Ep. 16: The Neuroscience of Pain

Pain is the most important and misunderstood sensory system: you cannot live without it, yet we live every day trying to avoid it. In this episode, Dr. Michael Morgan, Professor of Psychology at Washington State University Vancouver, explains how your nervous system codes pain, how your brain tries to control it, and how drugs provide relief. He'll also talk about some of the reasons why current medications are problematic (hint: the opiate epidemic) and some new ways that science is trying to treat pain.

Want to come to an event? Visit www.ScienceOnTapORWA.org for more info.

Thanks to Graham Tully and Stephen Perry for sound production.

As always, a final thanks to Jonathan Coulton for the use of his song Mandelbrot Set as our theme music.