America has always believed that anything is possible.

This hope helped build the biggest economy in the world.

But it also makes Americans easy to trick.

In 1897, a church leader in Maine said his company could take gold from seawater.

In 1925, Bailey Radium Laboratories sold Radithor.

They said it could cure impotence and give people energy.

But there was no gold in the seawater.

And Radithor hurt people with radiation.

Americans also had Clark Stanley’s fake “snake oil.”

And Charles Ponzi’s stamp plan.

Experts say people believe these claims for a simple reason.

Dr. Lydia Kang wrote a book about health fads.

She said people do not want to die.

She said everyone wants a long life with no sickness or pain.

Other experts say people believe strange claims because of society and evolution.

Kang said these habits are stronger in America.

She said this is because of optimism, individualism, light rules on business, and big dreams.

Tali Sharot is a brain professor.

She said beliefs are not always about what is true.

They can give people good things, like friends or hope.

Kang said companies use this hope.

They put it in a bottle and sell it for as much as people can pay.