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Pseudo-Science

Raquel lives 'off the grid'. She's part of a growing trend finding meaning in new age spiritual practices

New age spiritualism is not new, but it morphed during the COVID pandemic and appears more popular than ever. The first detailed Australian study examines what happens when spirituality and wellness intersect with conspiracy theories.
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A woman with brown hair stares soulfully at the camera.

White House says 'no indication of aliens' in recent takedowns

The White House says there is no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity after a series of shoot-downs of unidentified objects over North American airspace.
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ABC News Current
Duration: 40 seconds

40-plus bodies in 'large thermos flasks' in this shed? Welcome to Australia's cryonics HQ

The director of the Southern Hemisphere's first known cryonics facility admits there is "no guarantee" future scientists will be able to revive his clients' deep-frozen remains, but that has not stopped dozens of "investors" from handing over hundreds of thousands of dollars.
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A shed in a paddock with a high fence around it

This entrepreneur follows a strict regime to lower his 'epigenetic age'. What does that mean — and is it possible?

"Project Blueprint" involves eating the same two meals every day, a regimented exercise routine and a structured sleep schedule. But can it really slow or reverse the ageing process?
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Entrepreneur Bryan Johnson working out with a VR headset on.

Fact checking the most dubious COVID-19 claims from Joe Rogan's podcast

Who is Joe Rogan and why is he so controversial? RMIT ABC Fact Check investigates some of the most dubious claims from his popular podcast.
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A phone showing a logo for The Joe Rogan Experience podcast on the Spotify app is held in front of a Spotify logo

Secret cures, bioweapons and racism: The centuries-old history of medical conspiracy theories 

The history of medical conspiracy theories extends from ancient Rome to today. They all share an innate human need to find answers to difficult questions.
A protest which was promoted by anti-5G and anti-vaccination activists was held in Sydney during the pandemic.

What do lifestyle gurus and conspiracy theorists have in common?

Both present themselves as anti-establishment underdogs, comparable to Biblical tales of good versus evil. But it's not just this 'hero's journey' narrative that helps spread conspiracy theories and extend influencer reach online.
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A woman wearing glasses looking at her smartphone. She's sitting in front of a laptop and paintbrushes

Social videos give the impression Australians are opposed to masks. What's really going on?

There's been widespread media coverage of a people filming themselves refusing to follow COVID-19 restrictions. Experts are concerned this misrepresents what's really happening.
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Still images from a video of someone arguing with Bunnings workers over wearing a mask

Psychologist who used 'energy healing treatment' banned over intimate relationship

A Victorian psychologist breached her duties as a psychologist by engaging in a personal and intimate relationship with a patient, touching him and using a treatment that was not evidence-based, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal finds.
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A man sits on a sofa holding his head in his hands.

The anti-vaccination movement has a 200-year-old history. It all began with cow pus

The anti-vaccination movement has been around since Edward Jenner scraped pus from the skin of sick cows. Here's what's driven the sentiment over the last two centuries.
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A boy being vaccinated cries

These are the ways Hollywood imagined a black hole would look. So who got closest?

Over the years everyone from sci-fi filmmakers to NASA has tried to visualise a black hole. Now we have the real deal, so let's see who was right and who was wildly ambitious.
1979 black hole film poster crop.

How Sir John Eccles' soul search marginalised the Aussie Nobel Prize-winning scientist

Icon of Australian science Sir John Eccles' attempt to mix religion and science made him an outsider in the scientific community but won him fans in the Catholic Church.
A man wearing thick glasses and a lab coat sits near a microscope and lots of science equipment.

Leader of 'Jedi faith' seeks recognition, based on census numbers

The head of the Jedi faith in Australia, Peter Lee, cites strong census numbers and a thriving online community as evidence of a practising Jedi population in Australia.
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Jedi leader Peter Lee holds a lightsabre outside his Lithgow home ion may the 4th 2018

opinion:Why do Australians believe silly things?

A lot of Australians believe in ghosts and aliens, a poll found. That may be harmless, but it makes it a lot easier to believe in other things that aren't true, writes Andrew P Street.
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An alien holds up a lit finger

analysis:A history of eugenics: America's Nazi problem before Charlottesville

The recent rally by white nationalists and supremacists on the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia, has left Americans soul searching. But what they might discover in the history of their heartland is chilling.
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The hidden history of eugenics

Why do some of us believe in Tassie tiger sightings and others don't?

Why do some of us wholeheartedly believe in mysterious creature sightings while others are more dubious. Clinical psychologist Sabina Lane explains.
A pair of Tasmanian tigers in a cage

Big prize if your paranormal power can prove skeptics wrong

There's a $100,000 prize waiting for you if you can read minds, see the future or talk to the dead. You just have to prove it.
A man in a hat and glasses looks at the camera, green circular lights in background.

Smartphones linked to brain cancer? Not so, say experts

Brain cancer, plane crashes and exploding petrol pumps have all been attributed to mobile phone use, but what does the evidence say?
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Airline pilot using mobile phone while flying

The Xbox ghost? Curious image captured on camera

Ghost hunter Graham Lewis has used a device he made from Xbox gaming technology to capture a curious image.
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A former engineer with ghost hunting equipment in his workshop

Ghost hunter Graham Lewis

Ghost hunter Graham Lewis explains how he has adapted gaming technology to create ghost hunting equipment.
ABC News
Duration: 1 minute 35 seconds

Scientologists send M-rated anti-psychiatry DVD to primary schools

The Victorian Government advises principals to ignore materials sent from the Church of Scientology, after primary schools received a DVD and pamphlets warning of the dangers of psychiatrists and antidepressants.
Scientology DVD, with a girl on the front whose face is partially covered in pills, with the title Psychiatry: Friend or Foe?

'UFO' sighting over Tasmania sparks alien theories on Facebook

The mystery of a fireball crossing the Tasmanian skyline is solved, but not before Facebook users had declared alien life had finally made it to Tasmania.
Still from Lee-Anne Peters footage of object above southern Tasmania, February 28, 2017.

Who are grinders and can they really live forever?

These are the people implanting microchips under their skin as they attempt to take human evolution into their own hands.
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Biohacking x-ray

opinion:How marketing obscures science when it comes to what we eat

What starts as good nutrition research is so easily twisted by marketing hype into overblown health claims.
A bowl of acai with fruit and goji berries.

Paranormal investigator: A life seeking spirits

Armed with a gaggle of gadgets and a belief in the supernatural, one paranormal investigator sets out to find out if that bump in the night could be something more.
A man holding a skull and looking through an infrared viewer kneeling in front of an old ruined industrial building