September 6, 2012
WE ARE ALL DESIGNISTS NOW:
Evolution could explain the placebo effect (Colin Barras, 9/06/12, New Scientist)
ON THE face of it, the placebo effect makes no sense. Someone suffering from a low-level infection will recover just as nicely whether they take an active drug or a simple sugar pill. This suggests people are able to heal themselves unaided - so why wait for a sugar pill to prompt recovery?New evidence from a computer model offers a possible evolutionary explanation, and suggests that the immune system has an on-off switch controlled by the mind.
It's always comic genius when they write a computer program to render the desired effect and miss the implication.
Posted by Orrin Judd at September 6, 2012 4:32 PM
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