Science vs Pseudoscience

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Remember those days, when the first question in the exam was,  “What is Science?”

And we would just think and think, and write the definition we learned by rote.

Most of us probably don’t even remember that definition now, but if someone asked you today what is science? Can you define it? 

The term that is so commonly used but yet a bit tricky to explain, right?


In simple terms, anything that you observe and can be proved by experiments becomes science. But the problem with this definition is the question: “so what you can’t observe or prove is not science then?” Because science does not have these clear defined limits, it creates a loophole, which gives rise to concepts like pseudoscience. 



Illustrated by Drishya Unnithan


Pseudoscience comprises beliefs, notions, practices that occur in the world in the name of science without actually being fact or evidence based. For example, a very popular trend that is coming up where anyone claims to have produced a “Covid-19 treating medicine” or “immune boosting elements” without any trials or scientific proof to have done so. And not to forget the wave of anti vaccination. It’s not only about medicine it’s everywhere, there are people who still advocate denying climate change. Something which is already happening!


In the current world, in these difficult times also a masked battle between science and pseudoscience is progressing. We can only win this tug of war by force of logical consumption of the facts presented before us. According to WHO, “we aren’t just fighting a pandemic but an infodemic (i.e. rapid spread of information both fake and true), which could spread faster than the virus.” Hence,


Know before believing

Gather before accepting

And be certain before broadcasting! 

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