For naked mole-rats, such power lies with the queen. A potent compound allows naked mole-rat queens to control their colonies, researchers report July 15 in Nature. Naked mole-rats live in cooperative societies where a single female reproduces while others forage and care for offspring. After discovering that naked mole-rats recognize other colonies by their smell, neuroscientist Gary Lewin wondered if odors mattered within the colony, too. While odorless to humans, it activates a naked mole-rat’s olfactory cortex — the region of the brain responsible for smell.