Everyone knows that scratching relieves an itch–but how? Neuroscientists now say they’ve found part of the answer in a new study of macaque monkeys. Previous research has suggested that a specific ...

Every dog and cat knows that scratching relieves an itch. But for ages, not even neuroscientists knew why. Now, a new study shows that scratching turns off activity in spinal cord nerves that transmit ...

Pain and itch are distinct sensations arousing evasion and compulsive desire for scratching, respectively. It’s unclear whether they could invoke different neural networks in the brain. Here, we use ...

A class of spinothalamic tract neurons is selectively excited by stimuli that cause itch, suggesting that this sensation is mediated by distinct peripheral and central pathways. The best-known inducer ...