Israel is 5th safest country in the world for tourists - study December 7, 2022. This week in 1991 the Rebbe pointed out that we just have to open our eyes properly and see how everything is ready for the Geulah! One of the ways we can open our eyes is by seeing things around us and how they are connected to Moshiach. As we have said in the past when something in Torah fits with the narrative of the physical world it’s further sign of g-ds presence being revealed in the world. An intresting study came out yesterday that says Israel is the 5th safest place in the world! Interestingly enough the Torah teaches that Israel is the safest place in the world because g-d is constantly watching it. The rebbe pointed out many many times they Israel is the safest place in the world! Before this study people might have a perception that Israel is not safe, and one has to be reminded that the Torah says it is the safest place in the world but now we have reached a point where the “world” says that Israel is the fifth safest place in the world. now I know they’re not saying that it is the safest place in the world, but I think I will get there eventually. Just the fact that they are saying that it is the fifth safest place in the world, which seems surprising to many people is a sign that we are heading in the right direction.
When Moshaich comes, there will be the complete fusion of the spiritual and the physicial, we will see how the physical world is not at odds with godliness, but spirituality is part and parcel of this physical world, it’s just that until now it was hidden and now it’s being revealed. One of the ways how we see this taking place is how science (the world) is acknowledging the eternal truths found in the Torah. Whereas, until now, if you followed the Torah you were scorned for being old fashioned. Now there is an outburst of “discoveries” that seems to align with a Torah way of life, which brings health, wealth and blessings into a persons life. One such “discovery” is the function of sleep and dreams. In the last decade scientists have found that sleep and dreams (deep sleep, non -rem) act as a waste mangent system for the brain. It cleans the brain of toxins and helps our brain function better. Well what do you know, in the year 1817, in a discourse by the Mitteler Rebbe, the third Chabad Rebbe, (Shabbos Chazon Matzil Any) the function of sleep is explained, and why it’s needed. The Mittler Rebbe explaines that during sleep the intellect gets rid of its waste, by sorting the good from the bad, and this allows a person to think clearly after the sleep. And just like the body has a cleaning system in its external organs or faculties ( the digestive system) the body also has a cleaning system for its internel organs and facilities namely the intellect. He also explaines why exile is compared to a dream that just like in sleep and dreams we refine the intellect, the same things happens in exile, we refine and sort the good from the bed until the world is fully refined and ready for moshiach.
This quote from Maimonides is in the final paragraph of his mganum opus Mishneh Torah. Its from the last chapter where he describes what the world will look like when moshaich comes. Here is a an Intresting article that helps us see the possibly that even without miracles we can change people from being selfish into good and kind people. Where jelousy will not be an issue. Naturally we don’t know where the research will lead but the point we are making here is that even “nature” is starting to identify physical parts of the brain that control kindness and the like.
Study identifies neural connections that regulate prosocial and selfish behavior in mice
Coronal section of a mouse brain. In red the basolateral amygdala detected using a fluorescent marker Credit: Scheggia et al.
Humans and animals can exhibit a wide variety of behaviors when interacting with their peers. These include both prosocial behaviors, voluntary actions aimed at supporting or helping others, and selfish or opportunistic behaviors, which prioritize one's own needs or desires.
Several past neuroscience studies have investigated the neural processes involved in social connection, particularly in terms of the brain regions and neurotransmitters associated with bonding or intimacy. However, so far very little is known about the brain mechanisms underlying selfish or altruistic actions.
Researchers at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) and University of Milan have recently carried out a study aimed at filling this gap in the literature, by examining the activation and firing of neurons in the mice brain as the animals engaged in prosocial or selfish behaviors.
Their paper, published in Nature Neuroscience, identifies a series of prosocial or selfish behavior-specific reciprocal connections between neurons in the prefrontal cortex and amygdala, two brain regions associated with complex behavioral planning and emotional regulation, respectively.
"Over the past years, I felt a loss of the common sense of collectiveness, even before the pandemic, that contributed to self-centered concern and a disregard of others," Diego Scheggia, one of the researchers who carried out the study, told MedicalXpress. "Of course, recent physical distancing and quarantine policies further disrupted our daily social interactions and resulted in increased social isolation. The goal of my recent study was to understand the social factors and neurobiological determinants of altruism and self-interest."
To examine the neural mechanisms underpinning altruistic and selfish behaviors, Scheggia and his colleagues first designed a new experimental task that would encourage these different types of behaviors in animals. This social decision-making task offered animals two simple choices: sharing a reward with their peers or not. The researchers then used this task to perform an experiment on several adult mice.
"The task we used was modeled on the human game-theoretical paradigm known as the 'dictator game' in which a 'dictator' decides whether to share a reward with a conspecific," Scheggia explained. "In this task, we measured the neural activity of the basolateral nucleus of the amygdala that show substantial differences between prosocial and selfish subjects."
Magnification of the basolateral amygdala. In red the neurons activated during the behavioral task "dictator game." Credit: Scheggia et al.
Essentially, Scheggia and his colleagues found that the mice's decision to share their food reward with other mice depended on several factors. These factors included the mice's level of familiarity with their peers, their sex, previous social contacts, levels of hunger, hierarchical status and their emotional attunement.
Subsequently, the researchers used chemogenetics, techniques that entail the use of synthetic drugs to manipulate specific brain pathways, to silence the activity of some neurons. This allowed them to determine whether silencing specific neurons automatically resulted in more prosocial or selfish behaviors.
"We observed that silencing the neurons in the prefrontal cortex that are connected to the basolateral amygdala modulated choices guided by self-interest," Scheggia said.
The results gathered by this team of researchers highlight the role of neurons in the basolateral amygdala(BLA) in promoting prosocial decisions. Specifically, they suggest that BLA neurons projecting on the prelimbic (PL) part of the prefrontal cortex mediate the development of a preference for altruistic choices in mice. In contrast, the preference for selfish behaviors appeared to be mediated by the projection of neurons in the PL prefrontal cortex to the BLA brain region.
In the future, the findings of this study could pave the way for interesting new discoveries about the impact of interactions between neurons in the amygdala and prefrontal cortex on the nature of animal behaviors. The work by Scheggia and his colleagues also outlines a possible neurobiological model of altruistic and selfish choices, which could help to better understand the issues with social decision-making associated with some psychiatric disorders.
"As a result of the pandemic, more selfish and antisocial behavior have risen, thus threatening to multiply psychiatric diagnoses in the next few years," Scheggia added. "Unraveling the nature of brain mechanisms underlying social decision-making could represent a crucial step to suggest novel treatments for social dysfunctions and antisocial behaviorthat occur in several psychiatric conditions and neurodegenerative disorders. Building on the findings of our recent study, we are now exploring the role of previous experience and emotional memories on prosocial and selfish choices."
More information: Diego Scheggia et al, Reciprocal cortico-amygdala connections regulate prosocial and selfish choices in mice, Nature Neuroscience (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41593-022-01179-2
