Is there a signal for selflessness?
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Brain scans might have the answer.
Enter Jie Hu and team from the University of Zurich.
They gave a study group a moral quandary. Two parties were given unequal amounts of money, and had to decide how to divide a remaining amount. They found that during decisions to make things equal, brain scans showed that two regions were activated.
Electrically stimulating these regions led to more selfless decisions. Participants were more likely to take into account the overall well-being of others!
This study proves that altruism can be strengthened, biologically.
Sometimes it just takes a SPARK of inspiration for a little kindness!
Reference: Hu J, Moisa M, Ruff CC (2026) Augmentation of frontoparietal gamma-band phase coupling enhances human altruistic behavior. PLOS Biology 24(2): e3003602. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003602