From the Latin for “I will please,” a medicine or practice with no scientifically-known medical effect, but is effective in healing nonetheless. Sometimes called a “sugar pill,” it is believed that the mere suggestion that it will help causes the body to respond as if it had an active, medically effective ingredient. Some reports have shown that placebos can be effective, as much as 35 percent of the time, but others claim that the placebo effect does not exist at all.