We have a new article out that argues we must understand human pain as essentially social. This is because the survival value of pain for individual humans and for the species as a whole must be understood in the context of human social capacities that are key to our evolutionary success. Social strategies of pain validation such as “cheater detection” are central to the way that pain operates in human communities. [Sullivan MD, de C Williams AC. The social nature of human pain. Pain. 2025 Jan 1;166(1):20-23. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000003250. Epub 2024 Apr 19. PMID: 38718198.]