PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

A sensational science special

With his customary wit, wisdom and willingness to get involved, Michael Mosley gets to grips with the fascinating worlds of pleasure and pain.

Teasing out the precise neural circuitry that allows us to
experience pleasure, Michael discovers how pleasure is at the root of our ability to make sense of the world, and how it reinforces healthy behaviours such as eating, having sex and keeping warm.

Michael talks to new parents high on the pleasure hormone oxytocin; challenges his fear of heights with the thrill-seekers who jump 220 metres off a dam for fun; and meets a woman who turned her own wedding into a science experiment to try to find out how much pleasure she was feeling.

He also investigates the inextricable link between pleasure and pain, eating a year’s worth of chocolate to investigate the precise moment when pleasure turns to pain and finding out what effect a reward has on our ability to tolerate pain.

Presenter
Michael Mosley
Executive Producer
Tina Fletcher


DURATION
1 x 50