We mammals, and only we mammals, have nerve receptors capsaicin triggers. Birds don't have such receptors. They happily chow peppers and poop the whole seeds all over.
Meanwhile, we mammals, who are supposed to hate the heat because we grind the seeds to death, have happily bred hotter and hotter peppers and spread them all over the planet.
I know of no such evolutionary win-win as peppers have pulled off. Genius.
I'm love to experience with different heat sensation when cooking. Every pepper is warming slightly differently and you can change the whole tasting experience by change the "heat source" of a dish. Recently, I've tasted Sichuan pepper and it what actually cold! And a cold very different from mint. Although round-leave mint and pepper mint (here another plant called pepper that's cold!) have different sensation as well. I should try experiment with cold as well (*_*)
This is not new and it does work to some extent. Back in highschool my buddies and I used to cheat at hot wings challenges by chewing a few cough drops first.
In a very traditional Afghan restaurant I used to frequent, if you ordered something really spicy, they'd bring you these small mint drops afterwards to chew on, no extra charge. Worked very well for me.