In 1959, psychologist Russell Church conducted a study on the empathy of rats.
In the study, he trained the rats to push a lever to receive their food. Then, in a twisted change, he fixed the lever to a a floor in the neighboring cage. Every time the rat would push the lever, the rat in the other cage would get an electric shock. Rats that had previously experienced shocks were very empathetic to the rat in the other cage.
Instead of selfishly pushing the lever and receiving its food at the expense of the other rat, the rat would quit pushing the lever and eventually starve to death rather than eat off of another rat’s suffering.
(via theobsessivenerd)
(Source: 100newfears, via rushbrush)
(Source: otakulei, via leilockheart)
(via ireoke)
A picture is worth a thousand words…
A dying man holding his best friend. He lived homeless in Iowa with his dog in a car. When he became terminally ill and placed in hospice, his only request was to hold his dog one last time before passing on. Two souls quietly saying their goodbyes.
this is just amazing.
Beautiful.
(via justjuustin)
Dear Photograph,
Thank you for everything we had.
@jonathanstampf
:’(
I have a weakness for old people
This is a homeless guy who lives on a bridge in Dublin City. Last week his rabbit was grabbed from him and thrown into the river below.. the River Liffey. Which is one of the most horrible rivers in Ireland. The currents are really strong and it’s filthy.. Anyway, as soon as the rabbit hit the water this guy was already hurdling off the bridge and towards the freezing river to save her. After hitting the water and successfully locating her, he proceeding to pump air back into her, making her regain consciousness and basically come back to life. I was talking to him today along with another woman and she asked “Why in the name of God did you jump into the water? Did you not think about it?!” and straight away he replied with “No. I didn’t stop to think. I just jumped. It was an instinct.. I needed to save her.”
(via justjuustin)
