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 ...

A small tissue fold in fly embryos, once thought purposeless, plays a vital role in stabilizing tissues. Researchers show that it absorbs stress during early development, and its position and timing ...

In order for vertebrate embryos to develop their body axes, they require what is known as an embryonic signaling center. This group of cells provides the instructions that determine where up and down, ...

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 ...

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 ...

The role of tissue that forms between the head and trunk of a fly embryo has been unclear. It turns out that it absorbs forces when nearby cells move and divide. An early fruit-fly embryo comprises a ...

Photo: Sina Schuldt/dpa (Photo by Sina Schuldt/picture alliance via Getty Images) There is something deeply strange about looking at a shark embryo. When you first look at it, it does not resemble the ...

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 ...

A fossilized dinosaur embryo discovered inside a fossilized egg in southern China is reshaping scientific understanding of avian evolution. Preserved for more than 70 million years and left unexamined ...

Bipedal locomotion - walking upright on two legs - is a fundamental trait underpinning humankind's success. Scientists now have identified two innovations that occurred long ago in the human ...