Pseudoscience is defective

science
 Fuzzy Boundaries Between
Science and Pseudoscience
• Subject matter: Sense and non-sense
• There is a continuum between these
extremes not a simple true or false.

• Individual: Competence, incompetence,

• Insane, one field able, once competent,
• Cranks.
 pseudoscience
• pseudoscience is an established body of
knowledge which masquerades as science in
an attempt to claim a legitimacy which it
would not otherwise be able to achieve on its
own terms; it is often known as fringe- or
alternative science.
 pseudoscience
• The most important of its defects is usually
the lack of the carefully controlled and
thoughtfully interpreted experiments which
provide the foundation of the natural sciences
and which contribute to their advancement.
 pseudoscience
• The term "established body of knowledge" is important here,
because the pursuit of scientific knowledge usually involves
elements of intuition and guesswork;
• experiments do not always test a theory adequately, and
experimental results can be incorrectly interpreted or even
wrong.
• In legitimate science, however, these problems tend to be self-
correcting, if not by the original researchers themselves, then
through the critical scrutiny of the greater scientific community.
 Some other kinds of
defective science
pathological science
• N-rays

• Poly-water

• Cold fusion

• Bowen Technique

Intelligent Design

• Acupuncture
 Some other kinds of
defective science
• junk science

• "9944/100% Pure: It Floats"

• Ivory Soap is a classic example of junk science from

the 19th century. Not only is the term "pure"
meaningless when applied to an undefined mixture such
as hand soap, but the implication that its ability to float
is evidence of this purity is deceptive. The low density is
achieved by beating air bubbles into it, actually
reducing the "purity" of the product and in a sense
cheating the consumer.
 Some other kinds of
defective science
• bad science
Bad science describes well-intentioned but incorrect, obsolete,
incomplete, or over-simplified expositions of scientific ideas. An
example would be the statement that electrons revolve in orbits
around the atomic nucleus, a picture that was discredited in the
1920's, but is so much more vivid and easily grasped than the
one that supplanted it that it shows no sign of dying out.
 How can you recognize
pseudoscience?
• The primary goal of science is to achieve a
more complete and more unified
understanding of the physical world.
• Pseudo-sciences are more likely to be driven
by ideological, cultural, or commercial goals.

•
How can you recognize
pseudoscience?
• Most scientific fields are the subjects of
intense research which result in the
continual expansion of knowledge in the
discipline.
• A pseudo-scientific field evolves very
little since it was first established. The
small amount of research and
experimentation that is carried out is
generally done more to justify the belief
than to extend it.
How can you recognize
pseudoscience?
• Scientists commonly seek out
counterexamples or findings that
appear to be inconsistent with accepted
theories.

• In pseudo-sciences, a challenge to
accepted dogma is often considered a
hostile act if not heresy, and leads to
bitter disputes or even schisms.
How can you recognize
pseudoscience?
• In science observations or data that are
not consistent with current scientific
understanding, once shown to be
credible, generate intense interest
among scientists and stimulate additional
studies.
• In a pseudoscience observations or data
that are not consistent with established
beliefs tend to be ignored or actively
suppressed.
 How can you recognize
pseudoscience?
• Science is a process in which each principle
must be tested in the crucible of experience
and remains subject to being questioned or
rejected at any time.
• The major tenets and principles of
pseudoscience are often not falsifiable, and
are unlikely ever to be altered or shown to be
wrong.
 Isreal Flying rabbis Fight Swine
Flu with Prayer,and Shofer
Israel - On Monday
morning an Arkia airlines
plane took off from Ben
Gurion Airport carrying
rabbis and Kabbalists and
flew over the country in a
flight aimed at preventing
the swine flu virus from
spreading in Israel through
prayers.
 How can you recognize
pseudoscience?
• Scientific ideas and concepts must stand or fall
on their own merits, based on existing
knowledge and on evidence.
• Pseudoscientific concepts tend to be shaped by
individual egos and personalities, almost
always by individuals who are not in contact
with mainstream science. They often invoke
authority (a famous name, for example) for
support.
CARL SAGAN'S BALONEY DETECTION KIT
• Wherever possible there must be independent confirmation of the facts
• Encourage substantive debate on the evidence by knowledgeable proponents
of all points of view.
• Arguments from authority carry little weight (in science there are no
"authorities").
• Spin more than one hypothesis - don't simply run with the first idea that
caught your fancy.
• Try not to get overly attached to a hypothesis just because it's yours.
• Quantify, wherever possible.
• If there is a chain of argument every link in the chain must work.
• "Ochkam's razor" - if there are two hypothesis that explain the data equally
well choose the simpler.
• Ask whether the hypothesis can, at least in principle, be falsified (shown to
be false by some unambiguous test). In other words, it is testable? Can others
duplicate the experiment and get the same result?
 Marks of Pseudoscience or
Bogus Science
1. A lack of well-controlled, reproducible experimental support.
(by definition)
2. Over reliance on anecdotal evidence.
3. Play on supposed inconsistencies in science.
4. Attempt to explain the (so far) unexplainable. Appeal to mysteries &
myths.
5. Argument by analogy. Argument by spurious similarity.
6. Abuse of well-known scientists by;
a. inferring they would agree with them.
b. quoting them out of context.

7. Over reliance on surveys and statistical arguments

8. Filtering data. The “grab-bag” approach to data.
9. Use of anachronistic arguments. Arguing against long-dead theories.
10. Use of irrefutable hypothesis.
11. Refusal to revise in spite of being proven wrong.
12. Lack of controlled experiments
13. Grab bag approach to gathering evidence.
14. Use of irrefutable hypothesis
15. Appeals to mysteries and myths
More marks of Pseudoscience or
Bogus Science
• Makes Pitch to News Media instead of
bona fide Scientific Journals
• Makes claims of suppression
• Proposes effect nearly impossible to detect
• Evidence to support idea is mostly anecdotal
• Works in isolation
• Proposes new law of nature to explain discovery
 Examples of Pseudoscience or
Bogus Science
• Dianetics
• Worlds in Collision
• Creationism
• Astrology
* acupuncture
• astrology
• Bermuda triangle
• biorhythms
• codependency
• creationism and creation science
• hollow Earth
• hypnosis
• intelligent design
• morphic resonance
 Bad Science
• Frequently deliberately dishonest
• Overlooks facts
• Misinterprets
• Presents incorrect data
• Data Incomplete or absent
• Many hidden variables
• Unreliable or anecdotal data
• Exhibits researcher bias
• Poor preparation or inadequate education
 Alien thinking
• Not many scientists are
prepared to take tales of
alien abduction seriously,
but John Mack, a Harvard
professor who was killed
in a road accident in north
London last year, did. Ten
years on from a row which
nearly lost him his job,
hundreds of people who
claim they were abducted
still revere him.
 Good or Bad Science
• Pylons 'may be a leukemia risk'
The researchers looked at high
voltage power linesLiving too
close to overhead power lines
appears to increase the risk
of childhood leukemia,
researchers say. A major study
found children who had lived
within 200 meters of high
voltage lines at birth had a 70%
higher risk of leukemia than
those 600m or more away.
Nano-scientist's dark secret
• One of the most brilliant scientific
researchers of recent years stands accused of
committing an elaborate scientific fraud,
fooling many eminent experts.
•
• Bell's internal inquiry on Schoen was damning

• In 2001, a team led by Hendrik Schoen

appeared to have invented the smallest
organic transistor ever made.

• Only a single molecule in length, it was

hailed as a huge breakthrough, capable of
transforming the world of computers.

• But, as BBC Two's Horizon program shows

this week, the "breakthrough" led to his
disgrace and began a cascade of events
that would result in one of the most
intriguing science stories of recent years.

• When he published his work, Schoen's tiny

transistor was regarded as a discovery
that could have blasted open the world of
nanotechnology - where cheap, powerful
computers could transform the world in
which we live.
 Nano-scientist's dark secret

• In 2001, a team led by Hendrik Schoen appeared to have invented the

smallest organic transistor ever made.

• Only a single molecule in length, it was hailed as a huge breakthrough,

capable of transforming the world of computers.

• But, as BBC Two's Horizon programme shows this week, the

"breakthrough" led to his disgrace and began a cascade of events that
would result in one of the most intriguing science stories of recent years.

• When he published his work, Schoen's tiny transistor was regarded as a

discovery that could have blasted open the world of nanotechnology -
where cheap, powerful computers could transform the world in which we
live.
 Stuff of legend

• Transistors are the minute "switches" that control the flow of

information in a computer chip. The more you can fit on to a chip, the
more powerful your computer.

• Schoen's transistor was far smaller than anything possible on a silicon

chip, so it seemed to herald a new age when computer power could
grow to undreamed of levels.

• It was the latest in a long line of great discoveries made by Schoen.

He was only in his early 30s and yet had already made advances in
the world of superconductors and lasers.

• His name had become so prominent in the scientific journals that to

many of his rivals he had taken on legendary status.
 Growing doubts

• What he had apparently achieved was a way of connecting up dye-like

molecules in a transistor circuit. When the circuit was switched on,
they found it had the same characteristics as a silicon transistor.

• It was a double breakthrough. Schoen's transistor was not just very

small, it was made from simple organic molecules.

• It promised incredibly cheap computer chips that did not need to be

manufactured in hugely expensive fabrication plants, but instead
could be custom-built, at a fraction of the cost, in simple laboratories.
 Growing doubts

• What he had apparently achieved was a way of connecting up dye-like

molecules in a transistor circuit. When the circuit was switched on,
they found it had the same characteristics as a silicon transistor.

• It was a double breakthrough. Schoen's transistor was not just very

small, it was made from simple organic molecules.

• It promised incredibly cheap computer chips that did not need to be

manufactured in hugely expensive fabrication plants, but instead
could be custom-built, at a fraction of the cost, in simple laboratories.
 doubts

• Many of Hendrik Schoen's fantastic claims just could not be repeated in

the lab by rival scientists, and many were getting frustrated. It had got
to the point where there were serious whisperings about his credibility.

• Analysis of his papers going back through previous years provided more
evidence of suspicious data.

• Schoen's employers, Bell Laboratories, instantly launched an

independent investigation into his conduct and the verdict was damning.

• After its findings were released, Bell fired Schoen. Nature, the journal
which had published much of his work, retracted the suspect papers
triggering a huge amount of soul searching in the scientific community.
 Bad Science

Poly-Water and Cold Fusion

Case Histories
 Outline
• The Russian revolution
– Fedyakin and Deryagin
– Experimental setup
– Results
• Spreading to the West
– Lippincott and Allen
• Involvement of the media
– Donahoe article
• Polybunking De Water
– Rousseau et al
 In the Beginning…
• Nikolai N. Fedyakin
– Kostrama Polytechnical Institute
– Found spontaneous water condensation in capillaries
under certain experimental conditions (1962)
• Different properties than normal water
• Boris V. Deryagin
– Surface Forces Laboratory at the Institute of Physical
Chemistry of the Soviet Academy of Sciences
– Took over research
• Perfected experimental technique for production of condensate
Experimental Setup
 Process and Results
• Condensate Properties
– Freezing “Interval” ~ 243 K to 213 K
– Boiling Point ~ 523 K to 573 K
– Density 1.4 g/cm3
– Thermal expansion coefficient ~ 1.5 times normal water
 Spreading to the West
• Ellis R. Lippincott U. of Maryland
– Infrared Spectroscopy
• Very different from normal water
• Taken as evidence of polymeric
structure

Poly-
water

Water

Rousseau 57
 Spreading to the West
• Leland C. Allen
– First methodical theoretical
investigation
– Found feasible structure—
cyclometric water
• Roughly the same internal energy
as normal water
• Compatible with high density and
viscosity of polywater

Franks, F., Polywater, p.93

 Media Involvement
• F. J. Donahoe (1969)
– Most Dangerous Material on Earth
– Mass-media gets involved

The Number of Publications Per Year

Franks, F., Polywater, p. 120
 Lehigh Conference (1970)
• The “Showdown” between believers and doubters
• Nothing much resolved
– Lippincott
• trouble producing spectra without contaminants
– Allen
• new calculations cast doubt on polywater
– Denis L. Rousseau
• introduced theory of organic contaminants
 DeBunking
• Denis Rousseau and Sergio Porto at USC
– Use Raman scattering for spectroscopy
– Condensate turns to black char
• Polywater should not do this
• Combination of Na, Cl, and SO4
– Proponents-contaminants in Rousseau’s but not theirs
– Rousseau uses infrared spectroscopy on sweat

Polywater

Sweat

Rousseau 57
 Discussion and Conclusion
• Polywater as a Pathologic Science
– (Langmuir 1953)

• People remained divided on the subject for

a long time

• The epidemic of poly-water was fuelled by

intense media coverage
 Too Good To
Be True

The Strange, But True, Story of Cold

Fusion
 The Announcement
• March 23, 1989 – Salt Lake City
• “Two scientists have successfully created a sustained
nuclear fusion reaction at room temperature in a chemistry
laboratory at the University of Utah.”
• “The greatest invention
since the discovery of fire.”
 Pons and Fleischmann

Dr. Stanley Pons Dr. Martin Fleischman

 A Nuclear Fusion Primer
• In nuclear fusion two light nuclei are
combined into a heavier nucleus, releasing
energy.
• Deuterium, 2H, can be used in D-D fusion to
release approximately 4.00 MeV per fusion.

p
n Deuterium
 Two Pathways
D + D → p + 3H D + D →n + 3He

p p
p p n n
n n

n n p
p H
3 3
He n n
p p
 Energy Of Fusion
• In the D + D → p + 3H reaction most of the
energy (3 MeV) is carried away by the
proton.
• In the D + D →n + 3He reaction the neutron
carries most of the energy (2.45 MeV).
 Hot Fusion

• Because of the electrostatic repulsion between the

deuterium nuclei high temperatures are used to
bring them together to fuse.
• Magnetically confined plasmas are used to
generate the high temperatures.
Hot Fusion: Tokomak
The Cold Fusion Machine

• The Cold fusion

“machine” was a
beaker of “heavy
water” (D2O) with a
couple of electrodes
and a small power
supply.
The Cold Fusion Experiment

How did they do that?

The Cold Fusion Cell
• The anode is a coil of
platinum and the cathode
a palladium rod.
• The cell is filled with
heavy water and immersed
in a water bath.
• LiOD is added to the
heavy water as the
electrolyte.
 The Cold Fusion Process
• The electric current splits the D2O molecules into D2 gas
and OD– ions at the cathode.
• The ions migrate to the anode and form D2O and O2.
• Palladium has a great affinity for hydrogen and deuterium
ions are absorbed into the cathode – up to a density of
thousands of times that of deuterium gas.
• The closely packed deuterium nuclei fuse and release heat,
neutrons, protons, etc.
 The Signs of Fusion
• Excess Heat*
• Neutrons*
• Tritium* (?)
• 3
He
• Protons
The P & F Evidence

Heat and Light

Excess Heat
Neutrons via Gammas
• Some neutrons would
be absorbed by the H
nuclei in the water
releasing a 2.2 MeV
gamma- ray.
• P & F looked for these
gammas.
Gamma-Rays
• The gamma-ray peak
as presented in the
first P & F paper
submitted to the
Journal of
Electroanalytical
Chemistry (JEC).
 The Reaction
Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go
mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one
by one.
-Charles Mackay
Extraordinary Popular Delusions
and the Madness of Crowds,1841
A Media Explosion
• Cold Fusion became a
instant media event.
• P & F were
interviewed on all the
major news networks.
• Congress scheduled
hearings on CF.
The Scramble to Confirm or
Refute
• Numerous physics and
chemistry labs began
experiments using the
limited information
available.
• Large scale efforts at MIT,
Los Alamos, Harwell,
Yale, and Caltech were
launched.
 Confirmations
• Jones, et. al. (BYU Neutrons)
• Georgia Tech – Neutrons
• Texas A & M – Excess Heat
• Seattle – Tritium
• Small colleges and independent researchers
• Bob’s Discount House of Knowledge
 Doubts
• Why are they still breathing?
– Heat vs. neutron output.
• Are the nuclei really any closer?
• Where are the control runs?
• What’s wrong with that peak?
– The MIT gang goes to the video replay.
Gamma-Rays
• The gamma-ray peak
as presented in the
first P & F paper
submitted to the
Journal of
Electroanalytical
Chemistry (JEC).

2200
The Video Peak
Comparing Peaks
 The APS Meeting
• Caltech: Steve Koonin and Nathan Lewis
• Questions about the Calorimetry
– Closed cell vs. Open cell
– Raw data?
• A lot of negative results.
Excess Heat
 Retractions
• Georgia Tech – Temperature (not Neutrons)
• Texas A & M – Ungrounded thermistor (not
Excess Heat )
• Seattle – “Remind me how a mass spec
works again.” (not Tritium )
 Harwell
• Working with advice from Fleischmann the
Harwell Nuclear Lab conducted the most
extensive set of cold fusion tests in the world.
• Cells were tested in numerous configurations for
heat, neutrons, gammas, tritium, and Helium-3.
• No evidence for nuclear processes in any of the
experiments.
• “Sometimes brilliant people have mad ideas” – J.
Williams, Dir. Harwell Lab
 The Utah Physicists
• Mike Salamon lead a team of physicists from the
University of Utah to make extensive radiation
measurements in Pons’ laboratory.
• Na(I) detectors searched for Gamma-rays from
neutrons, and protons.
• No signal was seen above background after 831
hours of measurement.
• “upper bound of 10 picowatts of energy generated
by any known nuclear process”
What Happened?

And what can we learn?

 Pons & Fleischmann
• Was it a fraud?
• The rush to announce.
• “The explosion.”
• Isolation from peers.
• “Sometimes brilliant people have mad
ideas.”
 The Science Community
• Meeting expectations.
• The good, the bad and the normal
distribution.
• “Seek simplicity, and distrust it”
A. N. Whitehead
 Desktop apparatus yields stream of neutrons

• Now Putterman, a physicist at the

University of California, Los
Angeles, has turned a tiny crystal
into a particle accelerator. When its
electric field is focused by a
tungsten needle, it fires deuterium
ions into a target so fast that the
colliding nuclei fuse to create a
stream of neutrons.Putterman is not
claiming to have created a source of
virtually unlimited energy, because
the reaction isn't self-sustaining.
But until now, achieving any kind of
fusion in the lab has required bulky
accelerators with large electricity
supplies. Replacing that with a small
crystal is revolutionary. "The
amazing thing is that the crystal can
be used as an accelerator without
plugging it in to a power station,"
says Putterman.
 Table-top fusion
'demonstrated'
• Previous claims for
desktop fusion have
been highly
controversial. A US
team has created a
"pocket-sized"
nuclear fusion reactor
that generates
neutrons, Nature
magazine reports.
 The Bowen Technique
Some Personal Experiences of What It Is, What It Does,
and What It Doesn’t
• The Bowen Technique addresses the whole body, which responds to
the degree to which it is able. The Technique involves a sequence of
light pressure movements of the practitioner's fingers and thumbs
over the skin of the patient, at precise locations. Muscles are
"twanged" like the strings of a guitar. The technique involves a basic
treatment, with add-ons for particular ailments, including Frozen
Shoulder, Tennis Elbow, or Strained Hamstrings. The sequence of
moves is punctuated by intervals, during which time the patient's
body is given time to respond to the moves.
• At first Tim Willcocks found he needed the crutch of his notes on the
technique, his "Bowen Bible" and referred to it continually, even
during treatments. However, at an environmental camp in Slovakia,
he had gained enough confidence to work from his own knowledge.
• He has been using the Bowen Technique for two and a half years and
gives some examples of successful cases, including cases of:
breathing difficulties, Fibromyalgia, lower back pain and frozen
shoulder, all of which responded well to between two and five
treatments.
• Tim went to Bosnia with the Healing Hands Network and was able to
help in relieving the suffering of so many people whose lives had
been damaged by the war. He went to Bosnia full of enthusiasm for
Bowen and return still with that enthusiasm, but also with the
realisation that Bowen is one ray in a rainbow spectrum of healing
modalities.
'intelligent design'
Good Science
 Good Science
Good Science is
• Consistent
• Parsimonious
• Empirically testable
• Progressive
• Retrogressive
• useful
Some Examples of Good Science
• Natural Selection
• DNA
• Thermodynamics
• Quanta
• Standard Model of Particle Physics
• Cosmology
• Relativity
 Agree or Disagree?
• When cows fall asleep standing up, it is
easy (and fun!) to sneak up next to them
and tip them over.
• Birds eating rice thrown at weddings swell
up and die (even burst).
• Animals exposed to radioactive waste
mutate and turn into other types of animals.
 Agree or Disagree?
• Earthworms come up onto the sidewalks after
heavy rain to avoid being drowned in their
underground tunnels.
• People licking toads have hallucinations.
• Lennon wrote better music than Tchaikovsky.
• Heaven is not in our solar system, but it is
somewhere in the universe.
 Science involves…
• Using and extending the senses
• Observing and collecting
• Probing and testing
• Deductive hypothesis testing
• Inductive search for patterns
• Building increasingly accurate explanations based
on evidence
Mendeleev and the Periodic
Table of Chemical Elements
Fleming and the serendipitous
discovery of the first antibiotic
Goodall and the willingness to
break with convention
 The Scientific Method
• There is simply no fixed set of steps that
scientists always follow, no one path that
leads them unerringly to scientific
knowledge.
“The Scientific Method”

1) Question or Problem 2) Hypothesize

3) Predict Consequences 4) Experiment
5) Interpret Experimental Results
 Experiments

• An experiment is a test
used to determine if
there is evidence to
support a hypothesis
 What is a hypothesis?
An hypothesis is a guess or prediction
about a phenomenon.

The “null” hypothesis predicts that there

will be NO difference between
experimental groups.
 What is a theory?
• A theory is an explanation that has a very
large amount of evidence to support it.

• A fact is an observation about nature. A

theory is an explanation. So a theory can
never “become” a fact.
 Fact, Hypothesis, Law, Theory
• Fact = a stated observation
• Hypothesis = a proposition that may be
investigated
• Law or Principle = a description of
observable phenomena
• Theory = an explanation based on
extensive evidence
The Borderlands of Science
Shermer, (2001)
• Normal Science
– Empirical claims
– Vast body of evidence
• Borderland Science
– Empirical work
– Growing body of evidence
• Pseudoscience
– Fake science disguised as
normal science
– Lacks evidence
 10 different areas of inquiry:
• Acupuncture • Heliocentrism
• Astrology • Hypnosis
• Neurophysiology of
• Big Bang Brain Function
• Big Foot • Punctuated Equilibrium
• Chiropractic • Search for
Extraterrestrial
Intelligence (SETI)
 The Borderlands of Science
Shermer, (2001)
• Heliocentrism, .9
• Neurophysiology of Brain Function, .8
• Punctuated equilibrium, .7 ……normal science
• SETI, Hypnosis, .5
• Chiropractic, .4 ……………borderland science
• Acupuncture, .3
• Astrology, Big Foot, .1 ………pseudoscience
A Piece Of The True Cross
How Would One Determine that a
hunk Of Wood was part of the True
Cross, the Cross upon Which Christ
was Crucified ?
 Boundary Detection Kit
• How Reliable is The Source of the claim?

• Does the Source make similar claims?

• Have the Claims been verified by another Source?

• How does this fit with the real world and how it works?

• Has Anyone especially the claimant make attempts to

disprove the claim or only attempts to confirm the claim?
 Boundary Detection Kit
• In the absence of clearly define proof , does
the evidence point to the claimants
conclusion or to a different one?
• Has the claimant abandoned the rules of
reasoning and the tools of science?
• Has claimant offered an alternative
explanation or merely denies the current
explanation?
 Boundary Detection Kit
• Is the claimant’s explanation as
comprehensive as the currently accepted
explanation?
Does bias or beliefs drive the explanation?
 Acupuncture

• Pseudo-Science or Not
 Annals of Internal Medicine
• A Randomized Clinical Trial of Acupuncture
Compared with Sham Acupuncture in
Fibromyalgia

• Nassim P. Assefi, MD; Karen J. Sherman,

PhD; Clemma Jacobsen, MS; Jack Goldberg,
PhD; Wayne R. Smith, PhD; and Dedra
Buchwald, MD
 Annals of Internal Medicine
• Background: Fibromyalgia is a common chronic pain condition for
which patients frequently use acupuncture.
• Objective: To determine whether acupuncture relieves pain in
fibromyalgia.
• Design: Randomized, sham-controlled trial in which participants,
data collection staff, and data analysts were blinded to treatment
group.

• Setting: Private acupuncture offices in the greater Seattle,

Washington, metropolitan area.

• Patients: 100 adults with fibromyalgia.

 Annals of Internal Medicine
• Setting: Private acupuncture offices in the
greater Seattle, Washington, metropolitan
area.

• Patients: 100 adults with fibromyalgia.

 Annals of Internal Medicine
• Intervention: Twice-weekly treatment for
12 weeks with an acupuncture program that
was specifically designed to treat
fibromyalgia, or 1 of 3 sham acupuncture
treatments: acupuncture for an unrelated
condition, needle insertion at nonacupoint
locations, or noninsertive simulated
acupuncture.
 Annals of Internal Medicine
Measurements: The primary outcome was subjective pain
as measured by a 10-cm visual analogue scale ranging
from 0 (no pain) to 10 (worst pain ever). Measurements
were obtained at baseline; 1, 4, 8, and 12 weeks of
treatment; and 3 and 6 months after completion of
treatment. Participant blinding and adverse effects were
ascertained by self-report. The primary outcomes were
evaluated by pooling the 3 sham-control groups and
comparing them with the group that received acupuncture
to treat fibromyalgia.
 Annals of Internal Medicine

• Results: The mean subjective pain rating

among patients who received acupuncture
for fibromyalgia did not differ from that in
the pooled sham acupuncture group (mean
between-group difference, 0.5 cm [95% CI,
–0.3 cm to 1.2 cm]). Participant blinding
was adequate throughout the trial, and no
serious adverse effects were noted.
 Annals Of Internal Medicine
• Limitations: A prescription of acupuncture
at fixed points may differ from acupuncture
administered in clinical settings, in which
therapy is individualized and often
combined with herbal supplementation and
other adjunctive measures. A usual-care
comparison group was not studied.
 Annals Of Internal Medicine
• Conclusion: Acupuncture was no better
than sham acupuncture at relieving pain in
fibromyalgia.

• 5 July 2005 | Volume 143 Issue 1 | Pages

10-19
 Normal Science, Non-science
Borderland Science
• Normal : Evolution, Quantum Physics,
Plate Techtonics, Big Bang, Chemistry,
Biology, Geology.
• Non : Creationism, Remote Viewing,
Big Foot ,UFO’s, Bible Codes
Borderlands: String Theory, SETI,
Hypnosis, Chiropractic, Acupuncture
 Acupuncture is Not FDA
• * In United States, acupuncture
was approved with FDA.
• * Health insurance covers TCM
• * There’s argument that TCM is
Pseudoscience because it was
not tested for true science

•
 FDA
• FDA Removes Bar to Coverage Of
Acupuncture by Insurance; Needles Are
Classified as Medical DevicesThe
Washington Post | March 30, 1996| Rick
Weiss | Copyright
 FDA
• The Food and Drug Administration
yesterday classified acupuncture needles as
medical devices for "general use" by trained
professionals.The agency did not go so far
as to state that acupuncture is effective for
any particular condition, an outcome many
acupuncturists had hoped for.
 Cranks or Psudoscientist
• Cranks do not understand how the scientific
• Process works.
• Cranks claim that they’re misunderstood.
• Cranks see themselves like Galileo
• Cranks tend to paranoia.
• Cranks see themselves as geniuses.
• Cranks regard their colleagues as blockheads.
• He feels persecuted.
• Attacks renowned scientists as Einstein.
• Speaks in made up jargon
 Why Do Cranks Lack A
Knowledge Filter?
• Lack of training or out of date training

• A true believer

• Hypothesis seeking evidence instead of evidence

seeking an hypothesis.