Learn about where your emotions come from and how you can hack them, with help from psychology researcher and neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett. Plus: learn why tarantula venom could be an alternative to opioids.
Learn about where your emotions come from and how you can hack them, with help from psychology researcher and neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett. Plus: learn why tarantula venom could be an alternative to opioids.
Maybe tarantula venom could be an alternative to opioids by Cameron Duke
Additional resources from Lisa Feldman Barrett:
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Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/where-our-emotions-come-from-and-how-to-hack-them-w-lisa-feldman-barrett-and-tarantula-venom-could-be-an-opioid-alternative
CODY: Hi! You’re about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from curiosity-dot-com. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, you’ll learn about why tarantula venom could be an alternative to opioids. Then, you’ll learn about where your emotions come from and how to hack them, from researcher Lisa Feldman Barrett.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
Even if you aren’t afraid of spiders, you still wouldn’t want one to bite you. Those bites hurt! So what if I told you spider venom could be used to cure pain? Yep, it turns out that certain molecules found in tarantula venom might one day be used as an alternative to opioid painkillers. Here’s why.
When a tarantula catches its prey, it paralyzes its victim by injecting a cocktail of small proteins called peptides. These peptides are attracted to little gateways on the membranes that surround nerve cells called sodium ion channels. Nerve cells use these channels to send messages to and from the brain. If they’re blocked by spider venom peptides, then the nerve can’t fire, and the victim can’t move. Scary, right?
The venom a tarantula produces contains variations on these ion-channel blocking peptides for different types of nerves. This is important because each nerve pathway is a one-way street that goes either to or from the brain. Motor nerves are responsible for sending messages from the brain to muscles, telling them to run, jump, or put down the ice cream. But other types of nerves send sensory information from the body to the brain, such as information about temperature, pressure, or pain.
At the University of Queensland, molecular biologists discovered that a super venomous tarantula called the Chinese Bird Spider produces a toxin called Huwenotoxin-IV that has a special attraction to the ion channels on pain receptors. Even better, they were able to modify this protein to make it both more specific, by only acting on the pain-reception nerves they were after, and more effective. Basically, they modified spider venom to paralyze less and numb pain more.
Their goal is to eventually develop this protein into an alternative to opioids for treating chronic pain. Opioids like morphine produce unpleasant side effects like nausea and vomiting, but their biggest problem is their addictiveness. Opioid addiction is a serious epidemic. According to the CDC, there are 128 opioid-related deaths per day in the US alone. An alternative drug that relieves pain without the side effects or the addictiveness of opioids could be the best weapon in the fight against opioid addiction. Who knew spider venom could save lives?
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CODY: Today we have a guest who can help you understand where your emotions come from, and how you can “hack” them. Psychology researcher and neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett is the author of the book “How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain." And we interviewed her during a live podcast at the American Association for the Advancement of Science — the AAAS — Annual Meeting in Seattle in February.
[CLIP 3:06]
ASHLEY: At this point I asked Lisa: if our emotions come from the way our brain interprets things, then can we “hack” them? Like, when I’m nervous when I’m about to get in front of a bunch of people, I reframe it as “I’m not nervous, I’m excited!” Lisa said the evidence says that yes, we can do that… it’s just a lot harder than the way I just made it sound. She said there’s a psychology researcher named Jeremy Jamieson who studies test anxiety. He trains people with test anxiety to reframe their arousal levels — that is, when they feel worked up, they recategorize that as determination instead of anxiety. And those people end up being able to overcome their test anxiety and pass their classes. It’s a skill you have to practice, but it is possible.
[CLIP 1:37]
CODY: If you want to learn more about where our emotions come from and how you can “hack” them, check out our full uncut interview with Lisa Feldman Barrett. You can WATCH it on our YouTube channel right now at youtube-dot-com-slash-curiosity-dot-com, and we’ll also put a link in today’s show notes.
ASHLEY: Let’s recap what we learned today
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CODY: Today’s first story was written by Cameron Duke, and edited by Ashley Hamer, who’s the managing editor for Curiosity Daily.
ASHLEY: Today’s episode was produced and edited by Cody Gough.
CODY: Join us again tomorrow to learn something new in just a few minutes.
ASHLEY: And until then, stay curious!