- Alternative/Complementary Medicine: Feeling good does not necessarily mean good health. Although you can have a positive experience with an alternative medicine practitioner and feel better due to the personal attention, novelty or placebo, alternative medicine is not science-based medicine and has dubious origins and methods. Bodies often heal themselves, so correlation with alternative medicine is not necessarily causation.
- Device Watch: Your Guide to Quastionable Medical Devices
- Mental Health Watch: Your Guide to the Mental Health Marketplace
- Quackcast (Dr. Mark Crislip): Podcasts applying evidence-based ridicule to SCAMs
- Quackwatch: Guide to quackery, health fraud, and intelligent decisions
- Quackwatch: Why Bogus Therapies Often Seem to Work
- The Quackometer: Experiments and Thoughts on Quackery, Health Beliefs and Pseudoscience
- Science-Based Medicine: Exploring issues and controversies in the relationship between science and medicine
- Science-Based Pharmacy: Turning an eye on the profession, separating fact from fiction on both sides of the counter
- The Skeptics' Guide 5x5: Podcast #46: Correlation and Causation
- Tim Minchin: Storm
 
- Washington Monthly: Science Fiction
- What's the harm? Alternative Medicine
- Acupressure: Acupuncture using pressure instead of needles.
- Acupuncture, Auriculotherapy and Staplepuncture: You are you own voodoo doll. Jab yourself with two needles and call me in the morning. Seriously, toothpicks have been found to be just as effective, even when poked at the improper meridian points. Acupuncture should not be confused with TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) and NMES (neuromuscular electrical stimulation) that have therapeutic effects.
- Acutonics, Sonic Healing, and Sonopuncture): Apply tuning forks to the body.
- Applied Kinesiology (AK): A highly-subjective diagnostic method akin to reading tea leaves or chicken entrails. Hold a substance in your hand while the practitioner tests your arm for weakness; or sillier still, an assistant's arm is tested.
- Aromatherapy (Aroma Therapy): It can smell and feel good but some of the health claims stink.
- Ayurvedic Medicine: East Indian folk medicine. Beware that heavy metals are an integral part of some Ayurvedic compounds including lead and mercury.
- Bee Sting/Venom Therapy: Don't get stung.
- Cavitation Surgery: Needlessly poke around where teeth had been removed in the past so as to give the patient the illusion that something has been accomplished besides transferring money to the practitioner.
- Chelation Therapy: A legitimate treatment for heavy metal poisoning, but the cure can be more dangerous than alleged diagnoses by quacks.
- Chi (Ch'i or Qi) and Chi Kung (Ch'i Kung or Qi Gong): Vague unmeasurable "energy" and its cultivation.
- Chiropractic (Spinal Manipulation Therapy): Like an unlicensed physical therapist that went to magic school. To be fair, there are many chiropractors today that no longer subscribe to the magical thinking of the past, where all illnesses are caused by vague unmeasurable "subluxations" in the spine that block the flow of vague unmeasurable "energy" that flows down from above from God.
- Colloidal Silver: A silver bullet! Silver has legitimate external uses as an antiseptic and disinfectant, but internal use can do more harm than good.
- Correactology: Bullshit-I-pulled-out-of-my-ass-ology. --Steven Novella
- Craniopathy, Cranial Osteopathy, Cranial Fluid Dynamics, Cranial Sacral Therapy, and Sacro Occipital Technique: Causation with improved health could be just in your head.
- Cupping (Fire Cupping): Heated cups to suction skin as the cup cools. It sucks. Don't get burned.
- Detoxification and Cleansing: Kidneys, livers and intestines just aren't good enough after millions of years of evolution. Apologies to those on dialysis.
- Ear Candling (Coning/Thermo-Auricular Therapy): If you heard that it works, you might've heard right but they're wrong.
- Crystal Healing: See Crystals (Healing Crystals, Energy Crystals and Power Crystals)
- Faith (Prayer) Healing: Heal! ...or get worse.
- Homeopathy: No active ingredient necessary. There's nothing to it, literally. Chose a substance, wash it away, and the remaining water is considered medicine. A rule of homeopathy is to use a substance that causes the same symptoms in healthy individuals as those of the disease to be treated. Another rule of homeopathy is to contradict the previous rule by diluting the substance out of existence. In other words, it's like trying to cure a headache by hitting your head with an infinitesimally-small hammer.3 Homeopathy is a kind of gold standard of bunk and an excellent example of the influence of anecdotes and perpetuation of nonsense, as there is no plausible way for it to work and the scientific literature clearly shows no efficacy.
- Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy: You are feeling relaxed. ...and reaching for your wallet.
- Immune System Boosting: Do you really want more sneezing, a runny nose, arthritis and arteriosclerosis?
- Iridology: The eyes do not have it.
- Magnet Therapy: Pretend that portable magnets' magnetic fields can penetrate deep into the body and affect the approximate four grams of weakly diamagnetic iron in the blood; and never mind that an MRI scan would rip you to shreds otherwise. Magnetism has legitimate uses, but weak magnetic trinkets peddled by quacks and charlatans have no medical use.
- Naturopathy (Naturopathic/Natural Medicine): Dualistic balance, harmony, energy and vitalism. A nebulous inconsistent philosophical framework of unproven vitalism and exploitation of any healing modality however implausible or archaic.
- Neurotherapy (EEG Neurofeedback Therapy): Useful but used by quacks for subjective diagnoses and dubious treatments.
- Power/Balance/Energy Bands/Bracelets/Armor: Spend money on stylish placebos.
- Psychic Surgery: Messy showmanship for the gullible and desperate.
- Reflexology: Like acupuncture, there are claims of pathways/meridians that affect internal organs of the body; but instead of needles, Reflexologists apply pressure to the points.
- Reiki: Vague unmeasurable "energy" emanating from the hands of a practitioner, controlled by gesturing man-made symbols in the air.
- Rolfing (Structural Integration or Myofascial Release) and Visceral Manipulation: Vague unmeasurable "energy" released from bound up fascia (connective tissues and muscles), painful deep massage in the case of Rolfing.
- Tapping Therapy and Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT): Exchange vague unmeasurable negative "energy" with vague unmeasurable positive "energy" by finger tapping acupuncture meridian points.
- Therapeutic Touch (TT), Healing Touch, and Distance Healing: No hands-on experience required. Manipulate the balance and flow of vague unmeasurable "energy" by waving hands over the patient's body.
- Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM): Ancient Chinese secret. Chinese folk medicine that has perpetuated thanks to the logical fallacy of the argument from antiquity.
- Urine Therapy (Urotherapy, Urinotherapy or Uropathy): Can help you survive life-threatening dehydration in unusual circumstances, but it's more myth than medicine.
- Alternative Nutrition: Deny that humans are animals that require energy from food (chemical bonds).
- Alkaline Diet: Allegedly change your body's pH balance for alleged benefits.
- Inedia and Breatharianism: Magically gain nutrition from just breathing air. Alleged practitioners when scrutinized have always been found to ch-eat. And let's not overlook starving children; I guess they're not qualified for prana (vital life force).
- Sungazing: Magically gain nutrition from just staring at the Sun. Blindingly stupid. Some people's eyes are susceptible to permanent damage; don't find out the hard way if you're one of those people!
- Conspiracies and Denials: It's just what they want you to believe.
- What's the harm? Conspiracy Theories
- 9/11 and WTC Inside-Job Conspiracy: The Bush administration's amazingly complex and well-orchestrated attack against their own people. ...o'rly?
- 911 Myths: Reading between the lies
- Debunking 911 Conspiracy Theories: Exploding the myths
- Popular Mechanics: Debunking the 9/11 Myths: Special Report
- Screw Loose Change: Exposing the Lies, Distortions and Myths of the i-11 "Truthers"
- Skeptic Magazine: 9/11 Conspiracy Theories: The 9/11 Truth Movement in Perspective
- The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe (SGU): Podcast #13 @08:05 (Muslim rumors, what grand conspracies have in common, NORAD and deactivated transponders, anomaly hunting, confusion and incompetence vs malice, steel weakened by heat, leading edge engineering, quotes out of context, the Pentagon, expanding conspiracies collapse under own weight, more and more power and cleverness ceded to the consprators, falsifiability, the emotional appeal of conspiracies, intentionality/agency, spectrum of paranoid delusional thinking vs naivete, pareidolia, humans good at finding patterns but not good at determining which are real, Nostradamus false quote, retrodicting, some people want big explanations for big events)
- The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe (SGU): Podcast #45 @02:38 (Pentagon footage of flight 77, unprecedented crashes, unwarranted assumptions, mystery mongering, Pentagon blast windows, the absurdity of the supernatural level of evil genius of the conspirators, closed belief system)
- The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe (SGU): Podcast #46 @04:00 (listener comments, fire where there's smoke, anomalies and unanswered questions, anomaly hunting, manufactured uncertainty, ground effect, closed belief system)
- The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe (SGU): Podcast #50 @24:43 (interview with Gerald Posner) and @49:33 (Why America Slept: The Failure to Prevent 9/11, conspiracy proponents lost in the minutia)
- The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe (SGU): Podcast #60 @00:49 (Purdue University report and The Daily Mail article)
- The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe (SGU): Podcast #61 @52:36 (Jewish plot urban myth)
- The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe (SGU): Podcast #119 @28:37 (rude 9/11 Truthers)
- Cancer Conspiracy: A grand scheme to needlessly subject people to the barbarism of chemotherapy and suppress natural cures. Oy.
- Chemtrails: Just misunderstood contrails (condensation trails).
- Climate Change (Global Warming) Denial: Consensus? What consensus? The well-documented one. Of over 29,000 physical and biological data sets, of which about 90% have been changing in a direction consistent with global warming, including when birds arrive, when flowers bloom, the migration and mating of fish, the peak flow dates of glacial streams, the dates when ice breaks on frozen lakes and rivers, the dates of the onsets of winter and spring, accelerated rise of the ocean level, shifting farming growing seasons and hardiness zones, receding of the vast majority of glaciers, decreasing Arctic ice volume (not to be confused with ice area), ancient Antarctic ice sheets have been breaking away, and melting permafrost,4 what more evidence do you need? I am not addressing politics and what should or should not be done about global climate change, just the fact that there is a consensus of climatologists that have confirmed that global warming is happening and that it is very likey caused anthropogenically (by human activity).
- Fluoride Conspiracy (Anti-Fluoridation): A Communist plot. ...no wait, a Capitalist plot.
- HIV/AIDS Denial: Disease? What disease? ...the well-documented one.
- Holocaust Denial: Genocide? What genocide? ...the well-documented one.
- The John F. Kennedy (JFK) Conspiracy: Grassy knoll! Grassy knoll!
- The Illuminati and The New World Order (NWO): Well, good for them for trying.
- Moon Landing Hoax: If you speed up the film, the rover maneuvers as if on Earth. ...but never mind the ridiculously-fast flailing arms of the astronauts?
- Vaccination Conspiracy, Anti-Vaccination/Anti-Vax, and Vaccine Denial: Hey, you've got measles on your face.5
Creationism (Creation Science, Literal Interpretation of Scriptures) and Evolution Denial: Goddidit.
Paranormal, Parapsychology (psi) and Metaphysics: There's more to life than evidence. Without evidence and grounding our world view in the observations of the natural world, anything goes. Human electro-chemical brains are so easily fooled with their errors in perception, ability to confuse imagination from fact, and faulty memory recall.
- Captain Disillusion: guiding children of all ages through the maze of visual fakery to the open spaces of reality and peace of mind
- QualiaSoup: It *could* just be coincidence
- QualiaSoup: Open-mindedness
- QualiaSoup: The problem with anecdotes
- QualiaSoup: Substance Dualism and how consciousness requires a host/brain
- Penn & Teller's Bullshit!: ESP including telepathy, psychokinesis, telekinesis, pet psychics, remote viewing, psychic detectives, past life regressions, and spoon bending 2
- Penn & Teller's Bullshit!: Talking to the Dead 2
- The Skeptic's Dictionary: ESP (extrasensory perception)
- The Skeptic's Dictionary: paranormal
- The Skeptic's Dictionary: parapsychology
- The Skeptic's Dictionary: precognition or second sight
- The Skeptic's Dictionary: psychokinesis (PK)
- The Skeptics' Guide 5x5: Podcast #86: Psi
- The Skeptics' Guide 5x5: Podcast #87: Psi - The Ganzfeld Experiments
- The Skeptics' Guide 5x5: Podcast #88: Psi - Part 2
- What's the harm? Magick
- Auras: If you see auras, you may not be psychic; you may have a brain or vision disorder. See your physician ASAP. --Robert T. Carroll
- Crystals (Healing Crystals, Energy Crystals and Power Crystals): The power of expectations, selective validation, and perhaps even pareidolia of the senses and proprioception.
- Divination, Geomancy, Oracles and Prophecy: Make of it what you will.
- Ghosts and Hauntings: Is it just cold or is it ghost cold? Trying modern electronics to detect ghosts is pointless when there is no baseline established for no ghosts.
- Instrumental Transcommunication (ITC) and Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP): Hear what you want to hear.
- Morphic Resonance (MR), Morphic Fields and Fields of Information: Magical collective memories. Funny how they can never recall anything that they don't already know.
- Out-of-Body Experience (OBE/OoBE), Astral Projection, Astral Travel, Near-Death Experience (NDE) and Remote Viewing: My personal experience means it's true! ...no, not necessarily. Brains are especially unreliable when deprived of oxygen (hypoxia).
- Past Life Regression (PLR) and Repressed Memories (Motivated Forgetting): Lay back, relax and make up false memories. Funny how they can never speak or read the native languages from their past lifes, only the languages that they learned in this life.
- Psychics and Psychic Detectives: Entirely unlike anyone of any usefulness. In the case of the "detectives", they waste valuable time and resources from investigators.
- Souls and Unified Minds: We don't have a single mind, we have a series of fabulator modules. --P.Z. Myers
Miscellaneous Bunk: The rest of the bunk that doesn't fit into the above sections.
- Ancient Alien Astronauts: Humans couldn't have possibly been resourceful enough to build the pyramids. Never mind that they documented how they did it and learned from initial failures?
- Apocalypse (2nd Coming, Armageddon, Doomsday, End of the World, End-Times, Judgement Day, Rapture, and other prophecies): Suddenly!... ...nothing happened.
- Astrology: The stars predict that you'll wake up, do a bunch of stuff, and then go back to sleep. --"Weird Al" Yankovic
- Atlantis: Based on an actual event in 1500 BCE, Plato's literary device has since become a grand myth.
- Bermuda Triangle: An area that has no more unusual activity than anywhere else, relative to the amount of traffic.
- Biodynamic (BD) Agriculture: Superstitious farming.
- Crop Circles: Too perfect. ...for ingenuity like geometry, stakes, ropes and boards?
- Cryptozoology: With big pointy teeth!
- Dowsing (Water Witching using a Divining Rod): Find water ...or not.
- Expanding Earth: A quaint old hypothesis that has since been suplanted by the theory of plate tectonics.
- Facilitated Communication (FC): Delusional communication.
- Feng Shui: Vague unmeasurable "energy" manipulated by furniture placement. It's supposed to help bring wealth; never mind all those Chinese peasants.
- Free Energy and Perpetual Motion: Something from nothing.
- Graphology (Handwriting Analysis): Analysis that's sciencey-looking but internally inconsistent and produces different results from different practitioners like Feng Shui.
- Hollow Earth: An empty claim that is handily falsified by multiple independent lines of credible evidence.
- Intelligent Design (ID): Biological design is an illusion.
- Numerology, Hidden Codes, Statistical Errors, and Stochastic Fallacies: Anomaly hunting of the numerical kind, unfounded signifigance of digits, and just plain wrong thinking when it comes to probabilities, statistics, numbers and randomness.
- Politics: Nothing to see here. Move along.
- Pyramid Power (Pyramidiocy): Pyramids + idiocy.
- Religion: Nothing much to see here.
- Reptoids, Reptilians and Lizard People: A large scale delusion.
- Semen Retention: Preventing ejaculation during orgasm to retain vague unmeasurable jing "energy". Oh, come now.
- Spontaneous Human Combustion (SHC): Really creepy, but a misnomer and no longer a mystery...mostly.
- UFOs (Alien/Extraterrestrial Visitations) and Ancient Terrestrial Aliens: Look! Up in the sky! It's a bird... It's a plane... It's... a hubcap.
- Water (H2O, Dihydrogen Monoxide, Hydrogen Hydroxide or Burnt Hydrogen) Products: Repackaging and marketing what comes out of the tap, including claims of acidifying, activating,
alkalifying, charging, clustering, enhancing, enlarging, infusing, magnetizing, neutralizing, realigning, restructuring,
revitalizing or shrinking water.
- Zero Tolerance (ZT) Policy: Robotic implementation of rules regardless of circumstances and can lead to unfair punishment.6
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