In Understanding Pain: Exploring the Perception of Pain,  Dr. Fernando Cervero does a wonderful job of condensing his 40+ years of research and immersion in the field of pain research into a concise but readable account.  It's a great introduction, and it's bound to inspire a new generation of physicians and researchers.

I interviewed Dr. Cervero in BSP 93, and this month's podcast (BSP 95) is the promised second part of our discussion of pain.  I focus on some of the topics that Dr. Cervero and I did not have time to discuss, including a look at how the mechanisms of acute pain differ significantly from those of chronic pain.  The growing appreciation of these differences offers hope to the millions of people around the world who suffer from chronic pain, but the ongoing efforts of researchers like Dr. Cervero also offer hope of improved pain relief for everyone.

Unfortunately, for those of you who love audiobooks, Understanding Pain, is not available in audio; but it is a relatively short book (under 200 pages) that I recommend to everyone.  

How to get this episode:

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References and Links:

• Understanding Pain: Exploring the Perception of Pain, by Fernando Cervero.

• BSP 93: Interview with Dr. Cervero.

• McGill Pain Questionnaire (Wikipedia). Note: there are many links to PDFs on the web.

• BSP 77: Interview with Dr. Fabrizio Benedetti about the neurobiology of placebos.

• Guitar Zero: The New Musician and the Science of Learning, by Gary Marcus (this month's Audible.com title).

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• I am traveling to South Africa from April 7-19 (2013), but I plan to post the next episode of the Brain Science Podcast on April 26. It will be an interview with Dr. Robert Burton about his new book, A Skeptic's Guide to the Mind: What Neuroscience Can and Cannot Tell Us About Ourselves.