menu_open Columnists
We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

Scientists Are Electrocuting Lobsters (But There’s a Pretty Good Reason)

6 0
22.04.2026

Get unlimited access to everything VICE has to offer.

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

4 Magazines Delivered to Your Door

Scientists Are Electrocuting Lobsters (But There’s a Pretty Good Reason)

This is going to stop almost no one from eating lobster, but it does complicate things.

Share on X (Opens in new window)X

Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Facebook

Share using Native toolsShareCopied to clipboard

You’ve got to admire the consistency of science: proving lobsters might be tortured when we cook them by, in part, torturing them first. It’s grim, but the goal is noble: to understand what these animals actually experience before we drop them into boiling water and call it dinner.

A new study on Norway lobsters, published in Scientific Reports, found that common human painkillers significantly altered how the animals reacted to harmful stimuli. This matters because there’s long been a debate as to whether lobsters feel pain at all.

Researchers exposed lobsters to........

© Vice