To me, this seems self-evident, but I have met people who think it is cowardly to admit to any kind of fear. If you are not afraid of anything, you are either a fool, or you do not have a desire to stay alive.
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 8-May-2014
Contact: Mary Beth O'Leary
Cell Press
What vigilant squid can teach us about the purpose of pain
Most of us have probably felt that lasting sense of anxiety or even pain after enduring some kind of accident or injury. Now, researchers have the first evidence in any animal that there may be a very good reason for that kind of heightened sensitivity—or at least there is in the battle of squid versus fish. Squid that behave with extra vigilance after experiencing even a minor injury are more likely to live to see another day, according to a report appearing in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on May 8.
The findings suggest that behaviors that appear counterproductive might sometimes have an advantage when viewed from an evolutionary perspective, the researchers say.
"Many pain researchers and clinicians consider long-lasting sensitization and associated pain to be maladaptive, rarely considering whether it might be evolutionarily adaptive," says Edgar Walters of the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. "Intense pain is certainly maladaptive in many human contexts when modern medical care is available. However, this study provides the first direct evidence for the plausible evolutionary hypothesis that sensitization mechanisms—which in some animals are known to promote pain—have been shaped by strong evolutionary selection pressures, including pressures from predators."
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