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This Is Your Brain On Pain

Lydia Thompson (21st Century Fox) for National Geographic

Powerful painkillers can often dispatch acute pain, but using them for chronic, persistent pain carries the risk of addiction. Nearly two million Americans have a substance abuse disorder stemming from prescribed opioids. So scientists are researching ways to treat pain without drugs. Journalist Yudhijit Bhattacharjee writes about them in National Geographic in "Scientists are Unraveling the Mysteries of Pain." Plus, University of Maryland neurobiologist Dr. Luana Colloca describes her research using virtual reality to manage chronic pain. For more information on this National Geographic article, visit this link. For more information on Dr. Luana Colloca's research at the University of Maryland,visit this link.

Sheilah Kast is the host of On The Record, Monday-Friday, 9:30-10:00 am.
Melissa Gerr is a Senior Producer for On the Record. She started in public media at Twin Cities Public Television in St. Paul, Minn., where she is from, and then worked as a field producer for Oregon Public Broadcasting in Portland. She made the jump to audio-lover in Baltimore as a digital media editor at Mid-Atlantic Media and Laureate Education, Inc. and as a field producer for "Out of the Blocks." Her beat is typically the off-beat with an emphasis on science, culture and things that make you say, 'Wait, what?'