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 ...

Imagine a horse stumbling on a rock. It regains momentum, then hits bumpier terrain and slows to a walk. Back on steady ...

There are many purposes that spots and stripes serve in nature, but how they form has been more of a mystery to scientists. Now, researchers have advanced their breakthrough theory – and it could help ...

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 ...

There is a scene in the animated blockbuster "Finding Nemo" when a school of fish makes a rapid string of complicated patterns—an arrow, a portrait of young Nemo and other intricate designs. While the ...

Biologists have long been fascinated by the amazing diversity of animal colour patterns. Despite much interest, the underlying evolutionary and developmental mechanisms contributing to their rich ...

New research by University of Alberta scientists shows that one movement started by a single individual ripples through the entire group of animals and helps them form intricate and complicated ...