The Associated Press recently released an article that reports that scientists are testing to see of the stuff that makes hot sauces so savage can tame the pain of surgery.

Doctors are dripping capsaicin, the chemical that gives chile peppers their fire, directly into open wounds during knee replacement and a few other highly painful operations.  These experiments use an ultra-purified version of capsaicin to avoid infection – and the patients are under anesthesia so they don’t scream at the initial burn.

You ask how could something searing possibly soothe?  Bite a hot pepper and, after the burn, your tongue goes numb.  Chile peppers have been part of folk remedy for centuries, and heat-inducing capsaicin creams are a staple for arthritis and aching muscles.

In a pilot U.S. study of 50 knee replacements, the half treated with capsaicin used less morphine in the 48 hours after surgery and reported less pain for two weeks.