Is there only one optimal configuration an organism can reach during evolution? Is there a single formula that describes the trajectory towards the optimum? And can we 'derive' it in a purely ...

Animal embryos go through a series of characteristic developmental stages on their journey from a fertilized egg cell to a functional organism. This biological process is largely genetically ...

Small fold – big role: A tissue fold known as the cephalic furrow, an evolutionary novelty that forms between the head and the trunk of fly embryos, plays a mechanical role in stabilizing embryonic ...

Researchers have developed a theoretical framework that can reproduce and predict the patterns associated with gastrulation in a chicken embryo. Gastrulation is one of the most important phases in ...

SAN DIEGO - In what researchers describe as a historic step toward de-extinction science, an international team of gen ...

Introduction : The modularity concept in developmental and evolutionary biology / Gerhard Schlosser and Günter P. Wagner -- Selector genes and the genetic control of developmental modules / Craig ...

Despite differences in shape and size all insects are characterized by a body organization that includes three units: a head, thorax and abdomen (panels A-B). In contrast all spiders (and other ...

Like all complex organisms, every human originates from a single cell that multiplies through countless cell divisions. Thousands of cells coordinate, move and exert mechanical forces on each other as ...

Have you ever looked at a human embryo and thought, “That kind of looks like a fish”? If you haven’t, you might be surprised to learn that, in a way, we all begin our lives like this. The idea that ...