In the United States, junk science is any scientific data, research, or analysis considered to be spurious or fraudulent. The concept is often invoked in political and legal contexts where facts and scientific results have a great amount of weight in making a determination. It usually conveys a pejorative connotation that the research has been untowardly driven by political, ideological, financial, or otherwise unscientific motives.
The concept was first invoked in relation to expert testimony in civil litigation. More recently, invoking the concept has been a tactic to criticize research on the harmful environmental or public health effects of corporate activities, and occasionally in response to such criticism. In these contexts, junk science is counterposed to the "sound science" or "solid science" that favors one's own point of view. This dichotomy has been particularly promoted by Steven Milloy and the Advancement of Sound Science Center. This is somewhat different from issues around pseudoscience and controversial science.
Read more about Junk Science: History, Use As Corporate PR, Use By Scientists
Other articles related to "junk":
... Research Institute (2008) suggested that junk food consumption alters brain activity in a manner similar to addictive drugs like cocaine or heroin ... After many weeks with unlimited access to junk food, the pleasure centers of rat brains became desensitized, requiring more food for pleasure ... After the junk food was taken away and replaced with a healthy diet, the rats starved for two weeks instead of eating nutritious fare ...
... Tonic Mailstopper (formerly GreenDimes), a company that attempts to halt junk mail delivered to American homes each day. 20, 2007, Damon promoted the organization's efforts to prevent the trees used for junk mail letters and envelopes from being chopped down ... Damon stated "For an estimated dime a day they can stop 70 percent of the junk mail that comes to your house ...
Famous quotes containing the words science and/or junk:
“I exulted like “a pagan suckled in a creed” that had never been worn at all, but was brand-new, and adequate to the occasion. I let science slide, and rejoiced in that light as if it had been a fellow creature. I saw that it was excellent, and was very glad to know that it was so cheap. A scientific explanation, as it is called, would have been altogether out of place there. That is for pale daylight.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“What stunned me was the regular assertion that feminists were “anti-family.” . . . It was motherhood that got me into the movement in the first place. I became an activist after recognizing how excruciatingly personal the political was to me and my sons. It was the women’s movement that put self-esteem back into “just a housewife,” rescuing our intelligence from the junk pile of “instinct” and making it human, deliberate, powerful.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)