Something that's going on in the world of science:

EVANSTON, Ill. —Race matters on a neurological level when it comes to empathy for African- Americans in distress, according to a new Northwestern University study.

In a rare neuroscience look at racial minorities, the study shows that African-Americans showed greater empathy for African-Americans facing adversity - in this case for victims of Hurricane Katrina - than Caucasians demonstrated for Caucasian-Americans in pain.

“We found that everybody reported empathy and showed increased neural response within brain regions associated with empathy toward the Hurricane Katrina victims,” said Joan Y. Chiao, assistant professor of psychology and author of the study. “But African-Americans additionally showed greater empathic response to other African-Americans in emotional pain. And this enhanced or extraordinary empathy and altruistic motivation for ingroup members was associated with increased neural activity within a brain region called the medial prefrontal cortex.”

Because this kind of research is in its infancy, I will pass over it in silence.

This post owes everything to Bill Savage.