Oxytocin in the amygdala suppresses freezing of mothers when exposed to a threat in the presence of their offspring, allowing for pup protection and transmission of information about danger from mothers to pups.

Parvalbumin positive GABAergic neurons in the ventral zona incerta receive input from somatosensory cortex and enhance sound-induced flight behavior, which underlies a cross-modality facilitation of defensive behavior by somatosensory input.

Perceived imminence of threat and resulting intensity of defensive responses during serial compound stimulus conditioning are determined by auditory stimulus salience, not cue sequence as recently reported.

Stimulation of specific neurons within the hypothalamus triggers a fear-like emotion state and behavioral response in mice, challenging the textbook view that the hypothalamus serves simply as a relay for emotion states encoded in the amygdala.

The mouse cerebellum regulates innate defensive neural circuitry by tonically controlling dopamine release in the periaqueductal gray, thereby modulating synaptic responses of the Chx10-positive neurons that generate freezing behavior.

Caenorhabditis elegans require a GPCR to recognize and rapidly escape from toxin-producing Streptomyces at their head or tail.

Humans intranasally administered the neuropeptide oxytocin waste less and earn more spoils during intergroup conflict because oxytocin enables group members to better coordinate strategic attacking of out-groups.

Threat and context-responsive neurons in the ventromedial hypothalamus are reshaped by experience to drive social avoidance.

The gustatory receptor PxylGr34 is tuned to the steroid plant hormone brassinolide and mediates the deterrent effects of brassinolide on feeding and ovipositing behaviors in Plutella xylostella.

Warm-activated parabrachial neurons contain overlapping dynorphin and enkephalin expressing subpopulations, project to preoptic hypothalamus, and mediate behavioral and physiological thermal defenses behaviors.