If you've ever taken a big bite of wasabi, you know what comes next: a painful zing that creeps over your whole scalp.
You aren't the only animal that feels this way. The condiment's sinus-burning kick comes from a chemical compound called allyl isothiocyanate, or AITC, that actively damages proteins within cells. Flies and flatworms shun it, as do miceand wolf spiders. "Practically every animal you look at will avoid AITC," said Gary Lewin, a molecular physiologist at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin.
But there is one exception. In a paper published Thursday in Science, scientists including Dr. Lewin showed that the highveld mole rat, a rodent found in South Africa, is entirely impervious to the substance.
The study "demonstrates the power of studying naturally occurring differences in pain sensitivity," said Ewan St. John Smith, a neurobiologist at the University of Cambridge, who was not involved in the research. The work could eventually lead to more effective pain treatment in humans.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/30/science/mole-rats-pain.html
