The best thing about the internet is that it works like a massive public library, packed with knowledge on nearly every subject you can imagine. The catch, of course, is that not everything gets fact-checked, and plenty of misinformation manages to slip through.
That’s why these Redditors stepped in to set the record straight, debunking popular beliefs many still take as truth but are actually pseudoscience. Scroll down to discover some of their most eye-opening posts and see if any catch you off guard.
#1
Lie detectors.
BoredAtWork1976:
There’s a good reason polygraphs aren’t admissible in court — its junk science. It really just measures how much stress the subject is feeling, and then it assumes that any sudden surges in stress mean the subject is lying (as opposed to the subject being stressed because he knows they’re trying to pin a crime on him).
Image source: General_Sprinkles386, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#2
Anyone who says you need to “detox” your ________.
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#3
The claim that your brain finishes developing at 25.
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#4
“Alpha” based dog training.
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#5
Conversion therapy. you can’t un-gay-ify someone. the methods used are often just “intentionally traumatize this teenager so that they associate homosexuality/transgender identity with suffering”.
Image source: _useless_lesbian_, Adolfo Félix/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#6
“Organic” food being better for you. There’s no difference in GMO plants nutritionally and wild plants of the same species. Even if both similar plants were never GMO, the only difference is how they were raised. The same goes for meat. They do not change nutritionally.
Image source: OneFuckedWarthog, Natalia Blauth/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#7
Cleaning products marketing that they are “natural” and/or “organic”. Arsenic is natural and organic.
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#8
Homeopathy
Personality tests (e.g., Myers-Briggs)
Polygraph.
Image source: Snarky_McSnarkleton
#9
Alkaline water. Your stomach acid neutralizes it instantly.
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#10
A lot of the hype around vitamins. Many if not most are unneeded for the majority of people and don’t get absorbed anyway.
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#11
Pretty much anything related to “race” as a scientific idea rather than a social construct.
Racial definitions are based on pseudoscience and a few visible phenotypes but don’t really correlated with anything scientific.
Image source: Pure-Introduction493
#12
Manifesting money by “raising your vibration”? Where’s the proof in that?
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#13
Sending your child to a “program” in the Trouble Teen Industry to get “help” with their mental health only for them to leave with more trauma. Those programs are trash. Wilderness therapy was a therapeutic model created to have a low overhead to maximize profits and serve as a pipeline feeder for residential treatment centers and “therapeutic boarding schools”, often owned by the same parent company….
Image source: pinktiger32, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#14
Live Blood analysis.
“Live blood analysis (LBA), also known as darkfield microscopy or live cell analysis, is a method where a small drop of blood is examined under a microscope to assess a person’s health. It involves observing the blood’s components, like red and white blood cells, platelets, and plasma, in their live state, looking for patterns and abnormalities that may indicate imbalances or deficiencies according to Holistic Fertility Group.”
I know a person who does this, she always comes back saying she has parasites in her blood and needs to cleanse. Is she did have parasites she would be very sick, but she just doesn’t get it…
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#15
Blood type horoscope b******t.
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#16
Anything Freudian. I find it alarming that his theories are given the time of day at all. It seems like unfalsifiable bunkum to me.
Image source: FScrotFitzgerald, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#17
Sunrise alarm clocks.
It *seems* like they should work. They’re so prolific that you think they must work. So I was surprised when my sleep therapist said they were a waste of money.
There aren’t any papers that show that sunrise alarm clocks–even those that best mimic the sun–have any effect on sleep and circadian rhythms. The one study that suggested they might help also included limiting nightime screen exposure, which we know is effective. There are a few studies that look at SAD, but they’re small and poorly executed.
Image source: iamthe0ther0ne, Ron Lach/pexels (not the actual photo)
#18
Love languages. These were created by a Christian couple “therapist” who encouraged abused women to stay with their husbands. These “languages” have no real scientific value; they’re inconsistent when applied to a person/couple, and are generally just things you normally see in any couple.
(Edited for clarity).
Image source: nazurinn13, Nathan McBride/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#19
Gluten intolerance. Gluten free food is a massive scam.
I get there are people with a genuine medically diagnosed gluten intolerance, but there millions now who are self diagnosed (incorrectly) and have been caught up in the scam. My wife being one of them.
All sold to them through the “wellness” marketing machine.
Image source: love_ya_work
#20
Nutritionist. You want to talk to a dietitian. Anyone can call themselves a nutritionist.
EDIT: I can’t believe this comment ended up with 6k upvotes and a gazillion comments lol. And yes I know it’s different in (insert country here). I’m speaking from my experience in the US and Canada.
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#21
The taste ‘map’ of the tongue.
Image source: NickPDay, Photo By: Kaboompics.com/pexels (not the actual photo)
#22
Just about anything peddled with the word ‘wellness’ in the description.
Image source: InbhirNis
#23
Fire cutters. It’s a wild thing some people I know in France genuinely swear by. It’s where your doctor sends essentially magic, even over the phone, to heal ailments and pain.
It floors me how much they believe it!
Image source: whoreadsthisshitanyw, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#24
Criminal profilers/behaviorists. There is an amount of genuine psychology involved. But there tends to also be *a lot* of assumption-making and speculation that has dubious accuracy.
Image source: RuPaulver, cottonbro studio/pexels (not the actual photo)
#25
The way fingerprints are used in many, if not most policing and judicial systems.
‘Body Language Experts’ used in policing and judicial systems.
Polygraphs.
A *lot* of things that are used to convict people of crimes range from badly implemented to complete horseshit.
(Bonus: Evolutionary Psychology).
Image source: Mudders_Milk_Man, cottonbro studio/pexels (not the actual photo)
#26
“boosting” the immune system – it can’t be boosted, you can support it to help fight infection, but you can’t send it into hyperdrive, that would cause autoimmune issues.
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#27
BMI as a measure of health.
the creator of what is now known as bmi wasn’t even a medical professional (he was a statistician and astronomer).
Image source: SpicyRiceC00ker
#28
My 16-year-old self screams, “biorhythms!” and “mood rings!”.
Image source: DestinysWeirdCousin
#29
Chiropractors. If they don’t have peer reviewed journals, it’s pseudoscience. They are at best cracking joints for a lot of your money, at worst hurting you for a lot of your money.
Image source: Sweatroo, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#30
Had a actual nurse practitioner tell me ear wax candles work…. Nope.
Image source: tkp2017, wavebreakmedia_micro/freepik (not the actual photo)
#31
Women are better multitaskers than men. The truth is that true multitasking is extremely difficult, and very few people can do it effectively. Everyone else just switches between tasks, and will perform poorly regardless of gender.
Dowsing. I’ve been surprised by the amount of people that think this is a real thing. At best people can use their experience to find water/oil/whatever where it’s expected to be, but will score no better than chance in a controlled setting.
Reiki, acupuncture, chiropractic, naturopathy and any other alternative medicine that relies on undefined “energy” or “wellness”. They can make you feel good, but the placebo effect is a well known phenomenon. At best it doesn’t cause harm and brings relief at an often steep financial cost, and at worst some of these fields have k**led people.
Image source: Nebarious, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#32
Forensic science. A lot of it isn’t actual peer reviewed science as much as cops and “experts” making s**t up and then it getting taught to other departments.
Bite mark analysis, hair strand analysis, body language analysis, lie detector tests & “recovered memory” hypnosis stuff have been pretty consistently misused by the legal system.
Then there’s even more stuff that has very specific useful applications but is abused by people who aren’t qualified or have ulterior motives.
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#33
IQ tests. It only predicts if you’re gonna be good in school, not intelligence. .
Image source: Crafty-Objective9537, freepik (not the actual photo)
#34
Evolutionary psychology / evopsych. Yet the manosphere runs with it.
Having studied psych for many years, the TLDR of why that is: there’s no fossils of behaviour.
Image source: Queen_Maxima
#35
Divining rods. I’m a geologist, and I still must work with other “educated scientists” who think they can locate water or underground utilities with divining rods.
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#36
Essential oils. Just smelly oil. They don’t do anything other than smell.
Image source: shunkthenugget
#37
Pumping and dumping breast milk after drinking.
Image source: AddisonsContracture, freepik (not the actual photo)
#38
Those personality assessment test HR ask you to take during the recruitment process.
Image source: Codex_Absurdum, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#39
The idea that everyone has a unique fingerprint is an assumption. It’s probably true, but science has never confirmed it.
Image source: gottahavethatbass, MDStudio/freepik (not the actual photo)
#40
Getting wet in the rain will make you sick. One does not “catch a cold” while outside in the rain.
Image source: dcponton, Getty Images/unsplash (not the actual photo)
#41
That hard food cleans teeth of our pets. This is a myth.
Image source: Comprehensive-Tea-69
#42
Quantum reiki. i trained with one of the foremost practicioners named antojai and it is not a transferable skill in my case.
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#43
“Introverts” and “extroverts” as distinct fixed personality types.
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#44
The whole “a glass of red wine is healthy for you” thing. .
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#45
The argument that circumcision is “cleaner”.
Would your eyeballs be cleaner if you cut off the lids?
Would your v****a be cleaner if you cut off the labia?
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#46
Bite forensics, ballistic forensics, blood spatter analysis. All of it is subjective b******t. It’s not scientific.
Image source: evh88
#47
Acupuncture. It’s sticking b******t needles in b******t places by b******t people. Double blinded tests (yes double!) proves it does not matter where you stick them or even if you stick them at all.
Image source: Emotional-Name-891
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