Spots v stripes A discovery that reveals how bird feathers get their patterns also has implications for regenerative medicine, say scientists. Feathers not only keep birds warm and protect them from ...

Shearwaters are migratory marine birds that travel in a figure-of-eight pattern between the coasts of Siberia and Japan to Tasmania. Placing one of the undistinguished grey feathers from a shearwater ...

According to a new study, the precise patterning of bird feathers relies on signaling through ectodysplasin (EDA) and its receptor EDAR -- the same signaling pathway known to be crucial for the ...

At the American Society for Cell Biology's 2006 conference, scientists will describe their latest research on patterning, on the molecular and systems level. The scientists looked at how feather ...

Complex and vibrant bird plumage inspired Darwin’s concept of sexual selection as well as many a poem and painting. But feather patterns are not directly coded in DNA, and only now has it become clear ...

In a new study, a team led by University of Utah biologists has discovered that different versions of a single gene, called NDP (Norrie Disease Protein), have unexpected links between color patterns ...

A primordial developmental toolkit shared by all vertebrates, and described by a theory of the mathematician Alan Turing, sets the growth pattern for all types of skin structures. In 1952, well before ...

Norm Saake described a dead duck’s wing last week with an appreciation akin to an art lover pondering a favorite painting. “When this duckling hatches, he’s just all full of down. And these feathers ...

Feathers evolved in dinosaurs and are a key characteristic of birds today. They are arranged in a precise hexagonal pattern in a bird's skin, but it has been unclear how this happens. According to a ...