Dogs feel it. Birds feel it. Some people feel it a lot. It's the urge to scratch an itch.

Scientists know surprisingly little about this common sensation. But in a recent study of mice, researchers identified specific nerve cells that pass along an itch signal to the brain. And these cells appear to be independent of the pathway for pain

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis discovered these itch-specific nerve cells by studying mice that don't seem to itch — that is, they don't feel the sensation that would cause them to scratch.

via www.npr.org

Now here is some very useful research!

Does this foreshadow a time when we can no longer say that "scratch where they itch" is the best form of marketing and evangelism?

Are we in danger of becoming an "itchless" society where we perceive no needs that cannot be addressed with simplistic solutions in bottles from the pharmacy?

Or is there an itch so deep that no drug or artificial remedy can reach it?

"Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee. " – St. Augustine