Stress, Pain, and Paris Hilton

[freeztar]

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA--Paris Hilton: Actress, author, ... analgesic? Neuroscientists have found that a cardboard cutout of the ubiquitous Hilton Hotel heiress has a painkilling effect on mice. But don't expect clinical trials to begin anytime soon: Paris works only for males, and it may be only because she stresses them out.

The idea for the unconventional experiment arose when Jeffrey Mogil of McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and his colleagues noticed that male mice spent less time licking the site of a painful injection--indicating that they had less pain--when a scientist was present. To investigate whether it was the sight or smell of a human that caused the effect, the researchers acquired a promotional cardboard cutout of Hilton from her television show The Simple Life ("A special order," says Mogil's collaborator Leigh MacIntyre).

Stress, Pain, and Paris Hilton -- Miller 2007 (1105): 1 -- ScienceNOW

 

What a strange and funny way to test a theory.