The simplest form of learned behaviour is based on an instinct so distinct that it almost defies explanation: Pleasure good, pain bad. Pain tells us when the body is in distress and the anguish it causes is an important signal that assists survival. Its cousins in the mind — fear, anxiety, panic — too are essential to the fight-or-flight response hardwired into a lot of organic life. AdvertisingCameron has had broken limbs, been in accidents, gone through childbirth — all without the excruciating pain that usually accompanies such incidents. Cameron’s mutation could hold the key to developing gene therapies to assist in the management of chronic pain, both mental and physical.

Source: Indian Express April 01, 2019 19:30 UTC