If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please send a message to [email protected]. Mammalian young are born helpless and will only survive if their needs are detected and met by parents, typically mothers. In this talk, Peggy Mason discusses a fascinating recent finding that demonstrates empathic helping behavior in rats. This research adds to growing evidence that caring behavior is found in adult mammals of both sexes in a number of species. The implications of the research are societal, as understanding and reacting adaptively to another’s emotional state is a fundamental and necessary component of social cohesion, increasing cooperation within groups and decreasing the incidence of aggressive acts. Mason also offers some insight into her experimental approaches, given the limitations of inferring motivational state from nonverbal animals.