How to Spot Pseudoscience Online and IRL

From Bigfoot to the anti-vaccine movement, fringe theories are everywhere. Where do they come from?

By Jennifer Walter
May 14, 2021 8:00 PMJun 23, 2021 2:55 PM
fringe5
Cryptozoology is a type of fringe science that attempts to prove the existence of creatures from folklore, such as Bigfoot. (Credit: CineBlade/Shutterstock)

Newsletter

Sign up for our email newsletter for the latest science news
 

This article appeared in the June 2021 issue of Discover magazine as "Tales From the Fringe." Subscribe for more stories like these.


Imagine a universe rife with cosmic catastrophes: Jupiter ejecting a comet into space that would later become the planet Venus. The comet whizzing past Earth and changing its rotation. The resulting chaos on Earth causing natural disasters of biblical proportions — literally — like the parting of the Red Sea. In the mid-1900s, Immanuel Velikovsky, a psychiatrist and author, claimed that he could prove these radical ideas. 

Velikovsky laid out his case in Worlds in Collision, a 1950 bestseller. But the book wasn’t billed as creative fiction or a fanciful hypothesis based on anecdotal accounts of the past; rather, Velikovsky presented these interplanetary theories, and others, as factual.

Many scientists didn’t buy it. “That this is a remarkable story no one — proponents and opponents alike — will disagree,” Carl Sagan wrote in response to Worlds in Collision. “Whether it is a likely story is, fortunately, amenable to scientific inquiry.”

0 free articles left
Want More? Get unlimited access for as low as $1.99/month

Already a subscriber?

Register or Log In

0 free articlesSubscribe
Discover Magazine Logo
Want more?

Keep reading for as low as $1.99!

Subscribe

Already a subscriber?

Register or Log In

Stay Curious

Sign up for our weekly newsletter and unlock one more article for free.

 

View our Privacy Policy


Want more?
Keep reading for as low as $1.99!


Log In or Register

Already a subscriber?
Find my Subscription

More From Discover
Recommendations From Our Store
Shop Now
Stay Curious
Join
Our List

Sign up for our weekly science updates.

 
Subscribe
To The Magazine

Save up to 40% off the cover price when you subscribe to Discover magazine.

Copyright © 2024 Kalmbach Media Co.