Science: If a Gopher Can Do It ...

A Harvard zoologist last week proved the existence of a new female sex hormone. It had taken him 20 years. The new hormone, named relaxin by its discoverer, may be of interest to at least half the human raceĀ—for it may eventually help to make childbirth easier.

Relaxin's discoverer is gentle, publicity-shy Professor Frederick Lee Hisaw, 52. He found the hormone during long, painstaking studies of the sex life of the pocket gopher, a small prairie animal that lives in burrows like a mole.

As a researcher at Kansas State Agricultural College in the early '20s, Dr. Hisaw noticed a puzzling fact about...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!