CALL ME "DOCTOR" DAWKINS:

Grand delusions: From crop circles and alien abductions to faith healers, many secretly believe in strange phenomena - and it has more to do with human psychology than with reality. (Lauren Monaghan, August 2009, Cosmos)

FROM COLOURFUL CRYSTALS that 'harmonise auras' to research groups studying 'unexplained' phenomena such as Bigfoot, crank science is everywhere. Some of it has gone mainstream, such as homeopathy, the treatment of ills with solutions so dilute they have no active ingredients. Another is astrology, the study of how the movements of the stars and the planets dictate our personalities and daily affairs.

Most present themselves with a peppering of real science, or at least sciencey sounding jargon. Their purveyors, too, come decorated with the trappings of science.

That "peppering" is exquisite.

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 12, 2009 6:03 AM