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Researchers have developed tiny, flexible devices that can wrap around individual nerve fibres without damaging them.

Understanding their weirdness could help prevent and better treat human illnesses like arthritis and cancer.

A team of engineers and clinicians has developed an ultra-thin, inflatable device that can be used to treat the most severe forms of pain without the need for invasive surgery.

Women who do not need pain relief during childbirth may be carriers of a key genetic variant that acts a natural epidural, say scientists at the ̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Cambridge. In a study published today in the journal Cell Reports, the researchers explain how the variant limits the ability of nerve cells to send pain signals to the brain.

An algorithm to monitor the joints of patients with arthritis, which could change the way that the severity of the condition is assessed, has been developed by a team of engineers, physicians and radiologists led by the ̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Cambridge. 

Researchers from the UK & Japan have identified how the brain’s natural painkilling system could be used as a possible alternative to opioids for the effective relief of chronic pain, which affects as many as one in three people at some point in their lives. 

̽»¨Ö±²¥pain we experience as humans has physical and emotional components. Could we develop a machine that feels pain a similar way – and would we want to? ̽»¨Ö±²¥first of four Cambridge Shorts looks at the possibilities and challenges.

Researchers have identified the cause of chronic, and currently untreatable, pain in those with amputations and severe nerve damage, as well as a potential treatment which relies on engineering instead of drugs.

°Õ³ó±ðÌýCambridge Animal Alphabet series celebrates Cambridge's connections with animals through literature, art, science and society. Here, N is for Naked Mole-Rats, which won't win any beauty contests, but can live for 30 years and may be able to help in the development of new therapies for chronic pain.

A gene essential to the production of pain-sensing neurons in humans has been identified by an international team of researchers co-led by the ̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Cambridge. ̽»¨Ö±²¥discovery, reported today in the journal Nature Genetics, could have implications for the development of new methods of pain relief.