regarded as an alternative medical procedure. Some acupuncturists regard them as functional rather than structural entities, useful in guiding evaluation and care of patients. Acupuncture has been the subject of active scientific research since the late 20th century and its effects and application remain controversial among medical researchers and clinicians. Some scholarly reviews conclude that acupuncture's effects are mainly attributable to the placebo effect and others find likelihood of efficacy for particular conditions.
** Dry needling is the therapeutic insertion of fine needles without regard to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) knowledge and is similarly controversial.
** Acupressure is an alternative medicine technique similar in principle to acupuncture. It is based on the concept of life energy, which flows through "meridians" in the body. In treatment, physical pressure is applied to acupuncture points with the aim of clearing blockages in these meridians. Pressure may be applied by hand, by elbow, or with various devices. Some studies have suggested it may be effective at helping manage nausea and vomiting, lower back pain, tension headaches and stomach ache, although such studies have been found to have a high likelihood of bias. Like many alternative medicines, it may benefit from a placebo effect. Quackwatch says acupressure is a dubious practice and its practitioners use irrational methods.
* Addiction recovery 12-step models, which rely on a view of addiction and alcoholism as “spiritual diseases” for which the only remedy (although not a cure, as this view defines addiction as chronic and incurable) is a “spiritual conversion” in which a person must surrender their will to a deity.
* Adrenal fatigue or hypoadrenia is a pseudoscientific diagnosis described as a state in which the adrenal glands are exhausted and unable to produce adequate quantities of hormones, primarily the glucocorticoid cortisol, due to chronic stress or infections. Quote: "There is no scientific basis for the existence of this disorder and no conclusive method for diagnosis." Adrenal fatigue should not be confused with a number of actual forms of adrenal dysfunction such as adrenal insufficiency or Addison's disease. The term "adrenal fatigue", which was invented in 1998 by James Wilson, a chiropractor, may be applied to a collection of mostly nonspecific symptoms. There is no scientific evidence supporting the concept of adrenal fatigue and it is not recognized as a diagnosis by any scientific or medical community. A systematic review found no evidence for the term adrenal fatigue, confirming the consensus among endocrinological societies that it is a myth.
* The Alexander Technique, named after its creator Frederick Matthias Alexander, is an educational process that was created to retrain habitual patterns of movement and posture. Alexander believed that poor habits in posture and movement damaged spatial self-awareness as well as health and that movement efficiency could support overall physical well-being. He saw the technique as a mental training technique as well. Alexander began developing his technique's principles in the 1890s in an attempt to address voice loss during public speaking. He credited his method with allowing him to pursue his passion for reciting in Shakespearean theater. Some proponents of the Alexander Technique say that it addresses a variety of health conditions related to cumulative physical behaviors, but there is little evidence to support many of the claims made about the technique. As of 2015, there was evidence suggesting the Alexander Technique may be helpful for both long-term back pain and long-term neck pain and may help people cope with Parkinson's disease. However, both Aetna and the Australian Department of Health have conducted reviews and concluded that the technique has insufficient evidence to warrant insurance coverage.
*
* Alternative cancer treatments are alternative or complementary treatments for cancer that have not been approved by the government agencies responsible for the regulation of therapeutic goods and have not undergone properly conducted, well-designed clinical trials. Among those that have been published, the methodology is often poor. A 2006 systematic review of 214 articles covering 198 clinical trials of alternative cancer treatments concluded that almost none conducted dose-ranging studies, which are necessary to ensure that the patients are being given a useful amount of the treatment. These kinds of treatments appear and vanish frequently and have done so throughout history.
* Alternative or fringe medicine – The terms ''alternative medicine'', ''complementary medicine'', ''integrative medicine,'' ''holistic medicine'', ''natural medicine'', ''unorthodox medicine'', ''fringe medicine'', ''unconventional medicine'' and ''New Age medicine'' are used interchangeably and are almost synonymous. Terminology shifts over time to reflect the branding of practitioners."Integrative medicine": A brand, not a specialty
'' Science Based Medicine'' Therapies are often framed as "natural" or "holistic", implicitly and intentionally suggesting that conventional medicine is "artificial" and "narrow in scope".
*Animal magnetism – also known as mesmerism; was the name given by German doctor Franz Mesmer in the 18th century to what he believed to be an invisible natural force (''Lebensmagnetismus'') possessed by all living things, including humans, animals and vegetables. He believed that the force could have physical effects, including healing, and he tried persistently but without success to achieve scientific recognition of his ideas.Wolfart, Karl Christian; Friedrich Anton Mesmer. ''Mesmerismus: Oder, System der Wechselwirkungen, Theorie und Anwendung des thierischen Magnetismus als die allgemeine Heilkunde zur Erhaltung des Menschen'' (in German, facsimile of the 1811 edition). Cambridge University Press, 2011. . Foreword.
* Anthroposophic medicine, or anthroposophical medicine, is a form of alternative medicine. ''Cited in'' Devised in the 1920s by Rudolf Steiner and Ita Wegman, it was based on occult notions and drew on Steiner's spiritual philosophy, which he called anthroposophy. Practitioners employ a variety of treatment techniques based upon anthroposophic precepts. Many drug preparations used in anthroposophic medicine are ultra-diluted substances, similar to those used in homeopathy. Some anthroposophic doctors oppose childhood vaccination and this has led to preventable outbreaks of disease. Professor of complementary medicine Edzard Ernst and other critics have characterized anthroposophic medicine as having no basis in science, pseudoscientific and quackery.
* Apitherapy is a branch of alternative medicine that uses honey bee products, including honey, pollen, propolis, royal jelly and bee venom. Proponents of apitherapy make claims for its health benefits, which remain unsupported by evidence-based medicine.
* Applied kinesiology (AK) is a technique in alternative medicine claimed to be able to diagnose illness or choose treatment by testing muscles for strength and weakness. According to their guidelines on allergy diagnostic testing, the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology stated there is "no evidence of diagnostic validity" of applied kinesiology. Another study has shown that as an evaluative method, AK "is no more useful than random guessing" and the American Cancer Society has said that "scientific evidence does not support the claim that applied kinesiology can diagnose or treat cancer or other illness".
* Aromatherapy uses aromatic materials, including essential oils, and other aroma compounds, with claims for improving psychological or physical well-being. It is offered as a complementary therapy or as a form of alternative medicine, the first meaning alongside standard treatments, the second instead of conventional, evidence-based treatments. Aromatherapists, people who specialize in the practice of aromatherapy, utilize blends of supposedly therapeutic essential oils that can be used as topical application, massage, inhalation or water immersion. There is no good medical evidence that aromatherapy can either prevent, treat, or cure any disease. Placebo-controlled trials are difficult to design, as the point of aromatherapy is the smell of the products. There is disputed evidence that it may be effective in combating postoperative nausea and vomiting.
* Auriculotherapy (also auricular therapy, ear acupuncture, and auriculoacupuncture) is a form of alternative medicine based on the idea that the ear is a micro-system which reflects the entire body, represented on the auricle, the outer portion of the ear. Conditions affecting the physical, mental or emotional health of the patient are assumed to be treatable by stimulation of the surface of the ear exclusively. Similar mappings are used in many areas of the body, including the practices of reflexology and iridology. These mappings are not based on or supported by any medical or scientific evidence and are therefore considered to be pseudoscience.
* Autistic enterocolitis – is the name of a nonexistent medical condition proposed by discredited British gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield when he suggested a link between a number of common clinical symptoms and signs which he contended were distinctive to autism. The existence of such an enterocolitis has been dismissed by experts as having "not been established". Wakefield's now-retracted and fraudulent report used inadequate controls and suppressed negative findings and multiple attempts to replicate his results have been unsuccessful. Reviews in the medical literature have found no link between autism and bowel disease.
* Ayurveda – traditional Ayurveda is a 5,000-year-old alternative medical practice with roots in ancient India based on a mind-body set of beliefs. Imbalance or stress in an individual's consciousness is believed to be the cause of diseases. Patients are classified by body types (three '' doshas'', which are considered to control mind-body harmony, determine an individual's "body type") and treatment is aimed at restoring balance to the mind-body system. It has long been the main traditional system of health care in India and it has become institutionalized in India's colleges and schools, although unlicensed practitioners are common. As with other traditional knowledge, much of it was lost; in the West, current practice is in part based on the teachings of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in the 1980s, who mixed it with Transcendental Meditation; other forms of Ayurveda exist as well. The most notable advocate of Ayurveda in America is Deepak Chopra, who claims that the Maharishi's Ayurveda is based on quantum mysticism.
* Balneotherapy ( la, balneum "bath") is the presumed benefit from disease by bathing, a traditional medicine technique usually practiced at spas. Balneotherapy may involve hot or cold water, massage through moving water, relaxation, or stimulation. Many mineral waters at spas are rich in particular minerals such as silica, sulfur, selenium and radium. Scientific studies into the effectiveness of balneotherapy do not show that balneotherapy is effective for treating rheumatoid arthritis. There is also no evidence indicating a more effective type of bath, or to indicate that bathing is more effective than physical exercise, relaxation therapy, or mudpack

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