Professor Roger Smith at Australia’s University of Newcastle discusses research on predicting when a pregnant woman will go into labor. His work has revealed crucial hormones that control when labor will begin. Smith and his collaborators are working on developing tests so that these hormones can be tracked, possibly even at home by the woman herself, allowing women to know when to seek medical care. This could be particularly useful in remote locations, when a trip to the hospital is more involved than just a short car ride.