In a shoe-in for an IgNobel prize, Neuroscientists have found that a cardboard cutout of Paris Hilton has a painkilling effect on male mice. Science reports:
" 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."
However, the ubiquity of cell phone screens nowadays makes it hard to find mice innocent of having seen a Ratatuoille trailer.
To eliminate comfort food reference cuing, the experimental design must be kicked up a notch. The Montreal study should be repeated with a cutout of the other Paris Hilton--the one with two Michellin forks, and a Ritz cracker box as controls.
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