Color patterns seen in fish and other animals evolved to serve various purposes. Lagunatic Photo/iStock via Getty Images Plus A thought experiment can help visualize the challenge of achieving ...

This article was originally featured on The Conversation. Patterns on animal skin, such as zebra stripes and poison frog color patches, serve various biological functions, including temperature ...

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 ...

Or animals might need additional tricks to transport the morphogens across tissues, or to make patterns sharp and crisp. Scientists also see dizzyingly complex instances where Turing patterns are ...

Nature follows mathematical rules and creates repeating patterns across completely different organisms and environments.

Many animals get their external marking—like, feathers, hair or scales-from genetics. But it turns out, the crocodile gets its head patterns differently. Scientists normally explain the spectacular ...

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 ...

Scientists normally explain the spectacular diversity of animal patterns by pointing to genetics. But a study in Nature suggests that, at least for crocodile heads, different forces might be at play.

Ankur Gupta receives funding from NSF (CBET - 2238412) and ACS Petroleum Research Fund (65836 - DNI9). A thought experiment can help visualize the challenge of achieving distinctive color patterns.