'If you don't have inflammation, then you'll die': How scientists are reprogramming the body's natural superpower

Artwork displaying the figure of a woman (in orange) with four flames coming from her body against a blue background.

Inflammation is one of the body's superpowers. It helps us fight off infections and heal wounds. 

"If you don't have inflammation, then you'll die," Ed Rainger, a professor who studies chronic inflammation at the University of Birmingham in the U.K., told Live Science. "It's as simple as that."