Hot or cold? Debate on protein heats up

The pungency of wasabi, horseradish, brussels sprouts, and mustards comes from compounds called isothiocyanates. Applying those same compounds to a person’s skin can cause pain and inflammation.

Isothiocyanates activate pain-signaling neurons by triggering a cell-surface protein that lets ions into cells, David Julius of University of California, San Francisco and his colleagues report in the Jan.