Unlike the male pundits, politicians and even financiers who have recently opined freely about what they consider "natural" roles for mothers and fathers, with mom at home and dad at work, behavioral neuroscientist Kelly Lambert's methodical approach has led her to a much more complicated conclusion.

From her perch at Randolph-Macon College in rural Ashland, Virginia, Lambert has spent years designing elaborate experiments to test nurturing in both male and female rodents.

She anesthetizes the animals, carefully removes their brains, firms the brains up with formalin, freezes them, then shaves them into slices thinner than a strand of human hair to study under a microscope.