Podcast: The science and history behind the term “placebo effect”

Sloppy by today’s standards, and maybe even back when it was published in 1955, Henry Beecher’s paper paved the way for sounder drug trials and pushed scientists to better understand how we process pain (Season 3, Episode 3).

This is Episode 3 of Season 3 of the Knowable Magazine podcast. Listen to Episode 1 (Scientists warned about climate change in 1965. Nothing was done.) and Episode 2 (The fossil that launched a dinosaur revolution).

Related on the SLP

Transitioning transgender teenagers are not new. This Dutch clinic has been helping them for decades Is gender identity fluid or fixed? What we know about other animals might help inform the debate.

Viewpoint: The shocking consequences after a year of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s distortions, deceptions, and flat-out falsehoods

Retreat from identity labels: Does the sharply declining number of young teens identifying as gay and bisexual reflect an ideological shift?

MAHA moms divided over RFK Jr.’s food‑safety efforts, as recall alerts grow and outbreaks spread

A version of this article was originally posted at Knowable and has been reposted here with permission. Any reposting should credit the original author and provide links to both the GLP and the original article. Find Knowable on X @KnowableMag