Nobel Prize: David Julius and Ardem Petapoutian win prize

The award for Physiology and medicine goes to scientists who discovered how we feel pain from heat

Two scientists behind a breakthrough in understanding how we feel heat and pressure have won a Nobel Prize.

Professors David Julius and Ardem Petapoutian won the 2021 prize for Physiology or Medicine.

Their work helped to reveal how our bodies can feel heat and pressure - what lets us know when something is too hot to touch.

Thomas Perlmann, secretary of the Nobel committee, said: "This really unlocks one of the secrets of nature."

Their discovery could help provide new ways of helping people who suffer with "a wide range of diseases... including chronic pain".

What is a Nobel Prize?

Professors David Julius (left) and Ardem Petapoutian (right) have been announced sas the winners of the Physiology and Medicine Nobel Prize

A Nobel Prize is an award that is given to someone whose work has benefitted society.

The award is named after Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite.

There are six categories: physiology or medicine, physics, chemistry, literature, economics, and the promotion of peace.

Chillies have a a chemical compound called capsaicin that makes them hot - that's what the scientists used to study how our bodies react to heat

What did the scientists discover?

By experimenting with the chemical that makes a chilli so hot, Professor David Julius discovered the receptor (a part of our cells in our bodies that detects the world around them) that responds to heat.

This the receptor that is trigged when heat is painful and dangerous to us - for example if you burned yourself with a hot cup of tea.

After lots of tests he discovered more of these receptors, that give us the urge to move our hand away from something hot, like a radiator.

The discovery of the receptors helps scientists understand why we can feel something is too hot to touch

Professor Ardem Julius discovered a different type of receptor, one that helps our brains understand pressure.

By poking cells under a microscope in a lab, the scientist found receptors that reacted to being prodded.

The receptors found here help the body feel pressure, such as when we feel the urge to pee!