What are Some Warning Signs of Bogus Science?
Bogus science can be found in large quantities wherever one cares to look. For example, homeopathic medicine is extremely popular in many parts of the world, but it consists of nothing but water. In 1989, Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons, electrochemists at the University of Utah, created a worldwide stir by announcing they had developed cold fusion – the fusion of atomic nuclei at room temperature using a low energy input process. However, subsequent attempts at replication showed this to be false. New bogus science claims are made every day, and it takes a careful skeptic to cut through the hype to the hogwash. The first and most prominent sign of bogus science is when a scientific claim is pitched directly to the media, rather than reported in peer-reviewed journals. The Irish free-energy company Steorn, which took out a full-page advertisement in the Economist magazine, is a recent example of this. Another sign is claims of suppression. Claims of suppression among the purveyors
