MEDIA ROOTS- We hear a lot about the “placebo effect” in modern medicine, but we never really take into consideration what a placebo effect really means. Having a placebo alter your physiology means that your mental perception is actually causing the change, not the medicine. The concept of your mind being able to heal your body by thoughts alone is a fascinating one. Check out this short video discussing the many strange effects of placebos.

A look at the many strange effects of placebos.

Created by:
Daniel Keogh – http://www.twitter.com/ProfessorFunk
Luke Harris – http://www.lukeharrisgraphics.com

Sources:
Ben Goldacre’s book ‘Bad Science’ has an excellent chapter on placebos
http://www.badscience.net/
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bad-Science-B…

The Wikipedia page on Placebos is pretty excellent too:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placebo

Photo by flickr user Be.futureproof