A pathological science syndrome: A concern for energy science

As researchers look for innovative concepts to produce electrical power it is worth considering the pathological science syndrome described by Nobel-Prize-winning chemist Irving Langmuir who identified six symptoms of pathological science caused by a loss of objectivity. Denis L. Rousseau has recently condensed Langmuir's six symptoms into two characteristics and added a third. The first characteristic of pathological science is that the effect being studied is often at the limits of detectability or has a very low statistical significance. The second characteristic is a readiness to disregard prevailing ideas and theories. The third identifying trait of pathological science is that the investigator finds it nearly impossible to carry out experiments designed to give a definitive answer. Rousseau has applied these characteristics to the study of polywater, infinite dilution, and cold fusion