(CIT): While humans interpret the world primarily through their well-developed visual and auditory senses, most other animals live in a world dominated not by sights and sounds, but by smells. Most mammals use their acute sense of smell to find food, defend territory, detect predators, recognize other individuals, and discriminate genders. To accomplish these myriad functions, mammals are equipped with two distinct chemosensory organs: the main olfactory system, which detects airborne odors, and the vomeronasal system, which detects species-specific signals, called pheromones. The Katz lab uses the mouse as a model to examine how olfactory signals important for basic, built-in behaviors are encoded by these two systems, and how the neural circuits they activate elicit species-specific behaviors. For more information, visit Dr. Lawrence Katz NIH Neuroscience Seminar Series.