Highly sensitive science
Science & Tech Highly sensitive science Veasey Conway/Harvard Staff Photographer Sy Boles Harvard Staff Writer July 2, 2025 6 min read David Ginty probes pleasure and pain to shed light on autism, other conditions Part of the Profiles of Progress series The itch of a clothing tag. The seam on the inside of a sock. The tickling of hairs on the back of your neck. For many of us, it’s easy to tune out these sensations as we move through the day. But for some autistic people, everyday sensations can be intolerable. David Ginty knows why, and it’s not, as many autism researchers once believed, a dysfunction of the brain. Ginty, the Edward R. and Anne G. Lefler Professor of Neurobiology and chair of the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, studies touch and pain. Scientists have known for some time, he said, that our experience of physical sensation is a collaboration between our brain, our central nervous system, and sensory...