And now it's time for who's smarted?
Hey smarty pants! If you could just give me one sec.
My favorite bouncy ball walled into the bed and is just out of reach!
Too far. Guess I'm crawling under.
Wow! It sure is messy down here.
Ooh! Is that a pizza crust?
No, don't eat it. There's my bouncy ball.
Now I just need to scoot back out and...
Ow! Ah! I just pumped my head!
Oh gee, that's smarts! I can't believe I just...
Ow! I just pumped my head again!
Hey, who's laughing? You think it's hilarious I bumped my head twice?
I mean, I guess it's a little funny, but still you got a lot of nerve laughing at my pain.
You can say that again. Hey, who's there?
Where are you? I don't see anyone.
Neither do I, but that's no reason to get nervous.
Nervous? Who said anything about being nervous?
I'm not nervous. Yes, you are, and so am I.
Huh? Who are you? And what are you doing here?
Also, you're making my head hurt more.
Sorry, just doing my job.
Your job? Ah! Whenever you speak, my whole body tingles.
What is going on here? Any idea who or what I am now?
No. Listen back to everything we've said for clues.
You got a lot of nerve laughing at my pain.
That's no reason to get nervous.
You're making my head hurt more.
Sorry, just doing my job.
Whenever you speak, my whole body tingles.
Wait a second. I think I know who and what you are.
Smarty pants, can you figure it out?
Is it an invisible wizard?
Be my nervous system. Or see the ghost of the pizza crust under my bed.
If you said be, my nervous system, you are right.
Right? Yep, the name's Nelson, but everyone calls me nervous Nelly.
Or just Nelly for short.
Uh-huh. Nice to meet you, Nelly.
So, if you're my nervous system, the branch-like fibers in my body that, among other things, transmit sensory signals such as pain, do you think you could help me out with this bump on my head?
It's really smarting, and not on the way I like to smart.
For you, no problem. Whoa, you totally eased my pain.
Thanks, Nelly. But while I have you here, I'm wondering what exactly is physical pain?
How does your body know it's in pain?
And what's the point of pain in the first place?
Seriously? I can answer those no problem.
Great, then it's time for another whiff of science and history on...
Who smarted? Who smarted?
Who smart is it you? Is it me?
Is it science or history?
Listen up. Everyone, we make smarting lots of fun on those smart heads.
Hi, trusty here with a special message for all the parents and guardians listening.
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Learn more at IXL.com. Okay, Smarty Pants, here's a question for you.
And I hope it's not too painful.
Ow! What exactly is physical pain?
Is it A, an unpleasant sensory experience associated with tissue damage?
B, the result of a noxious stimulus.
Or C, the essence of a boo-boo.
Ow! Nervous Nelly, why are you laughing?
Because it's a trick question.
A trick question? Yes, there's no wrong answer.
All three are correct. They are?
I mean, they are. Yep. According to the International Association for the Study of Pain, physical pain is answer A, an unpleasant sensory experience associated with tissue damage, which results from answer B, an noxious stimulus, which is derimeral, please.
Answer C, the essence of a boo-boo.
Gotcha. I'm sure the Smarty Pants understand the essence of a boo-boo part.
If they or I bump our heads.
Ow! Scraper knees. Or stub our toes.
Ow! We know we're going to experience the feeling of pain.
But Nelly, when you say physical pain is a quote, unpleasant sensory experience associated with tissue damage, do you mean like blowing your nose with clinics?
No, not that kind of tissue.
Tissue as in the material of the human body.
Skin, muscles, bones, organs.
Ah, yes, of course. Duh.
And we all experience pain when these tissues get damaged.
Yes, from a noxious stimuli, which of course is the plural of stimulus.
Okay, I'm still a little lost.
And what does a noxious stimulus mean?
Do you know Smarty Pants?
Yeah, me neither. When we talk about pain, noxious means something harmful, and stimulus means a thing or event that evokes a certain reaction in an organ or tissue, in this case, damage which causes pain.
Oh, I see. Like me bumping my head on my bed frame would be a noxious stimulus.
Ow! Precisely. So, do you think you got it?
I think so. But just to be sure, let's take a quick quiz.
Hey, Smarty Pants, true or false?
A stinky meatcake fart?
Is it noxious stimulus?
If you said true? Sorry, you're wrong.
Although a stinky meatcake fart would be very unpleasant.
Yeah, oh boy, let me out.
I can't breathe. A true noxious stimulus is something that causes tissue damage, like a bump, cut, scrape, or even worse, a broken bone.
Hey, do you want to sign my cast?
But when you experience a noxious stimulus, how does your body know you're in pain?
What do you think, Smarty Pants?
Do you think your eyes see the noxious stimulus and tell you you're in pain?
Or do you think your ears hear the stimulus and they tell you you're in pain?
Or do you think it's something totally ridiculous, like special receptors in the skin and other tissues that detect noxious stimuli and trigger a pain alarm?
Now what's so funny, Nelly?
That ridiculous alarm system you mentioned is exactly how our bodies detect pain.
Oh, what do you know? Hey, were you messing with me?
Maybe, but please, go on.
The receptors in your skin and other tissues that detect pain are called noxious sectors.
They're a part of the peripheral nervous system which contains all the nerve fibers that transmit signals to and from your brain and spinal cord.
Otherwise known as your central nervous system.
When noxious receptors receive a noxious stimuli above a certain threshold, they transmit the signal to your central nervous system, aka me, and ta-da!
You feel pain! Noxious, that's an interesting word.
Indeed, it comes from the Latin word no-serie, meaning harm, combined with receptive, meaning able to receive, in this case signals.
Hey, smarty pants. How many types of noxious stimuli do you think no-serceptors receive?
Is it a, 3, b, 4, or c, over 1 million?
If you said b, 4, you're close.
If you said c, over 1 million, you're far.
But if you said a, 3, you're spot on.
So what are the three types of noxious or harmful stimuli that no-serceptors receive?
Nully? Stimuli number one, our known as mechanical.
Things like pinches, cuffs, and scrapes.
Ooh, then there's chemical such as acids or irritants.
And then there's thermal, which are changes in temperature.
Hey, smarty pants. Now that you know the three types of noxious stimuli, which type do you think you feel when you eat food that's too spicy?
Is it a, mechanical? b, chemical, or c, thermal?
Well, you might think the answer is c, thermal, because of the heat you feel from a hot sauce.
The answer is actually b, chemical, because capsaicin.
The compound and spicy peppers that gives them their spiciness is technically a chemical.
Exactly. Also no hot sauce for me, please.
You don't like spicy foods?
Are you kidding? I'm away too nervous to eat any food.
But you need sustenance to survive, so I make do.
Anyway, now that you know what physical pain is and how your body detects it, I gotta know what's the point?
Why do you and I need to feel pain?
And wouldn't life be better off without it?
Good questions, but you might not like the answers.
Which we'll learn right after this.
Short, not too painful.
Break. Hola, bonjour. Hello, Ni Hao.
Ciao. Hey, smarty fans.
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Thanks. Now back to who's smarted.
Ow, I don't believe it. It just bumped my head a third time.
Smarty pants, what is the point of feeling pain?
True or false? Wouldn't life be so much better off without pain?
Now what's so funny, Nelly?
That is a serious question.
It's funny because life wouldn't be better or worse without pain.
You didn't let me finish.
Life wouldn't be better or worse because without pain, life wouldn't be life.
The answer is false. You're making my head hurt again.
Good, because without pain, you wouldn't survive.
The point of pain is that it's your body's evolutionary defense mechanism.
The nosyceptors that detect noxious stimuli are only the alarm.
The next defense is action or reflexive action.
Oh, like looking in the mirror to see where you're hurt?
No, not reflective, reflexive.
Oops. When your body feels pain, your nervous system triggers a reflexive unconscious action ordering you to get away from the pain and quickly.
True or false, smarty pants.
When you pull your hands away from water, that's so hot.
Or cold. That it stinks.
That's a reflexive action.
If you answered true, you're correct.
Well done, smarty pants.
But hold on a second. When I bumped my head three times, how?
A reflexive action wouldn't have saved me.
That is also true. However, the next time your favorite bouncy ball rolls under your bed and you crawl after it to retrieve it, do you think you'll be more equally or less likely to bump your head?
Hmm, what do you think, smarty pants?
There's actually no wrong answer to this question.
If you said I'd be more or equally likely to bump my head when retrieving the bouncy ball, you don't have much faith in your trusty narrator.
You did bump your head three times.
But if you said I'd be less likely to bump my head.
Your answer illustrates another way pain serves as your body's evolutionary defense mechanism.
It helps you learn what's painful and how to avoid those painful stimuli in the future.
But how do we know our pain defense mechanism is evolutionary?
A simple but sad process of genetic elimination.
There is a condition known as congenital insensitivity to pain in which a person doesn't get any warning signs when they're hurt.
Oh wow, so they don't feel any pain?
Nope, but since the condition is genetic and very, very rare, it shows that over time those genes did not survive, leaving humankind with our painfully robust defense mechanism pain.
I guess you could say it hurts so good.
Now you're getting it. Thanks, Nelly.
Now, if you don't mind, I'm gonna bounce my bouncy ball.
After all, I went through a lot of pain to get it back.
Go for it. Just be careful.
How? My nose. Mother always said, don't play ball in the house.
A super smart shoutout to Charlie.
A super smarty fan in Boko Ratan, Florida.
Hey, that's my home state.
We hear you love learning new things and think who smart it is so funny.
Well, I'm so happy to hear that.
Thanks for smarting with us, Charlie.
This episode, pain, was written by Dan Discomfort Gold, and voiced by Philip Jermick, Adam Distressed Davis, miserable Max Kamaski, and Jerry Colbert, technical direction and sound design by Josh Hurting Han.
Who smart it is recorded and mixed at the Relic Room Studios?
Our associate producer is Max Kamaski.
The theme song is by Brian Bandage Suarez, with lyrics written and performed by Adam Text Davis, who smart it was created and produced by Adam Text Davis and Jerry Colbert.
This has been an atomic entertainment production.
Who smart it is? Star glow!
I wore winter boots every day for two years.
I hate climbing trees. I'm Deborah Goldstein, host of the podcast The Big Fib, and half of those statements were indeed Fibs!
On every episode of The Big Fib, we bring on two grown-ups.
One is an expert and the other is a liar, and it's the job of our human child contestant to help us figure out who is who, because no one can spot a liar better than a kid.
We've had episodes on everything from Minecraft to Mythology and from Lego to Libraries.
Join me and my robot co-host Lisa on The Big Fib on Apple Podcasts or on GZMshows.com.
