Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE AND NOTES -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- 1. Before Animals -- 2. Phylogenetics and the Base of the Animal Tree of Life -- 3. Ctenophora -- 4 ...

Critical proteins involved in animal stem cell regulation are much older than previously thought, predating the origin of animals that likely evolved more than 700 million years ago. This is the ...

Biologists have long drawn the animal family tree with a hazy base, unsure which creature first split from the common ancestor that gave rise to everything from jellyfish to humans. Now, a new genomic ...

Professor Lars Schmitz joins WIRED to guide us through a giant tree of life mapping the evolution of eyes in the animal kingdom: how they work, why they've taken the form they have, and the ...

In the world of phylogenetics, there's team sponge and team comb jelly. Which creature roots the animal tree of life—the simple sponge or the more complex comb jelly—has stirred fierce debate among ...

A huge and beautifully preserved suite of fossils discovered in China has cast doubt on the idea that complex life flourished dramatically during a rapid burst of evolution known as the Cambrian ...

A monkey descending a tree trunk often keeps its head up, moving almost like a cautious climber backing down a ladder. Squirrels and many other mammals, by contrast, tend to go headfirst. That ...

Paleorex is back on Bored Panda with his detailed, science-based creatures, showing us how animals like big cats, birds, and reptiles might evolve in the future. In this article, we’re featuring even ...

Embryonic germ layers are the fundamental organizing principle in animal development. They provide the structural basis from which tissues and organs arise. During early embryogenesis, cells divide to ...