The Yad Hashem in How Mice Think

by Rabbi Yair Hoffman

The Chovos HaLevavos in Shaar HaBechina (Perek 2) urges us to examine the natural world to see the yad Hashem everywhere. 

The Vilna Gaon delivered a mathematical equation for wisdom itself: every gap in scientific understanding creates a hundredfold chasm in Torah comprehension. “Proportional to what one lacks in his understanding of the sciences,” Rabbi Baruch Schick records him saying, “he will lack a hundred times in his understanding of Torah, because the Torah and science are interconnected.” Chazal also declared astronomical knowledge essential (Shabbos 75a), from Rabbi Yehuda Halevi’s philosophical synthesis (Kuzari) to the Maharal’s mystical understanding of natural law (Nesivos Olam)—a constellation of brilliant minds reached the same conclusion. Science isn’t Torah’s competitor; it’s Torah’s translator.  True, when taught by anti-Torah teachers it can be used to undermine our emunah, but let’s not kill the wonders that Hashem has made on that account.

Recently, a team of scientists published an study in Nature magazine (2025) that has just such an effect. They wanted to understand how mouse brains learn from experience to make better decisions. What they found was so amazing that it shows us the hand of the Borei Olam in even the smallest details of creation.

The Mouse Experiment

The scientists set up a simple game for 139 mice. Each mouse sat in front of a computer screen and had to decide if striped patterns appeared on the left or right side of the screen. When the mouse turned a wheel to the correct side, it got a drop of water as a reward. When it was wrong, it heard an annoying sound and had to wait before trying again.

But the scientists secretly programmed the computer so that the stripes would show up on one side 80% of the time and the other side only 20% of the time. After 20-100 tries, the computer would suddenly switch which side was more likely, without telling the mice anything.

The mice had to figure out these hidden patterns completely on their own, just by paying attention to what happened.

What the Mice Learned to Do

The amazing thing is that the mice actually figured out these secret patterns! They learned to expect which side would be more likely based on what had happened recently. This helped them make better guesses, especially when the stripes were so faint they could barely see them.

When the pattern switched (such as going from “mostly left” to “mostly right”), the mice got confused for a few tries, but they figured out the new pattern within about 5 attempts. This shows their brains were constantly updating their understanding of the world.

The Shocking Brain Discovery

Now here is the twist. The scientists used special tiny probes to record brain activity from 242 different areas of the mouse brain while they played this game. They expected to find that only the “thinking” parts of the brain stored information about the patterns.

Instead, they discovered one of the niflaos haBorei: the pattern information was stored everywhere in the brain! The parts that first process vision had the same pattern information as the parts that make complex decisions. Even the parts that control movement stored this information, even when the mice weren’t moving at all.

About 20-30% of the entire brain was keeping track of these learned expectations. This means the brain doesn’t work like a simple assembly line where information goes step by step. Instead, it works like a giant network where every part helps with learning and decision-making.  It is somewhat reflective of the pasuk – kol atzmosai tomarna michamocha Hashem – but adds a bit of a new understanding.

The mice didn’t just learn randomly – they used nearly perfect mathematical strategies. Their brains were doing what scientists call “optimal decision-making under uncertainty.” They kept track of their last 5-6 choices and used a mathematical formula that weighted recent experiences more heavily than older ones.

This strategy performed within 1.9% of mathematical perfection. Think about that – a mouse brain, without any training in mathematics, naturally uses almost perfect mathematical formulas to make decisions.

Communication Networks Beyond Human Engineering

The scientists used advanced math to study how different brain areas talk to each other. They found that brain regions send information back and forth in complex loops. Area A influences Area B, which influences Area C, which sends information back to Area A.

This creates communication networks that are far more organized than random connections would produce. It’s like having a perfectly designed telephone system connecting hundreds of offices, where everyone knows exactly who to call and when.

Why This Points to Divine Design

This discovery is remarkable from a Torah perspective:

For this system to develop gradually through random changes, as diehard evolutionary fanatics would have the wolrd believe, it would require hundreds of brain areas to simultaneously develop mathematical abilities, perfect timing, and coordinated communication networks. But a partially working system wouldn’t help the mouse survive any better than a simple brain – you need all the pieces working together from the start.  No one argues that Hashem did not employ such guided processes to achieve these things – but clearly – it is not random.

Mathematical Optimization: The mouse brain uses the exact mathematical formulas that human engineers would choose if they were designing an optimal learning system. Random mutations producing such mathematical sophistication seems impossible.

Coordinated Complexity: The system requires billions of neurons to coordinate perfectly across hundreds of brain regions, all using the same optimal mathematical principles, with precise timing that matches behavioral needs. This level of coordination suggests purposeful engineering, not accidental assembly.

Strategic Wisdom: The “action kernel” strategy – tracking your own choices rather than external patterns – shows deep wisdom about how to learn in uncertain environments. This strategic insight emerges automatically from the brain’s design.

When Dovid HaMelech wrote “How many are Your works, Hashem! You made them all with wisdom” thousands of years ago, he had no microscopes, no brain scanners, no mathematical analysis. Yet he perceived the infinite complexity and purposeful design that fills all of creation.

His words about Hashem’s manifold works, written long before we could study neural circuits, capture truths that our most advanced science keeps proving correct. The 2025 mouse brain study shows us that even the tiniest learning involves mathematical precision, coordinated complexity, and optimization that points clearly toward divine craftsmanship.

So when we say Tehillim, let’s appreciate the remarkable spiritual level on which Dovid HaMelech stood. Without any modern technology, he recognized the infinite wisdom and purposeful design that scientific discovery continues to reveal. His prophetic insight saw divine handiwork in creation’s deepest structures – wisdom that becomes more evident with each new scientific discovery.

The mouse brain, with its 70 million neurons performing mathematical optimization across hundreds of regions, stands as testimony to the truth Dovid HaMelech understood: creation bears the clear signature of infinite wisdom operating at every level of existence.

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