New research shows that insects feel pain. The researchers say it isn't the same kind of pain that humans feel. The pain that insects feel is a sensation that is like pain. The research was conducted at the University of Sydney in Australia. Professor Greg Neely, co-author of the research report, said: "People don't really think of insects as feeling any kind of pain, but it's already been shown in lots of different invertebrate animals that they can sense and avoid dangerous [things] that we [think of] as painful." He added: "We knew that insects could sense 'pain' but what we didn't know is that an injury could lead to long-lasting hyper-sensitivity...in a similar way to human patients' experiences."

新的研究表明昆虫会感到疼痛。研究人员说，这与人类感受到的疼痛不同。昆虫感到的疼痛是一种类似于疼痛的感觉。这项研究是在澳大利亚悉尼大学进行的。这项研究报告的合著者格雷格·尼利教授说：“人们并不真的认为昆虫会感到任何痛苦，但是很多不同的无脊椎动物已经证明了昆虫可以感知并避免我们(认为)认为是痛苦的危险事物。”他补充道：“我们知道昆虫能感觉到“疼痛”，但我们不知道的是，损伤会导致长期的超敏感……这与人类病人的经历类似。”

The researchers looked at how fruit flies reacted to injuries. The scientists damaged one leg on the flies and allowed the leg to heal. They found that after the leg fully healed, the flies became more sensitive and tried harder to protect their legs. Professor Neely said the pain the flies felt stayed in their memory and this changed their behaviour. He said: "After the [insect] is hurt once badly, they are hypersensitive and try to protect themselves for the rest of their lives." Neely says he hopes to carry out more research to better understand how humans feel pain. He said: "We are focused on making new stem cell therapies or drugs that target the underlying cause and stop pain for good."

研究人员观察了果蝇对伤害的反应。科学家们损坏了苍蝇的一条腿，让它痊愈。他们发现，在腿完全愈合后，苍蝇变得更加敏感，并努力保护自己的腿。尼利教授说，苍蝇感到的疼痛留在了他们的记忆中，这改变了他们的行为。他说：“(昆虫)一旦受到严重伤害，它们就会过敏，并试图在余生中保护自己。”Neely说，他希望进行更多的研究，以更好地了解人类是如何感到疼痛的。他说：“我们致力于制造新的干细胞疗法或药物，这些疗法或药物针对潜在的病因，并永久止痛。”