Friday night after work, you decide to drive over to your grandma's for the weekend. She cooks you a delicious dinner and listens to all your stories. You mention the office AC must have given you a slight cold – you coughed a couple of times. Grandma says nothing and just nods and smiles like she’s up to something. You go to bed and fall asleep like a baby. Next morning, you wake up with onions in your socks and a tennis ball tied to your back! What’s all that supposed to mean?

Grandma explains she’s carefully sliced and put onions into your socks to help you with your cold. Grandma’s learned this folk remedy from her grandma, who’d learned it from her grandma and she’d learned it from hers. The story goes on and on as the remedy comes from as early as the 1500s. Back then, people used to believe spreading raw sliced onions around your house would serve as protection from diseases. Let's figure out whether the onion remedy does work or it's a placebo effect.

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