Pain

Scientists have been searching for an accurate way to measure pain beyond a patient's self-report, but to no avail. A recent study might have found one possible solution. Christie Nicholson reports

Laughter with friends releases endorphins, the brain's "feel-good" chemicals

The Institute of Medicine reveals a "blueprint" for relieving Americans' pervasive chronic pain

Whether animals feel emotion, and are capable of suffering, is a question the answer to which has far-reaching implications. I recently read Victoria Braithwaite's `Do Fish Feel Pain?', a question that I didn't worry about much until reading this book, but now bothers me a lot more.

Scientists find a strange connection between physical pain and positive emotions

Certain kinds of physical and emotional pain share a neural pathway that responds to acetaminophen

Could the anesthesia and painkillers used to make operations and recovery bearable also influence the risk that cancer will return?

Recent research has found that mice make humanlike facial expressions when they are in pain. Christie Nicholson reports

The smart grid will save energy and money, but implementation may prove costly

Glia are nervous system caretakers whose nurturing can go too far. Taming them holds promise for alleviating pain that current medications cannot ease

Sean Mackey inflicts pain on people in the hope of learning how to relieve it. Erik Vance gets on the receiving end.

What do itch and pain have in common? Maybe less than researchers previously thought. A team of scientists is learning more about the "itch gene" and how it works separately from pain pathways