The placebo effect is a powerful phenomenon where non-active treatments result in an improvement of symptoms, but how does it work? In this week's episode, Ash explains some of the reasons behind this effect, and how our brains can be tricked into thinking a treatment is working.
In the SNPit, Rosie discusses how the 18-year-old murder conviction of Kathleen Folbigg may have just been overturned by the power of whole-genome sequencing.

Episode Sources. 

• Is the placebo effect real?  
•  The weird power of the placebo effect, explained. 
• The neuroscience of placebo effects: connecting context, learning and health. 
• A radical new hypothesis in medicine: give patients drugs they know don’t work. 
• What is the placebo effect? An impressive demonstration of mind over matter. 
• Explainer: what is the placebo effect and are doctors allowed to prescribe them?  
• Placebo Effect in the Treatment of Depression and Anxiety. 
• Kathleen Folbigg’s children likely died of natural causes, not murder. Here’s the evidence my team found. 

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Music: 

AhDah Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). 
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. 
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.