Despite the saying “happiness is having a scratch for every itch,” itching often makes the itchy skin condition worse. So why is the instinct so strong? In a study with mice, researchers from the ...

You’ve likely heard it since childhood: Don’t scratch that bug bite or rash, you’ll make it worse. But why would something that feels so good be bad? A lot of things can cause itchiness, sometimes ...

Seeing other people scratching can cause your brain to trigger your own. Patients who suffer from chronic itch employ creative techniques to alleviate their itch, often using painful thermal stimuli, ...

It’s a universal childhood admonition: resist the urge to scratch that irritating bug bite or rash, lest you exacerbate the problem. Yet, the immediate relief scratching provides often makes this ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Relief from a good scratch, in evolutionary terms, is positive feedback (Getty/iStock) It’s a universal childhood admonition: ...