geekosystem

In their latest video contribution to a better understanding of the world through YouTube cartoons, AsapSCIENCE looks to answer the number one burning question of the Internet: What hurts worse -- getting kicked in the balls or having a baby?

Medicinal marijuana has been gaining wider acceptance throughout the United States, but there are still plenty of things we don't understand about the effects of the drug. We may be a step closer on at least one angle, though -- the ability of cannabis to dull pain. Using brain imaging technology, researchers at Oxford University suggest that the drug doesn't actually lessen the intensity of pain that patients are feeling. Instead, it seems to change the perception of the sensation, helping patients find the same amount of pain more tolerable.

Warning: do not look at the image above if you have math anxiety. A new study by researchers at the University of Chicago has found that for people who get anxious at the idea of doing mathematics, just preparing to do a math problem can trigger activity in a part of your brain that registers physical pain.

The next advance in pain relief may come from that noblest of all tunnel dwellers, the naked mole rat, which has a special gift for tolerating acidic environments that would be inhospitable to cuter critters. The mole rats gift for living in less than ideal environments could translate to new pharmaceuticals that ease the pain of bumps and bruises and chronic pain conditions in humans, according to research published over the weekend in the online journal PLoS ONE.

Science has now provided yet another reason to play horrendously violent video games like Gears of War. Research released today by Keele University shows that those kind of games could potentially be used to relieve pain. In the same release, the university also confirmed that golf games don't produce the same effect, which is not surprising given that golf can sometimes be a source of pain in and of itself.

For most of us, our relationship with pain relievers like Ibuprofen or Aspirin begin and end at curing a malady. But the science behind that cure -- even the pain that you're trying to get rid of -- is a fascinating story in its own right. Now, with a little animated help from Augenblick Studios (who brought you such classics as Superjail!), that story can be told in about four minutes. See the video, after the break.