Cry for help: it’s just what nature wants you to do (Image: Mikael Andersson/Plainpicture)
FOR years I worked in Brazil on the evolution of vision in primates and was often stationed near monkeys who had undergone caesarean sections. Their recovery was impressive – in stark contrast with my own after two C-sections. Within hours, the monkeys would be sitting, climbing and annoying each other.
Looking at these unbothered monkeys, I began to think that some causes of the sensation of pain in humans might be fundamentally different to those in other animals.
The basic function of pain is the same for…
