Fringe science

Fringe science refers to ideas whose attributes include being highly speculative or relying on premises already <a href="/facts/Objection_(argument)/ed96fa32">refuted</a>. Fringe science theories are often advanced by people who have no traditional academic science background, or by researchers outside the mainstream discipline.: 58  The <a href="/facts/General_public/Y2z9FjWj">general public</a> has difficulty distinguishing between science and its imitators,: 173  and in some cases, a "yearning to believe or a generalized suspicion of experts is a very potent incentive to accepting pseudoscientific claims".: 176 
The term "fringe science" covers everything from novel <a href="/facts/Hypotheses/gMABEJul">hypotheses</a>, which can be tested utilizing the <a href="/facts/Scientific_method/182j8RWE">scientific method</a>, to wild <a href="/facts/Ad_hoc_hypotheses/m3l9n3ow">ad hoc hypotheses</a> and <a href="/facts/Mumbo_jumbo_(phrase)/w59XrpX2">mumbo jumbo</a>. This has resulted in a tendency to dismiss all fringe science as the domain of <a href="/facts/Pseudoscience/kdNzoLeS">pseudoscientists</a>, <a href="/facts/Hobbyists/MH1aFd8v">hobbyists</a>, and <a href="/facts/Quackery/CA5N20JR">quacks</a>.
A concept that was once accepted by the mainstream <a href="/facts/Scientific_community/0YIPcVzE">scientific community</a> may become fringe science because of a later evaluation of previous research. For example, <a href="/facts/Focal_infection_theory/BH6uRmdj">focal infection theory</a>, which held that focal infections of the tonsils or teeth are a primary cause of <a href="/facts/Systemic_disease/KekpoXyr">systemic disease</a>, was once considered to be medical fact. It has since been dismissed because of a lack of evidence.

Fringe science open-in-new

Fringe science