In medicine, the phrase “the placebo effect” is often prefaced by the word “just”—as though the word “placebo” were a synonym for a psychological trick or a fraud, nothing more than an annoying complication for companies running drug trials. But as longtime Wired contributor Steve Silberman discovered while writing about the increasing placebo effect in [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Medicine’
Steve Silberman finds the placebo effect is…pretty sweet
Posted by Siri Carpenter on May 17th, 2011
Posted in Behind-the-Story Interviews 
Tags: "Best" Series, Carpenter, Characterization, Drafts, Kavli Awards, Medicine, Pitches, Silberman, Wired, Writer Interview 
6 Comments »Carl Zimmer ponders unseen ecosystems teeming within us
Posted by Siri Carpenter on February 10th, 2011
If ever you feel alone in the universe, perhaps you can take comfort in the knowledge that in fact, you are never without the company of the thousands of microbial species residing in your body’s every crevice. Collectively, they operate like an invisible organ, and they are essential to our health. As Carl Zimmer masterfully [...]
Podcast: Play in new window
Posted in Behind-the-Story Interviews Tags: Carpenter, Medicine, Notes, NYTimes, Writer Interview, Zimmer 1 Comment »Christie Aschwanden pits evidence against ‘truthiness’
Posted by Siri Carpenter on October 27th, 2010
Christie Aschwanden shows that when it comes to selling evidence-based health care reforms, hammering people with the facts won’t change entrenched beliefs—in fact, it may only strengthen them. For evidence-based reforms to succeed, Aschwanden writes, they must put in place a narrative that patients, doctors, and health policy makers can accept and even embrace. [Convincing [...]
Posted in Behind-the-Story Interviews Tags: Aschwanden, Carpenter, Drafts, Health, Medicine, Miller-McCune, Pitches, Writer Interview No Comments »