Behavior is controlled by the brain, so the brains of male mice must differ from those of female mice—right?

Not necessarily, say biologists at Harvard University who have created female mice that exhibit classic male sexual behavior. “Mice have an organ in their nose called the vomeronasal organ, or VNO, that together with the brain detects the pheromones that male and female mice secrete,” Catherine Dulac explains. “These pheromones control mating, aggression and gender identification.”

This article was originally published with the title One Size Fits All.

Comments