Readers of this blog (if there are any!) may be interested to know there is a very interesting article on the placebo effect in this week’s New Scientist ( 23rd August 2008). The piece is by Michael Brooks, and the by-line reads

“When Michael Brooks went in search of the truth of the placebo effect, he was shocked by what he found”, the article goes on to discuss some recent studies into the placebo effect, which would seem to support some of Mary Baker Eddy’s conclusion in this respect.

These are the sentences the editors pulled out an enlarged from the article:

“If you don’t know you have been given the painkiller, it has no effect” and

“The findings threaten the very credibility of modern medicine”

AS you might imagine these findings are controversial, but they are nevertheless very interesting.

Have you read this article? What do you think?