Get a good laugh

[TG957]

Every year MIT awards IgNobel prize for the most amusing research of the year. This year one of the finalists is right down the mindbody alley. They discovered that placebo works better if it has more painful side effects. Makes sense, because if it doesn't hurt, it doesn't work! Enjoy:

https://academic.oup.com/brain/article-abstract/147/8/2643/7664309?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false (How side effects can improve treatment efficacy: a randomized trial)

 

[JanAtheCPA]

But I don't understand why this qualifies for an IgNoble prize nomination! It seems like perfectly valid research to me, hand-in-hand with the serious researchers trying to figure out how to harness the placebo effect.

The only "IgNoble" aspect of this within the scientific community might be the fact that Big Pharma aren't interested in funding the power of the placebo effect.

Sorry for my scepticism about the people who nominated this one. I guess I'm not laughing...

 

[TG957]

But I don't understand why this qualifies for an IgNoble prize nomination! It seems like perfectly valid research to me, hand-in-hand with the serious researchers trying to figure out how to harness the placebo effect.

The only "IgNoble" aspect of this within the scientific community might be the fact that Big Pharma aren't interested in funding the power of the placebo effect.

Sorry for my scepticism about the people who nominated this one. I guess I'm not laughing...

The motto of the IgNobel is to first make people laugh but then to think. If this award makes more people understand how mindbody works, Dr. Sarno gets the last laugh.
BTW, most of the nominations is very valid science, like this one.