Heavier than air flight?  Pseudo-science, obviously, the greatest minds proved it fake mathematically.
Heliobacter Pylori?  Total pseudo-science.  Ulcers are only caused by stress (or possibly negative Orgones).
Cold Fusion?  So utterly pseudo-science, it can’t even be reported on!

Now, if you wanted to buck the tide and do small-s science, you’d have to perform experiments, and base your conclusions on the results, but that’s a whole lot harder than making your mind up based on assigning truthiness scores to press releases.  So most people will choose big-S Science, or as some call it “Scientism”, which eschews the actual scientific method.  It’s a time-saver!

Seriously, while what Ms. Willingham is saying is obviously not entirely false, it’s severely unscientific to suppose that one can truly judge the quality of a claim or data set by assessing the presentation skills of the claimant or presenter.  One could make entirely valid claims that score a “perfect ten” on her Fake Science questions, so therefore they are a weak indicator at best.  You could easily use the ten questions to help you decide whether to perform an experiment, but economic factors (can I afford to try this?) and risk assessment (can I risk trying this?) are going to be much more meaningful.

It’s nice when people perpetuate myths without ever researching them to verify the truth behind them. No, there aren’t any solid studies.

Both are major symptoms of pseudoscience, not because they’re “emotional,” but because they’re manipulative.  They’re dishonest methods for fooling an audience.  Politics and advertising both employ persuasion rather than evidence; fooling their audience using glowing or derogatory wording.

The best science is notable because all the manipulative self-promotion is utterly missing.  Whenever we can make a powerful case in a couple of paragraphs (or sometimes a couple of sentences,) we have no need to lower ourselves to emotionally manipulating the reader. And that’s another big hint: if all the usual persuasion ploys are missing, maybe we should take the person seriously.

Look up “Cargo Cult Science,” speech at Caltech by RP Feynman

PS  it’s same as when detecting concealed internet trolls: **look for the namecalling.**  But in this case, look also for the glowing language, the persuasive self-promoting “anti-namecalling.”

Oh…like what used to happen when a younger guy would ask me to explain women? 

Now I simply use the line Picard used in reply to Data’s attempted question: 

“I would be delighted to offer any advice I can on understanding women. When I have some, I’ll let you know.”

The majority of randomized, double-blind studies done on echinacea have shown that it has little to no effect on cold severity, susceptibility, or duration vs. placebo.

http://sciencebasedpharmacy.wordpress.com/2010/12/28/echinacea-for-colds-and-the-flu/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15736012

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21747102

But yes, any remedy being advertised with magnets is most likely a load of horseshit.

I can’t comprehend how people fall for the pitch that magnetic bracelets could somehow “align the body’s protons”, or believe having magically aligned protons would have any meaningful effect on their health.

It’s as if nobody took basic science in high school.

But probably what’s more likely is that they did, but never understood basic atomic structure. Or think of atoms like how they’re drawn with electrons moving arond static circular orbits, instead of being more accurately described like layers of shells (yes I know that’s not exactly true either, but it’s more true than how most people seem to visualize atoms to look like the planet Jupiter and it’s moons)

Also, Echinacea has some pretty solid studies showing it boosts immune response.  So nya nya nya.

Any talk about your body’s “fields” is also an instant bullshit alarm. 

“Magnetic” is bullshit unless it’s immediately followed by “resonance imaging”. 

Of course I shouldn’t even have to mention “Homeopathic”.

As the article mentions, if the cure tells you to ignore the “closed minded naysayers”, then you’re being sold a load of bullshit.  Another way to phrase it would be “please do not pay attention to the mountain of evidence that the product I am trying to sell you does absolutely nothing at all”.