Pseudoscience

Pseudoscience shares much in common with conspiracy theories, however, it often references the ‘science’ used to back up the theory rather than the theory itself. Topics that relate to both conspiracy theory and pseudoscience concern the anti-vaccination movement, climate change denial, chemtrails, flat earther theories, intelligent design and much more.

Alternative health websites

Other pseudoscience topics are reflected in the multibillion dollar alternative health care industry. Even some of the more reputable publications have been guilty Links to an external site. of this. Wikipedia maintains a list of pseudoscience topics here Links to an external site..

Misrepresented studies

Often, pseudoscience is proliferated by a misreading of actual scientific studies and a misrepresentation of data in order to make the studies’ findings seem more ‘newsworthy’. Check out our article, “Lies, damned Lies and Statistics Links to an external site.” for some examples and resources for teaching students to read graphs, data and statistics.

Some popular websites that have been accused of propagating pseudoscience, include;

• Natural News
• David ‘Avocado’ Wolfe
• The Mind Unleashed

However, there really is no shortage of quackery out there.

This useful video below from Above The Noise gives us 4 tips to spot bad science news, using an acronym, GLAD;

G – Get past the clickbait

L – Look past the crazy claims

A – Analyse sources

D – Determine outside expert opinion Links to an external site.

 

note: This information is from Luc Steinberg's blog post "Infographic: Beyond Fake News – 10 Types of Misleading News Links to an external site.," (26 July 2017) for EAVI Links to an external site. and was accessed on 15 July 2020.