1. The discoverer pitches the claim directly to the media – yep, I get at least one of those every week, usually medical claims, occasionally overturning Einstein or Newton.
2. The discoverer says that a powerful establishment is trying to suppress his or her work – this is just sooooo right, if they’re overturning Einstein someone in authority is usually trying to stifle their findings.
3. The scientific effect involved is always at the very limit of detection – unless you’re Thane Heins, in which case you’ll be claiming thousands of times the theoretical efficiency because of magnetic reluctance.
4. Evidence for a discovery is anecdotal – the medical missionaries are worst at this, as if Mrs Miggins’ ailing leg can somehow substitute for randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials.
5. The discoverer says a belief is credible because it has endured for centuries – this is the bedrock of the alternative medicine brigade. It’s no coincidence that the herbal medicine that really worked is now medicine, whereas the herbal medicine that fails is nothing more than pot pourri.
6. The discoverer has worked in isolation – this is so common, as if Einstein or Newton or any other genuine scientist, making genuine discoveries worked in isolation.
7. The discoverer must propose new laws of nature to explain an observation – yep, second law of thermodynamics, one of the most tried and trusted natural phenomena usually comes unstuck with the controversialist’s analysis.

The olfactory stimulation associated with these seven warning signs of pseudo-science is commonly reminiscent of the feces of any male ungulate of the class Bovinae. It smells of bullsh, in other words.

Original list sourced from: http://chronicle.com/free/v49/i21/21b02001.htm