WTF Stories of the Week

[Moonliner]

Placebos work -- even without deception

Originally Posted by News

For most of us, the "placebo effect" is synonymous with the power of positive thinking; it works because you believe you're taking a real drug. But a new study rattles this assumption.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School's Osher Research Center and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have found that placebos work even when administered without the seemingly requisite deception.

My plan for the new year? Buy a box of Tic-Tac's and make a freaking fortune!

[alphabassettgrrl]

I think that's fantastic!

I think I do that with medicinal teas. I expect it will make me feel better, and I choose ones with actual effects, but it generally works faster than it "should".

[Capt Jack]

I do the same with 'sleepy time' teas...but sadly Im awake an hour later having to pee

[Betty]

What is that lump on her chest/shoulder area?

http://www.people.com/people/article...le+Feedfetcher

[SzczerbiakManiac]

It appears as if the Susan G. Komen Foundation spends a million dollars per year on preventing other charities from using the word "cure"?

I think it's lame for a non-profit to waste precious donations on this.

[Ghoulish Delight]

I've also been reading recently that the cancer research community at-large is frustrated with the ubiquity of breast cancer awareness campaigns (spearheaded for the most part by SGK).

It's a fairly common cancer that affects many many people, and it is a very marketable form of cancer in that it sparks the "women are valuable" reflex of modern America. And for a while the cancer research community at large was happy to let breast cancer researchers lead the way. Early on, when there was next to no information for anyone, the research being funded in the name of curing breast cancer was really generic cancer research that benefited all manner of cancer research. But now the vast majority of generic research is done, and any money donated to specific breast cancer charities is being used for highly specialized breast cancer specific research.

Which isn't to say that research doesn't need to continue. But there have been HUGE gains in breast cancer treatments that have not been seen in most other forms of cancer out there. I think the overall 5 year survival rate is well over 70%. Near 100% for early detection. It's amazing, and great that they've made that much progress, but with Susan G. Komen, being the excellent marketers they are, still being the highest profile money-getter for cancer research, other research is getting a short shrift in terms of donations.

[Capt Jack]

Originally Posted by Betty

What is that lump on her chest/shoulder area?

http://www.people.com/people/article...le+Feedfetcher

I think its actually a divot more than a lump, but the lighting is sort of odd. so sort of a meeting point between her collar bone and..whatever that muscle/tendon that meets it at the shoulder.

[Alex]

That is correct, it is the hollow under her clavicle. A trick of lighting.

Same optical illusion that makes the marble busts in the Haunted Mansion hallway work.

[Moonliner]

Your Cellphone Is Subject to Warrantless Searches in California

Originally Posted by LifeHacker

Here's new motivation to password-protect your cellphone: A ruling from the California Supreme Court gives officers the right to search your cellphone—and the giant well of personal data therein—without a warrant

[Frikitiki]

Originally Posted by SzczerbiakManiac

It appears as if the Susan G. Komen Foundation spends a million dollars per year on preventing other charities from using the word "cure"?

I think it's lame for a non-profit to waste precious donations on this.

I was listening to the Stuff You Should Know podcast. I didn't know that the pink ribbon is not owned by any single entity and that the breast cancer awareness organizations don't work together, although SGK is the largest and most well known.