Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Color patterns seen in fish and other animals evolved to serve various purposes. Lagunatic Photo/iStock via Getty Images Plus A ...

Turing’s ideas explain how some animal patterns arise. A spot-maker is the most basic version of Turing patterning. It involves two key substances, or morphogens, as Turing called them, that can move ...

(CNN) — The strikingly patterned ornate boxfish has no lack of detail when it comes to its hexagonal spots and keen stripes — the intricate markings are so sharp-edged in the species that it had ...

Scientists may have finally solved the mystery of how some animals get their stripes and spots. There are many animals that have these patterns on their skin or fur—including tigers, zebras and the ...

Using a new computer model, scientists simulated the stripes, spots and hexagons on a species of boxfish, imperfections and all. A male ornate boxfish with distinctive, complex patterns of stripes and ...

A thought experiment can help visualize the challenge of achieving distinctive color patterns. Imagine gently adding a drop of blue and red dye to a cup of water. The drops will slowly disperse ...

More than 70 years ago, mathematician Alan Turing proposed a mechanism that explained how patterns could emerge from bland uniformity. Scientists are still using his model—and adding new twists—to ...