Blog Pick of the Month – December 2010

In December, a PLoS ONE manuscript titled ‘Placebos without Deception: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Irritable Bowel Syndrome‘ generated a lot of buzz on the Web.

The study suggested that placebos can work even if the patient knows the pill is a phony.

Many bloggers disagreed about the interpretation of these results. And we completely support people’s decisions to debate research findings in the blogosphere, provided they do so in a civil and professional manner. So in the spirit of open scientific discussion, we’ve decided to call this month’s winner a tie between PalMD at The White Coat Underground and Steve Silberman at Neurotribes.

As always, the bloggers and all of the study authors will receive a complimentary PLoS t-shirt for their outstanding work.

You can read the full posts here:
The White Coat Underground: You wouldn’t lie to me, would you?
Neurotribes: Meet the Ethical Placebo: A Story that Heals

photo via Flickr / Lilbenne