Physicians have long believed that some form of deception is essential to the placebo effect: after all, if you tell people that you’re giving them a fake drug, why would they respond by getting better?
Holiday memories are often laced with the scent of spices: for me, a whiff of baking gingerbread can bring back the comforts of childhood in an instant. But a rash of recent media reports suggests that the allure of gingerbread …
In what seems like an unrelenting year of bad news, the Economist has a lovely and uplifting feature headlined “The U-Bend of Life.”
(Updated) The image of the ancient but youthful-looking sage meditating on a mountaintop might be closer to reality than you think, according to a new study that found that after a three-month stay at a meditation retreat, people …
The hormone oxytocin — known as the “love drug” or “cuddle chemical” — plays an important role in pair-bonding, child-rearing and social behavior. Now researchers are discovering that it could also help explain the effects of …
Ecstasy (MDMA) is known as the “love drug,” because it prompts cuddles, hugs and, often, a sense of deep understanding between people.
Dr. Ben Goldacre is best known for his “Bad Science” column in the British newspaper the Guardian, in which he skewers, with almost unseemly glee, misguided science reporting and the misleading marketing of medical treatments and …
A Georgia mother and daughter have been arrested for dealing and possession of a dangerous drug, respectively, after the daughter’s stash of prescription-strength ibuprofen was discovered in her purse in school on Monday.
While it’s far from a traditional gift, vials of sperm may be at the top of the list for couples and single women facing infertility. A sale on sperm from two branches of the world’s largest group of sperm banks could at least …
Reproduction is getting so complicated. In the old days, you had only two biological parents — Mom and Dad. But now, up to two women (three if you count a surrogate carrier) can be the biological mothers of one baby. As far as …
More high school seniors are current marijuana smokers than cigarette smokers, according to the national Monitoring the Future survey released Tuesday, which finds that marijuana use rose slightly while cigarette smoking fell …
Are you sitting down? A British researcher has proposed a new form of reflexology — one based on the notion that the sensations of the body are mapped onto the buttocks, just as they are in the brain, where they can more …
When I read about the five Columbia students busted for selling drugs this week on Fraternity Row, my mood sank. About two decades ago, I was in a similar situation.