Don’t reach for the bug spray: scientists find insects may feel pain after crickets nurse sore antenna

Do insects feel pain? Crickets certainly seem to, according to new research which finds they stroke and groom a sore antenna in much the same way as a dog nurses its hurt paw. Associate Prof Thomas White, an entomologist from the University of Sydney, said the experience of pain was a “longer, drawn-out, ouchy feeling”, that differed from a hardwired nerve response. But evidence for pain is difficult to establish in other species, he says, so scientists look for behavioural cues. …