Fake Science

Warning: contains real science and some nerdy ranting

I would like to address something that has been bugging me for a couple years now. It really drives me nuts when commercials on TV use big science-y words and put someone with "Dr." in front of their name on the screen to sell you something that is basically a useless piece of junk. I am thinking specifically of the Q-ray bracelet, but there are other examples as well (I'm looking at you, shampoo!) The Q-ray bracelet claims to balance your chi to relieve pain through the ionizing effects of the metals in the bracelet. Supposedly it balances the ions in your body- the only problem is that SOLID OBJECTS CANNOT BE IONIZED! Since ionization can only occur in soluton, it is impossible for a bracelet to do so, no matter how hard it tries. The Mayo clinic did a study of about 600 people over a month and found there was no beneficial difference between the Q-Ray and a placebo. It's called a placebo effect for a reason- go buy a shiny bracelet from the dollar store and squint your eyes really hard and pretend it is going to cure your back pain. It will work just as well and is much cheaper than the alternative.

In regard to shampoo, I am mainly referring to all the amino acids and vitamins and proteins the hair commercials say are good for your hair. You just have to think about it logically- hair is not alive, so why would it need nutrients? Amino acids and proteins are too large to even enter a cell that is not in the bloodstream. I will grant that vitamins may have a beneficial effect to your scalp and the live part of your hair (ie. the root), but beyond that it's all bunk science.
Obviously there are a lot of people who don't really care about this but it just makes me angry that companies take advantage of people's ignorance like that. And I don't mean "ignorance" in a bad way, because chemistry is not exactly priority information in the general population; hell, I wouldn't have learned it if I wasn't forced to for degree requirements.

Don't even get me started on Creationism, that is a whole other post in itself (a fair tip is not to bring it up to any geologist unless you are prepared to listen to a long rant about the Pre-Cambrian paleontology and uranium-lead dating methods).