- It's the food most synonymous with Buffalo, chicken wings!

In fact, the rest of the world calls them buffalo wings.

Deep fried to crispy goodness.

Then tossed in a peppery hot sauce.

There's no debating the iconic level of recognition.

This delicious dish has garnered since the invention, or at least popularization of Buffalo style hot wings in the 1960's.

There are several origin stories, but the most famous one begins at the Anchor Bar in 1964.

Where owner Teressa Bellissimo, invented the dish as a late night snack for her son and his hungry friends.

She fried some chicken wings, mixed Frank's Red hot sauce with butter, and served them with a side of blue cheese and celery.

Without a doubt, Buffalo, New York is the chicken wing capital of the world.

While many in Buffalo debate who has the best wings.

There's no debating that the love affair with wings, has spread across the globe.

You may think chicken wings slathered in hot sauce and dipped in blue cheese is a match made in heaven.

But it's really a match based in science.

And today we're going to explore the science of Buffalo's famous wings.

(upbeat jazzy music) How do you like your wings?

Hot, medium, or mild?

Some people say the hotter, the better.

That's me.

While others, reach for the mild because they can't stand that fiery sensation.

The hot peppers used in wing sauce, trick your brain into thinking your mouth is on fire.

But it's not actually hot at all.

But why do we say that spicy foods are hot?

Even though we say something tastes hot, it's not actually a taste.

Turns out, that the burning sensation you get is caused by a chemical playing a trick on your brain, and your nervous system.

Your nervous system controls everything you do.

Even the things you don't realize you're doing.

So breathing, thinking, moving and feeling.

Are all controlled by your nervous system, even your heartbeat.

The nervous system is made up of your brain, spinal cord, and all of the nerves in your body.

Nerves are super cool.

They're bundles of cells that send electrical impulses to control things around the body.

That's right.

You're electric.

Think of it as a highway, connecting with different parts of your body to your brain.

And the information travels on electricity.

The nervous system is here to keep us safe and our senses are a big part of it.

Our eyes, ears, mouth, nose and skin, gather sensory information that gets sent to the brain.

The brain interprets this information, and causes us to respond.

The key to our love affair with wings, may just be the main ingredient in hot sauce.

Chili peppers!

Peppers contain a chemical compound called capsaicin.

These molecules bind to pain receptors on certain nerves in our body, specifically to the TRPV1 receptors.

When you touch or eat something, that's temperature hot.

So roughly over 106 degrees Fahrenheit, these receptors send warning signals to the brain, so you don't burn your mouth or your throat.

But capsaicin causes these receptors to activate the same signals.

Causing your brain to think you're in contact with a dangerous heat source.

Your body tries to cool itself off.

You may start to sweat.

Your eyes might start to tear up, and your nose could start running.

This is your body's way of getting rid of something that could hurt you.

But why do peppers have this chemical in the first place?

It's all about adaptation.

And adaptation is a trait that a living thing has to help it survive.

And there are two main types of adaptations.

Physical, or the adaptation can be behavioral.

A way something acts.

An example of this is how some birds migrate South during the winter.

Physical adaptations are structural features of the organism.

Like how some animals camouflage or blend in with their environment.

Believe it or not.

Peppers are technically fruits.

In Botany, fruits carry the seeds for plants.

And when, when you open up a pepper, it's exactly what you see.

Lots and lots of seeds.

Pepper plants are adapted to be spread by birds.

The fruit is eaten by a bird and then it travels through it's digestive system.

And as the bird flies, it drops the seed.

Then more pepper plants grow.

However, when a mammal, like a human, eats the pepper.

We grind down the seeds.

so a new plant can't grow.

But here's the wild part.

Mammals can taste the spicy burn, put most birds can't.

So one theory is that these plants adapted to produce capsaicin to keep mammals away from it.

So while it only sort of worked many humans have an insatiable need for spicy food.

Like chicken wings.

But why?

So in response to that burning sensation your brain releases chemicals to protect you.

These chemicals, or neurotransmitters could actually make you feel pretty good.

Endorphins are released to help relieve stress and pain.

Meanwhile, the chemical, dopamine is involved in reward, motivation, memory and attention.

It's time to talk, Scovilles!

The Scoville scale was developed in 1912, by an American chemist, by the name of Wilbur Scoville.

To rank the pungency of chili peppers.

The scale ranges from zero, no heat to 16 million for maximum heat.

A sweet bell pepper has zero Scoville heat units.

While Frank's red hot sauce, the traditional hot sauce used in Buffalo style wings, clocks in at about 450 Scoville heat units.

That's about the same as a pepperoncini.

For comparison, a jalapeno pepper has 3,500 to 10,000 Scoville heat units.

And the dreaded Carolina Reaper, can have 2.2 million Scoville heat units.

My friend Holly, a lifelong chicken wing connoisseur has agreed to help us explore the Scoville scale, in the name of science.

All right, how are you doing Holly?

- I'm doing great.

- Oh, I'm so excited to have this time with you today.

So do you like hot, spicy things?

- Oh yeah.

I'm a spice fan.

- Alright.

- I'm no stranger to a hot wing.

- Wonderful.

Okay.

Well, I have a couple of sauces here that, you know we can give it a go.

How does that sound?

- I was born ready for this.

(bell dinging) (upbeat trumpet music) - Let's go.

Oh boy.

- Oh, okay.

- Oh, that one.

That's the burn that keeps on, keeps on burning.

- That's, that's something that's a cake right there.

- Um, It's pleasant but now my mouth is hurting.

It's fine.

- It's kind of going up into the sinuses a little bit.

- Are you rethinking your life choices today?

- You know what?

I'm invigorated!

(bell dinging) (upbeat trumpet music) - Ope, we need more than that.

- There you go.

- Ope, now it's all over you, sorry!

- Arg it burns.

- Okay.

Ready?

- Ready?

- All right.

- Here goes nothing!

- Down the hatch.

- Oh, okay.

- That was pleasant.

- It's actually almost like a break.

- Yeah.

It almost made that one hurt less.

(bell dinging) (upbeat trumpet music) - Three, two, one.

Alley oop!

- Oh, I liked that one.

Hmm.

You know, it's hot, but it's not.

- I mean, compared to the first one that was, yeah.

- It's not painful.

- Of the three, which one you think is the least spicy?

- The least spicy?

I'm thinking it's this one.

- The second one, okay.

Let's see what that one's at.

So I've got some Frank's red, hot and boom.

450 Scoville heat units.

- All right, okay.

- Okay, what was the next one?

What would you say?

- The next hottest is?

I think, is this number three here.

- And I would agree with that.

Yeah.

Like it, I mean it was a nice burn, - Yeah, it was yeah, definitely burned.

- It's still happening, yeah!

- Still feeling it.

- Still happening.

Oh, I think my eyes are watering, but that is 2,100, that's like, yeah.

- That's a bit more.

- That's like times, four-ish.

- That's a step up for sure.

- All right, so yeah, last one.

Is this, the first, of course, the first one we tried.

- That one was killer.

- But yeah, it was good.

I liked it.

I mean, I'll go over some more.

It's fine.

- Right?

- Okay.

5,790 Scoville heat units.

That's why my eyes are watering.

It's nice.

So, what is that, like 10 times hotter?

- It's a lot.

It burns, it's fine though.

Burning is fun.

So, so now that our mouths are on fire, right?

You need a little, ugh.

So how do you soothe the burn?

Actually, how do you like to soothe the burn?

- Oh man.

You know what I first reached for is maybe like a nice tall glass of ice water.

- Oh, that's fair.

Okay, yeah.

So the natural reaction is to reach for something like water, you know, or something cold.

Cause your brain's saying, "Oh, I'm on fire."

But water actually only temporarily provides you relief.

So why is this?

So capsaicin, the chemical, it's hydrophobic.

Meaning it won't dissolve in water.

So the best way to cool off your mouth from something like this, is to eat something or have ingest something that's also hydrophobic.

So something, something to drink or any food with fat that can pull the capsaicin off the receptor.

- Oh, like a milkshake?

- Like a milkshake.

Here we go.

Instead, reach for dairy.

Absolutely.

A molecule in milk called casein binds together with the capsaicin and it can get washed away.

Maybe that's one reason why Buffalonians insist on pairing their chicken wings with some casein rich, blue cheese.

(electricity buzzing) We saw how your brain is tricked into thinking it's on fire when you eat hot wings.

But if you want to learn more about how your body processes information.

Check out our compact science viewer challenge.

We have a fun experiment that you can try at home to test your sensory perception of temperature.

Get all the instructions on our website and be sure to share back your results in the comments.

I'm Sarajane Gomlak-Green, and you've been watching Compact Science.

Until next time, stay curious.

- Compact science is funded by the Joy Family Foundation.

- This one's 480,000.

It's fine.

We'll be fine.

What a great idea this is.

- Just to get a little taste.

- That's fine.

You can just lick it, okay.

All right, nice going.

Yeah.

All right.

Bye Holly.

Oh no!

(nervous laughing) - It's washing over me.

It's getting to the back now.

- Yup.

Down the throat, oh man.

Bye.

Okay.

Oooo.