Sexual behaviour articles from across Nature Portfolio

Using meta-analytic techniques, authors report patterns of aberrant functional brain associated with differences in neurophysiology and cognitive and behavioral regulatory mechanisms in men diagnosed with pedophilic disorder to elucidate potential mechanistic and pharmacological interventions.

Behaviors often consist of sequences of component actions. Cury and Axel identify distinct classes of sensory neurons that control the transitions between the components of egg laying in the fly that afford this behavior an adaptive flexibility.

Insect pheromones can be degraded by the air pollutant ozone. Jiang et al. show that ozone-exposed male flies lose their pheromones and become less attractive to females. Additionally, ozone-exposed males exhibited increased male-male courtship behaviour as a result of reduced sex recognition.

The structure of pheromone, produced by microalgae in vanishingly small quantities as part of a signalling cascade that controls sexual reproduction, has been determined.

A new study reveals a neural circuit that regulates innate sexual behaviour in male mice.