The Un-Science! Wiki
I thought we could save a lot of waffing about and repetition in threads, by making a list of things that are one or more of the following:
The List
For medical stuff: http://www.cochrane.org
For disproving urban legends: http://www.snopes.com
For everything else: www.wikipedia.com
- not science
- known not to work
- not proven to work
- just plain nonsense
The List
- Homeopathy - never reliably shown to be better than placebo. It's water.
- Dowsing - never successfully demonstrated under scientific conditions.
- Chiropractic - you don't have any subluxations. Someone made those up. Like reflexology, a backrub is nice. Having someone "manipulate" your neck, less so. Actually dangerous and has had fatal outcomes.
- Psychics/mediums/clairvoyants/etc. Anyone who claims to be able to do this is either a liar or mentally ill.
- Ayurvedic/Traditional Chinese/etc medicine
- New Age woo - crystal therapy, reflexology (having your feet rubbed is nice. It won't make your spleen better), iridology, cupping, ear candles, etc., etc., et bloody cetera.
- Astrology
- Pyramid power/built by aliens
- Moon landing hoax
- ancient astronauts
- Nazca line nonsense
- Airplane/Conveyor Belt discussions. The executive summary is "it takes off".
- Religion
- Crop Circles (as in made by alien spacecraft rather than bored hippies)
- Perpetual Motion machines (aka "free energy") - the discussions keep going and going, unlike the devices
- 9/11 conspiracy theories
- Ghosts (PH user "Hora")
- UFOs (as in little green men driving spaceships. Flying things we have not identified, ok, therefore IT WOZ THE ALIENS DUNNIT!!!, woo).
- Ley lines
- Feng shui
- Creationism
- Faith healing
- Magnet therapy
- Acupuncture
- Urine therapy
- Sasquatch/Yetis
- Loch Ness Monster
- Electric Superchargers for your car on Ebay
- Expensive speaker cables/interconnects
- Atlantis ( except possibly in connection with undersea archeological finds )
- Anything uttered by Gillian Keith
- Any scientific 'evidence' quoted by a politician or their spokesmen
- Dream analysis
For medical stuff: http://www.cochrane.org
For disproving urban legends: http://www.snopes.com
For everything else: www.wikipedia.com