A phrase featured in David Brin's Startide Rising, the second book of the Uplift series. It describes a phenomenom among sentient dolphins; where they react to another's injury by evolutionarily reverting, and engaging in clearly dangerous behavior en masse during a rescue attempt.

I don't know if Brin coined this term or not, but it is also used (by the CDC)to describe a physiologic state that human beings are susceptible to in high-stress rescue missions, and which causes them to place themselves in a hazardous situation to render aid.

see for example: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/face/stateface/ak/98-AK-016.html

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