Crickets May Feel Pain, New Study Suggests

A study published May 13 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B suggests house crickets (Acheta domesticus) experience pain-like sensations. Researchers from the University of Sydney applied a hot soldering iron (149°F) to crickets' antennae and observed they groomed the injured side more than twice as often and four times longer than controls. The findings challenge assumptions that insects are reflex machines, with implications for the 400 billion crickets farmed annually. Co-author Thomas White notes that if insects can have better or worse lives, that should be considered. The study adds to evidence of pain in invertebrates like crabs and octopuses.