The fascinating work from UVA’s Marina Weiler, PhD, and colleagues not only explores the complex relationship between altered states of consciousness and empathy but could lead to new ways to foster empathy during a particularly fractured time for American society — and the world.

“Empathy is a fundamental aspect of human interaction that allows individuals to connect deeply with others, fostering trust and understanding,” said Weiler, a neuroscientist with UVA’s Division of Perceptual Studies. “The exploration, refinement and application of methods to enhance empathy in individuals — whether through OBE [out-of-body experience]-related ego dissolution or other approaches — is an exciting avenue with potentially profound implications for individuals and society at large.”

How Out-of-Body Experiences Affect Empathy

Weiler’s paper examines the possibility that the dramatic increases in empathy seen in people who undergo out-of-body experiences may result from what is known as “ego dissolution” — the loss of the sense of self. In these instances, people feel they have been severed from their physical form and have connected with the universe at a deeper level. Sometimes known as “ego death” or “ego loss,” this state can be brought on by near-death experiences, hallucinogenic drugs and other causes. But people who undergo it often report that their viewpoint on the world, and their place in it, is radically changed.

“The detachment from the physical body often leads to a sense of interconnectedness with all life and a deepened emotional connection with others,” the researchers write. “These sensations of interconnectedness can persist beyond the experience itself, reshaping the individual’s perception and fostering increased empathy, thereby influencing personal relationships and societal harmony.”

Out-of-body experiences can seem more real than reality itself, the researchers note, and this sense of transcendental connectedness can translate into “prosocial” behaviors afterward. Experiencers often become more compassionate, more patient, more understanding. More than half in one study described their relationships with others as more peaceful and harmonious. Many become more spiritual and more convinced of the possibility of life after death.

In their paper, Weiler and her co-authors explore potential explanations for what is happening within the brain to cause these changes. But while that remains unclear, the lasting effects of OBEs are not. And by understanding how these life-changing experiences can enhance empathy, researchers may be able to develop ways to help foster it for society’s benefit during a conflicted age.

“Interest in cultivating empathy and other prosocial emotions and behaviors is widespread worldwide,” the researchers conclude. “Understanding how virtues related to consideration for others can be nurtured is a goal with personal, societal and potentially global implications.”

Led by scientists from the CICERO Center for International Climate Research and supported by the University of Reading, the research shows that 20 per cent of the population could face extreme weather risks if emissions are cut enough to reach the aims of the Paris Agreement, compared to 70% if limited action is taken.

The new paper, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, shows how global warming can combine with normal variations in the weather, to produce decade-long periods of very rapid changes in both extreme temperatures and rainfall.

Few studies have explored the impact extreme weather will have on different countries. Dr Carley Iles, lead author of the research at CICERO, said: “We focus on regional changes, due to their increased relevance to the experience of people and ecosystems compared with the global mean, and identify regions projected to experience substantial changes in rates of one or more extreme event indices over the coming decades.”

Unprecedented conditions

Large climate model simulations were used in the study to show that large parts of the tropics and subtropics, encompassing 70 percent of current population, are expected to experience strong joint rates of change in temperature and precipitation extremes combined over the next 20 years, under a high-emissions scenario. With strong emissions mitigation, the number is expected to drop to 20 percent, or around 1.5 billion people.

Rapid changes increase the risk of unprecedented conditions and extreme events that currently account for a disproportionate share of the realised impacts of climate change. For example, heatwaves may cause heat stress and excess mortality of both people and livestock, stress to ecosystems, reduced agricultural yields, difficulties in cooling power plants, and transport disruption. Similarly, precipitation extremes can lead to flooding and damage to settlements, infrastructure, crops and ecosystems, increased erosion and reduced water quality. Thus, society seems particularly vulnerable to high rates of change of extremes, especially when multiple hazards increase at once.

Clean-up risks

Dr Laura Wilcox, co-author at the University of Reading, said: “We also find that rapid clean-up of air pollution, mostly over Asia, leads to accelerated co-located increases in warm extremes and influences the Asian summer monsoons. While cleaning the air is critical for health reasons, air pollution has also masked some of the effects of global warming. Now, the necessary cleanup may combine with global warming and give very strong changes in extreme conditions over the coming decades.”

While the new paper focuses on the likelihood of rapid change, the authors emphasise that the results have important implications for climate adaptation. “In the best case, we calculate that rapid changes will affect 1.5 billion people. The only way to deal with this is to prepare for a situation with a much higher likelihood of unprecedented extreme events, already in the next 1-2 decades”, says Dr. Bjørn H. Samset at CICERO Center for International Climate Research. Samset has contributed to the newly published study.

“We have discovered a unique defensive tactic of juvenile Japanese eels using an X-ray video system: they escape from the predator’s stomach by moving back up the digestive tract towards the gills after being captured by the predatory fish,” said Yuuki Kawabata of Nagasaki University in Japan. “This study is the first to observe the behavioral patterns and escape processes of prey within the digestive tract of predators.”

In an earlier study, the researchers including Kawabata and Yuha Hasegawa had shown that Japanese eels can escape from the gill of their predator after capture. What they didn’t know was how.

“We had no understanding of their escape routes and behavioral patterns during the escape because it occurred inside the predator’s body,” Hasegawa says.

In the new study, they found a way to see inside the predatory fish (Odontobutis obscura) using an X-ray videography device. To visualize the eel after it had been eaten, they had to first inject them with a contrast agent. It still took the team a year to capture convincing video evidence showing the escape process involved.

Their videos show that all 32 captured eels had at least part of their bodies swallowed into the stomach of their fish predators. After being swallowed, all but four tried to escape by going back through the digestive tract toward the esophagus and gills, they report. Of those, 13 managed to get their tails out the fish gill, and nine successfully escaped through the gills. On average, it took the escaping eels about 56 seconds to free themselves from the predator’s gills.

“The most surprising moment in this study was when we observed the first footage of eels escaping by going back up the digestive tract toward the gill of the predatory fish,” Kawabata says. “At the beginning of the experiment, we speculated that eels would escape directly from the predator’s mouth to the gill. However, contrary to our expectations, witnessing the eels’ desperate escape from the predator’s stomach to the gills was truly astonishing for us.”

Further study found that, despite the similarities, the eels didn’t always rely on the same escape route through the gill cleft. Some of them also circled along the stomach, seemingly in search of a way out. The findings are the first to show that the eel Anguilla japonica can use a specific behavior to escape from the stomach and gill of its predator after being eaten. It’s also the first time any study has captured the behaviors of any prey inside the digestive tract of its predator, according to the researchers.

The researchers say that the X-ray methods used in the study can now be applied to observations of other predator-prey behaviors. In future work, they hope to learn more about the characteristics that make for a successful escape by the eels.