video: Movie of two male crickets fighting. The first part shows their first fight, which establishes a clear winner and a loser, and the second part shows reengagement of the loser (left) with the previous winner two minutes later. Note the loser avoids all contact with the winner (post-conflict depression of aggression - or loser effect). Stevenson and colleagues show that this effect is due to the gaseous modulator nitric oxide (NO). This material relates to a paper that appeared in the March 13, 2015, issue of Science, published by AAAS. The paper, by P.A. Stevenson at Leipzig University in Leipzig, Germany, and colleagues was titled, 'Adding up the odds--Nitric oxide signaling underlies the decision to flee and post-conflict depression of aggression.' view more
Credit: [Credit: Paul A. Stevenson and Jan Rillich]