Pain Less: the future of relief

This year, the average Brit will swallow 373 painkilling pills. But we treat pain with drugs that haven’t really changed for decades. Is there a better way to control pain?

Pain Less is a new exhibition featured in the Antenna – Science News gallery. It investigates the future of pain relief.

Year 9 students, aged 13–14, from Langley Academy worked with us throughout the creation of Pain Less to make sure the exhibition is fun and relevant to the next generation of science enthusiasts.

The exhibition explores pain through the stories of extraordinary people who deal with it every day – from the patient who suffers with chronic pain in his missing limb, to the man who feels no pain at all.

The displays present personal stories, scientific discovery, fascinating objects and films to explore how scientists are working to create the perfect pain relief. Geneticists decode DNA to find out how pain works in the body. Neuroscientists examine brain activity to discover how emotion affects how we feel pain. Researchers ask: Do we really feel no pain during surgery under anaesthetic? Or do we simply not remember it? How might this affect us?