Politics: Amazing Discoveries!

Robert Park's article in the Chronicle of Higher Education gives judges and other officials tips on how to spot bad science. It seems that while these individuals are great at understanding arguments which involve some forms of latin, they can't decode similar arguments in all forms per se. According to Park:

I began this list of warning signs to help federal judges detect scientific nonsense. But as I finished the list, I realized that in our increasingly technological society, spotting voodoo science is a skill that every citizen should develop.

Park offers seven rules that are a tip off:

1. The discoverer pitches the claim directly to the media.
2. The discoverer says that a powerful establishment is trying to suppress his or her work.
3. The scientific effect involved is always at the very limit of detection.
4. Evidence for a discovery is anecdotal.
5. The discoverer says a belief is credible because it has endured for centuries.
6. The discoverer has worked in isolation.
7. The discoverer must propose new laws of nature to explain an observation.

3,4,5, and 7 are especially strong tip offs. Three means that the proof is easily faked. Four and Five are entirely based on perception. Seven requires the inventor to actual violate peer reviewed results.

Someone can violate some or all of these and still be correct. The Atkins diet did it. Recent discoveries of saline treatment for cystic fibrosis did too. But these are good warning signs when you are watching infomercials during a bout of insomnia. Yes those people really are often full of crap.