Body Plan

Learn about the wide-ranging Ecdysozoa group of animals and how scientists solved the curious case of their nervous systems' structure.

New research led by University of Bristol scientists sheds light on how lepidosaurs -- the most diverse clade of tetrapods, including lizards and snakes -- have evolved remarkably varied jaw shapes, driving their extraordinary ecological success.

The deep-sea creatures evolved into a handy variety of sizes and shapes.

Scientists recreated plesiosaur swimming with a robotic model, revealing how these ancient sea reptiles adapted their flipper movements to varied conditions.

Researchers have traced cell origins critical to vertebrate evolution by studying a group of primitive, bloodsucking fish called lampreys.

One of just two vertebrates without a jaw, sea lampreys that are wreaking havoc in Midwestern fisheries are simultaneously helping scientists understand the origins of two important stem cells that drove the evolution of vertebrates.

The newly-discovered thescelosaurine species Fona herzogae shows evidence that thescelosaurine dinosaurs spent at least part of their time in underground burrows.

Early human development is a complex, multistep process that's even more complicated to study in the lab. Models made from stem cells avoid some of the...

The megatooth shark, Otodus megalodon, which likely reached at least 15 m in total length, is an iconic extinct shark represented primarily by its gigantic teeth in the Neogene fossil record.

The rapid diversification of animals over 500 million years ago—often referred to as the Cambrian Explosion—saw the appearance of the first large swimming predators in our oceans. Amplectobelua symbrachiata, a member of the group Radiodonta, which are relatives of modern arthropods, was the largest of these, reaching nearly one meter in length, and can be easily recognized by their fearsome spiny feeding appendages.

Gene expression patterns in starfish reveal a surprising answer to the question of how they evolved their unusual body shape

Researchers found the rare remains in Canada

Last year, a team of biologists and computer scientists from Tufts University and the University of Vermont (UVM) created novel, tiny self-healing biological ma

Consider the crustacean Parhyale hawaiensis, a tiny crustacean with some interesting attributes.

Embark on a journey through one of the most profound ecological transitions in the history of complex life.

Article URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sponge_spicule Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36384570 Points: 4 # Comments: 0

Animals have been catching z's for at least half a billion years. Here's the first evidence of an animal sleeping

Crablike bodies are so evolutionarily favorable that they've evolved at least five different times

The emerging field of synthetic morphology bends boundaries between natural and artificial life

Cratonavis zhui, a new species of pygostylian bird from the Early Cretaceous Jehol Biota of China, had a unique combination of a dinosaurian skull with an avialan post-cranial skeleton.