Fringe science

Fringe science refers to ideas whose attributes include being highly speculative or relying on premises already refuted.^[1] Fringe science theories are often advanced by people who have no traditional academic science background, or by researchers outside the mainstream discipline.^{[2]: 58 [3]} The general public has difficulty distinguishing between science and its imitators,^[2]: 173 and in some cases, a "yearning to believe or a generalized suspicion of experts is a very potent incentive to accepting pseudoscientific claims".^[2]: 176

The term "fringe science" covers everything from novel hypotheses, which can be tested utilizing the scientific method to wild ad hoc hypotheses and mumbo jumbo. This has resulted in a tendency to dismiss all fringe science as the domain of pseudoscientists, hobbyists, and quacks.^[4]

A concept that was once accepted by the mainstream scientific community may become fringe science because of a later evaluation of previous research.^[5] For example, focal infection theory, which held that focal infections of the tonsils or teeth are a primary cause of systemic disease, was once considered to be medical fact. It has since been dismissed because of a lack of evidence.