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Quanta Magazine ·For the curious

How Does Touch Lead to Pain or Pleasure?

by Janna Levin and Steven Strogatz

Published 2026-08-06 13:37:48+00:00

Why does the exact same touch feel comforting from a friend but threatening from a stranger?

0:00 / 1:00:45 · Narrator Algieba

Context

A hand on the shoulder can feel like a comfort or a threat, depending entirely on who it belongs to. The physical pressure is exactly the same, but the brain translates the meaning differently. In an interview published on 6 August 2026, neuroscientist Ishmail Abdus-Saboor points to this strange gap between a physical touch and an emotional response. He explains why medicine still lacks a basic test for human pain. The conversation then turns to the skin as a social organ, asking what a colony of hairless rodents might reveal about the biology of a simple hug.

Show notes

An examination of the biological mechanisms that translate physical touch into pain or pleasure. The discussion covers the evolutionary purpose of discomfort, the search for objective ways to measure pain, and the specific nerve pathways that process social contact. It also outlines how researchers use naked mole rats to study pain resistance, and the ethics of inducing discomfort in animal research.

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