Hey there! Welcome to the first episode of “The Lab,” a fun series by Asap Science where we explore your questions through exciting experiments. I’m Mitch, and I’m here with Greg. We’re going to dive into the science of pain today. Let’s get started!
First up, we’re testing our limits with spicy peppers. We’ve got a lineup from the least spicy to the hottest pepper in the world, the Carolina Reaper. The challenge? Eat the peppers and share some spicy facts without reaching for milk. Are you ready?
Spicy peppers trick your body into thinking it’s experiencing heat. They activate receptors called nociceptors, which usually respond to extreme temperatures or physical damage. The active ingredient, capsaicin, sends signals to your brain that cause a burning sensation. That’s why you might sweat or feel flushed when eating spicy food.
Why does milk help? Capsaicin is hydrophobic, meaning it doesn’t mix well with water. Milk, however, can absorb capsaicin and soothe the burning sensation, making it a better choice than water.
Next, we’re testing pain tolerance with ice water. We’ll see who can keep their hand submerged the longest. The twist? Greg can swear, and I can’t. Studies show that swearing can actually help you endure pain longer by triggering a fight-or-flight response, releasing adrenaline, and making you feel better.
Finally, we’re facing the anticipation of pain with an electric shock game. Anticipation can sometimes be worse than the pain itself. We’ll hold a ball that delivers random shocks while sharing interesting facts. Did you know that meditation and exercise can help reduce feelings of pain? Or that the placebo effect can alleviate pain for many people?
In other science news, researchers are discovering how we spend our time. Despite feeling busier, we don’t work more than before; we just multitask more. Also, microbes in your gut can affect brain development and mental health, showing how important our gut health is.
Thanks for joining us on this pain-filled adventure! If you have more questions or experiments you’d like us to try, let us know. Don’t forget to subscribe to Asap Science for more exciting content. See you next time!
Try tasting different spicy foods and rate their heat levels. Research the Scoville scale to understand how spiciness is measured. Share your findings with the class and discuss how capsaicin affects the body.
Conduct an ice water challenge with your classmates. Time how long each person can keep their hand submerged. Discuss the role of the fight-or-flight response and how swearing might affect pain tolerance.
Create a safe simulation of the electric shock anticipation game. Use a random timer to simulate anticipation and discuss how anticipation can affect the perception of pain. Explore techniques like meditation to manage pain.
Research different pain management techniques such as meditation, exercise, and the placebo effect. Present your findings to the class and discuss how these methods can help alleviate pain.
Investigate the connection between gut health and mental health. Create a poster or presentation explaining how microbes in the gut can influence brain development and overall well-being.
Sure! Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript, with inappropriate language and sensitive content removed:
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(Greg) Hey Mitch!
(Mitch) Hey Greg. What do you call a nosy pepper?
I… I don’t know. Jalapeño business!
(Theme Song) Hello and welcome to the first episode of the Lab, a new series here on Asap Science, where we take your questions and turn them into experiments, so we can experience science firsthand. My name is Mitch –
And I’m Greg and we are ASAP Science. And don’t worry, the animated videos are still gonna be coming out every week, but on Sundays leading up to the new year, is our first series of the lab. So tune in on Sundays.
And Mitch, what exactly are we doing today?
So today, we are actually looking at the science of pain and we’re gonna start out by having a lot of spicy peppers to understand why spice feels like pain. And then, we’re gonna be putting our hands in some really cold water and see if swearing can actually help with pain. And finally, we are gonna be getting electrocuted to talk about the anticipation of pain and how awful that is.
Do you think you are gonna be good at this?
No? I’m like so weak. Okay, I’m the weak one of this group.
I have red hair genes, so you know, I can handle anything.
They are all gonna be challenges, by the way. So, should we just… should we just start?
Yeah, let’s do this.
Alright, first up, we have our spicy pepper challenge. We’ve ordered these peppers from the least spicy to most spicy. And then, we have a list of facts. So, every time we bite a pepper, we have to share a spicy pepper fact. And this is the hottest pepper in the world: the Carolina Reaper. So, we are really excited about this one. Hopefully, we are not gonna have any issues on camera. And the first person who grabs this milk for relief loses the challenge. So, are you ready?
I’m ready!
Okay, spicy peppers excite receptors that usually respond to heat, and these are known as nociceptors. These nociceptors respond to temperature extremes and mechanical stimulus, but they can also obviously respond to chemicals.
When you eat a hot pepper like this one, your central nervous system gets very confused.
*Laughing* Bring it!
Okay! Capsaicin is the active ingredient in hot peppers which stimulates the nerve to respond to mild temperature increases. It sends two signals to the brain, that it’s warm and that it’s an intense stimulus which causes this burning sensation.
– This is awful.
*Laughing* Should we just have the milk?
– I’m in pain. I don’t think I can do this any longer. It’s getting worse.
– Look, I’m drooling! My glasses are fogging up!
Okay, I quit… I quit. Oh my god that feels so good, just drink your milk.
– No! So this is a Ghost Pepper. Be careful.
The signal creates the same physical reaction to heat, that includes sweating and flushing.
I feel tingling in my fingers.
And that’s it! You sweat and you flush. My hand feels weird.
– I’m sweating, I’m sweating.
Okay, I’m gonna read my other fact because I already lost.
My right hand is tingling… I touched my eye!
– Oh my god, are you okay? Don’t touch it more!
Okay, I’m done.
– Go wash your hands.
Wait, I think I need to put milk in my eye.
No, okay, go wash your hands.
(Greg in the background) AAH!
Okay, it was interesting, one researcher actually gave rats spicy foods to see if they would actually like it, and it turns out humans are one of the only animals in the world that will choose to eat spicy things.
I’m literally drooling.
Choose to eat spicy things over stuff that actually isn’t spicy, so…
How do you feel, explain to us how you feel.
– Like a fool for saying that I was like, I am so good at pain.
Okay Mitch, so why is milk helpful for us?
Well, so water is not helpful because Capsaicin is actually hydrophobic, so the water doesn’t really do anything except swash it around all around your mouth, whereas the milk actually absorbs it, brings it down to your stomach and actually is a chemical reaction that makes it feel a whole lot better. So avoid water, stick to milk.
– And also, the relief that you feel when drinking this milk excites the pleasure sensors of your brain, which is why this feels so good right now.
And why people go back to spice, even though they know it’s awful.
Also, I’m gonna give up on coffee. Ghost pepper every morning? Haha yeah.
So pain actually is something that is used to protect your tissue from damage, so for example, if you touch a hot burner, your tissue is getting damaged immediately and you feel the pain immediately. But some things actually take more time to feel the pain.
So to elicit some slow pain, we have these buckets filled with ice. We’re just gonna put our hands in them to see how long we can last, but the one caveat being that Greg is allowed to swear and I’m not.
– Yeah, you better believe it!
Okay! Are you ready for more pain?
– I think so… okay time to roll up and put in?
Okay, we have to do the exact same time to be as scientifically accurate as possible!
Okay, ready? 3…2…1…
(Greg) AAH!
Oh my god I don’t…
A study actually found that when people were allowed to swear, they were able to keep their hands in ice water for on average 40 seconds longer. It’s because it actually releases, in your brain, the fight-or-flight response, it releases adrenaline and you feel a lot better.
One interesting thing is how when you swear too much you can actually overuse that…
– No you can’t!
Anyway, I’m actually in so much pain.
– Well, I’m feeling great.
Oh my god.
Oh, it actually like hurts… are you seriously holding it still?
I am.
– That’s crazy.
But maybe my hand is gonna pull out, and like my limb is gonna come out and my hand is gonna still be in here.
And I’m like, wow!
One weird thing was that my body actually heated up, my face and body felt so hot when that was happening, and I think that was just like a fear response, I was like I’m gonna lose my hand…
*Laughing* Okay, how do you feel?
Ooooh it is like when you come in from the cold.
It is kinda nice when that happens.
Well, Greg won challenge number two as well, I clearly am a wimp.
– So one thing that we’ve learned from this is that swearing is great.
Okay, so it is time for a ‘shocking experience’. They say that the anticipation of pain can actually be worse than the pain itself.
How does it work, Mitch?
I don’t know, so we’ve been given this ball and apparently we stick this key in and it starts zapping at random intervals.
So also it says on here that this product emits electric shocks, keep out of reach of children under 14, it may interfere with electrical devices such as a pacemaker and do not use this if you have a heart condition or any other related illnesses.
And then it says, in all caps: THIS IS NOT A TOY.
We have to hold the ball while we’re reading a fact and as soon as we’re done we can pass it off and the other person has to finish the next fact.
We’re playing to three, right?
– Yeah.
So the first person who gets three, loses.
– Three shocks, yeah.
I have really bad anticipatory fear, so…
– But you have to go first, cause I want to see you…
No!
– Go!
Okay…
Is it like… Oh my god! Okay.
– Go go go go!
Ah! Euh… Studies have found that both meditation and exercise can reduce or modulate feelings of pain.
AAH!
(Greg screams) THE PLACEBO EFFECT CAN… AAH!
No! It’s going off!
It shocked you, stop, no stop stop.
AAAAH!
– I think you won that, did you also get shocked?
YEAH! It electrocuted like six times.
I’m actually shaking! What the hell.
Okay, the placebo effect can work for pain if it’s high end. In a 2008 study, patients received painful electric shocks, afterward, a placebo pill was given to the test after, which alleviated pain for 64% of the participants. A placebo pill reduced pain for 85% of participants.
Chronic pain can shrink the size of your brain in a study of individuals who, with chronic pain, could show up to 11% less…
AAH!
*Laughing* You almost broke my laptop! You threw it at the screen of my laptop.
I did not have a choice.
I think I should start this time.
– Yeah, that’s fair.
Okay, you ready?
– Yeah.
I’m gonna get shocked again…
Platypus are one of the few mammals to produce venom. Though the venom isn’t powerful enough to kill a human, the pain is excruciating and can last for a month.
Naked mole rats don’t feel the pain of acid or the sting of chili peppers.
NO! Oh you cheated.
The scientific term for brain freeze is… euh…
AAH!
*Laughing* Naked mole rats don’t feel spice.
Fascinating! Short and fascinating.
Okay, let’s talk about anticipation.
That was… It’s not as bad as I thought it was at first, but it is shocking.
No, and the worst part is when you get it handed to you, you’re like, oh I’m gonna…
– It’s, it’s gonna come, it’s gonna come.
But then as soon as you do get shocked you’re right in.
Well, you get scared and then…
– For you, you just throw it away.
Well, my hand… You didn’t even get it so you don’t even know.
I DID! I got your second-hand electrocution.
Okay. Well okay, the winner of this entire game has been Greg.
So! We made it through all the pain and suffering, but it was all for the sake of science.
And now, it’s time for *together* this week in science talk!
*Music* This week, scientists have started to discover how we actually spend our time. Using information from over one million participants, scientists found that we don’t actually work more than we did in the past, we just tend to multitask a lot more, making our lives seem more hectic.
You might not care much about your poop, but your brain does. Neuroscientists have found that microbes in your gut can affect your brain development, and also your mental health. Known as the “poop studies”, scientists are looking at how microbes affect a baby’s brain development. So next time you’re changing a diaper, take a good look at that.
Speaking of that, did you know that naked mole rats actually eat each other’s waste? But, for good reason! Researchers shown that when underlings eat hormone-rich waste of a queen, the added estrogen in their system actually prompts them to help take care of her offspring.
Let us know if you know of any other news from this weekend’s science, use the #TWIST and we’re going to put all the information of the studies we’ve just talked about below.
Our Twitter and Instagram handles are right here, which you can follow and thank you so much for watching the whole first episode of The LAB, we had a lot of fun making it. If you have other questions or experiments you wanna see us try on this new series, let us know in the comments below.
And make sure you subscribe to ASAP Science, we have a new whiteboard video coming out this week and we’ll see you next Sunday for the next episode of The LAB.
See you then!
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Let me know if you need any further modifications!
Pain – A feeling triggered in the nervous system that signals potential harm to the body. – When you touch a hot stove, the pain you feel is your body’s way of telling you to move your hand away quickly.
Receptors – Specialized cells or proteins that detect changes in the environment and send signals to the brain. – The receptors in your skin help you feel sensations like heat, cold, and pressure.
Capsaicin – A compound found in chili peppers that causes a burning sensation when it comes into contact with tissues. – Capsaicin is what makes spicy foods feel hot and can also be used in creams to relieve pain.
Tolerance – The ability of an organism to endure or become less responsive to a substance or condition over time. – After taking the same medication for a while, a person might develop a tolerance, requiring a higher dose to achieve the same effect.
Adrenaline – A hormone released by the adrenal glands that increases heart rate and energy in response to stress or excitement. – When you are scared or excited, your body releases adrenaline, which can make your heart beat faster.
Meditation – A practice where an individual uses techniques like focusing the mind to achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm state. – Scientists have found that meditation can help reduce stress and improve concentration.
Microbes – Microscopic organisms, such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi, that can be found in various environments. – Microbes play a crucial role in decomposing organic matter and recycling nutrients in ecosystems.
Gut – The part of the digestive system that includes the stomach and intestines, where food is broken down and nutrients are absorbed. – The gut contains many microbes that help digest food and keep the digestive system healthy.
Health – The overall condition of an organism’s body and mind, and the absence of disease or illness. – Eating a balanced diet and exercising regularly are important for maintaining good health.
Experiment – A scientific procedure undertaken to test a hypothesis by collecting data and observing outcomes. – In science class, we conducted an experiment to see how different liquids affect plant growth.
