TEDMED Eric Mead, The Placebo Effect and Magic trickery

http://www.ted.com Sugar pills, injections of nothing -- studies show that, more often than you'd expect, placebos really work. At TEDMED, magician Eric Mead does a trick to prove that, even when you know something's not real, you can still react as powerfully as if it is. (Warning: This talk is not suitable for viewers who are disturbed by needles or blood.)

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/translate. Watch a highlight reel of the Top 10 TEDTalks at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/top10
chilaxesays...

Might want to put in the title that there's zero intellectual value to this video unless we've never heard of the placebo effect.

Naked apes love anything that tickles their brains uselessly.

joedirtsays...

derp derp derp..

He used super glue or something and the reason he holds his hand pressing it into his arm so long is that reason.

It's like taking a pinch of skin on each side around the needle. He also has blood which i'm guessing is in the bulb of the "needle" and there is a hole in the middle of the metal, so you can squeeze it out.

NordlichReitersays...

If he had stuck himself for real we would have seen a notable drop in speech power, shaking in his hand, and shortness of breath.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shock_%28circulatory%29

I'm refering to Grade 1 shock: "Anxiety, restlessness, altered mental state due to decreased cerebral perfusion and subsequent hypoxia".

Basically the one part of the brain would have said, "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!?"

Anyone who has ever had blood drawn knows that one vial feels like. Two vials, feels twice as bad. Some people even faint. This is cased by grade 1 shock, those two or three vials of blood are what were circulating around your body, bringing oxygen around.

This, is a well done trick. However, it was not real given the position of the needle to the Brachial artery, he would be a fool to do this for real.

Still, the effects of grade one shock could be deaden by practice, there is still a chance he was dumb enough to stab himself. Which he sets in the minds of his audience by walking off stage without pulling the needle out. Normally a wounding such as this, the puncturing object is not removed, because of the resulting re-opening of the wound and subsequent blood loss. The object is best removed by medical professionals who can react quickly with a clotting agent, hemostat, or direct pressure on the wound.

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