Anatomic variation, as a biological process, refers to the genetically and developmentally determined divergence in the form, size, position, or number of anatomical structures among individuals of the same species. It arises from coordinated molecular, cellular, and morphogenetic events during embryogenesis and postnatal growth, including differential gene expression, signaling gradients, and tissue patterning mechanisms that modulate organogenesis and body plan architecture. These variations are typically nonpathological and occur within a spectrum of species-typical phenotypes, contributing to phenotypic diversity, influencing physiological function, and modulating susceptibility to disease, surgical risk, and outcomes of diagnostic and interventional procedures.
A new analysis supports the previously overlooked "brain lag" hypothesis—the idea that, in some primate lineages, the evolution of larger body size preceded the evolution of larger brain size—while also building on that hypothesis ...
Evolution
Jul 1, 2026
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33
The tight fit of a baby's head through a mother's birth canal, which causes great difficulty in childbirth, is not unique to humans, as previously understood. Instead, some small-bodied primate babies have heads almost twice ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 29, 2026
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36
A new Cornell University study helps deepen the understanding of skull shapes in dogs of different sizes and draws a link between cranial and facial shapes, body weight, and the risk of syringomyelia, a spinal condition common ...
Veterinary medicine
Jun 25, 2026
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9
Scientists have extracted and analyzed the first-ever ancient proteins from the fossils of Homo naledi, revealing a potential all-female burial site. The study, published in the journal Cell, raises the possibility that South ...
Evolution
Jun 24, 2026
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59
Pterosaurs, the first vertebrates to fly, would have had more diverse wing shapes than current scientific reconstructions suggest, according to new University of Bristol-led research. The study is published in the journal ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Jun 23, 2026
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53
An echidna in Tasmania looks very different from one in Western Australia. But the differences run much deeper than appearance. A new review published in Australian Zoologist by University of Tasmania zoologist Stewart Nicol, ...
Evolution
Jun 23, 2026
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9
A new study of British wrens has provided new insights into the inner workings of "island syndromes," according to research led by the University of Birmingham. The paper, published in the Evolutionary Journal of the Linnean ...
Evolution
May 28, 2026
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116
Ascidians, also known as sea squirts, are the evolutionary link between vertebrates and invertebrates, making them valuable subjects of biological studies. For the first time, researchers at Ruhr University Bochum have detected ...
Plants & Animals
May 27, 2026
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17
Different beak and jaw shapes are illustrative examples of how animal species have adapted to different food sources. In a new study published in the journal Nature, researchers now show how diet itself shapes the composition ...
Plants & Animals
May 18, 2026
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26
It is one of the strangest puzzles in human evolution. About 90% of people across every human culture favor their right hand—with no other primate species showing a population-level preference on this scale. Despite decades ...
Evolution
May 15, 2026
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