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April 20, 2007

Strange But True!

Q. A “firewalker” can cross a bed of red-hot wood coals aided by the “Leidenfrost effect” (vaporizing foot moisture forms an insulating cushion) and by quick-stepping along. But what about the 10-year-old Pakistani boy who not only firewalked in street performances but could place knives through his arms, without apparent discomfort?

A. No physics trick here but rather a rare genetic mutation that left several members of the family unable to feel pain, says C. Brownlee in “Science News.” Although pain can be agonizing, it does serve to warn people to avoid dangerous situations and forces them to attend to wounds. Researchers traced the no-pain mutation to the SCN9A gene, critical to a cell-surface sodium channel for pain-signal propagation. But how the family's pain is cut off is still not clear, though people with some types of chronic pain have an abnormally high number of sodium channels containing the SCN9A-encoded protein, as reported by neurologist Stephen Waxman. “If researchers could craft a drug to make these channels inactive, as they are in the Pakistani family members, this might help millions of chronic pain sufferers worldwide, and give pharmaceutical companies a valuable lead,” said Waxman.


 
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