In order for vertebrate embryos to develop their body axes, they require what is known as an embryonic signaling center. This ...

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 ...

By tracking neural crest cells in catshark embryos, researchers discovered that the molecular toolkit behind face-building is ...

Men have nipples because embryos are sexually neutral for their first six weeks. Here's the developmental blueprint behind ...

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 development of complex tissues relies on the precise assignment of cell identity. At the molecular scale, this process depends on the deposition of epigenetic modifications—such as ...

Together with his student Hilde Mangold, the biologist Hans Spemann discovered the so-called »organiser« during embryonic development in 1924. In ...