Celeb Gist

Why do we feel hot and cold as pain?

By Jason G GoldmanFeatures correspondent iStock(Credit: iStock)When we feel something too hot or cold, our senses register pain. But why? And what’s causing it? On the face of things, a hot waffle iron wouldn't seem to have all that much in common with a block of ice. But the two objects share the same capacity to inflict pain. Extreme heat and extreme cold are both able to deliver a nasty blow to human skin, and it turns out that the brain monitors these thermal extremes in similar ways.