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This Valentine's Day, thank voles for our understanding of love

NPR | By Emily Kwong,

Jon Hamilton, Gisele Grayson, Gabriel Spitzer

Published February 14, 2025 at 8:50 AM EST

Prairie voles mate for life and are frequently used to study human behavior.

For years, scientists have known that oxytocin is important in facilitating the feeling of love in humans. How do they know? Prairie voles. For years, scientists have relied on the cuddly rodents to help us humans understand how this protein works in our brains. But within the past few years, research has complicated that understanding, prompting the question: Can love prevail without the "love" hormone? (encore)

Struck by cupid's arrow and wondering what's love got to do with it? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.

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This episode was produced by Thomas Lu, edited by Gabriel Spitzer and Gisele Grayson, and fact-checked by Anil Oza. Josh Newell was the audio engineer.

Copyright 2025 NPR

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Emily Kwong

Emily Kwong (she/her) is the founding reporter and now co-host for Short Wave. Emily is also the host and co-creator of Inheriting.

See stories by Emily Kwong

Jon Hamilton

See stories by Jon Hamilton

Gisele Grayson

See stories by Gisele Grayson

Gabriel Spitzer

Gabriel Spitzer (he/him) is Senior Editor of Short Wave, NPR's daily science podcast. He comes to NPR following years of experience at Member stations – most recently at KNKX in Seattle, where he covered science and health and then co-founded and hosted the weekly show Sound Effect. That show told character-driven stories of the region's people. When the Pacific Northwest became the first place in the U.S. hit by COVID-19, the show switched gears and relaunched as Transmission, one of the country's first podcasts about the pandemic.

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