  Have you ever wondered why we have never heard of psychics and palm readers
winning millions of dollars in state or local lotteries or becoming Wall Street
wolfs? Neither have I. Yet we are constantly bombarded by tabloid news on how
vaccines cause autism (hint: they do not), or some unknown firm building a
mega-drive that defies the laws of physics (nope, that drive does not work
either). And the list continues on and on and on. Sometimes it looks quite
legit as, say, various natural vitamin supplements that supposedly increase
something that cannot be increased, or enhance something else that is most
likely impossible to enhance by simply swallowing a few pills. Or constantly
evolving diets that sure work giving a false relieve to those who really need
to stop eating too much and actually pay frequent visits to a local gym. It is
however understandable that most of us fall for such products and news just
because we cannot be experts in everything, and we tend to trust various
mass-media sources without even a glimpse of skepticism. So how can we
distinguish between baloney statements and real exciting scientific discoveries
and breakthroughs? In what follows I will try to do my best to provide a simple
how-to user guide to debunking pseudoscientific claims.
