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.
Take a walk in London's Trafalgar Square this summer, and people of all body sizes—some tall, some short—will be wilting in the heat: a real mix of sizes.
Paleontology & Fossils
Aug 19, 2026
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23
Many people recognize that gender—how a person identifies, presents themselves and is perceived—has nuances. Some people identify and present as women, others as men, and still others as nonbinary.
Other
Aug 18, 2026
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29
A new study by the Department of Anatomy and Anthropology at Tel Aviv University, published in Scientific Reports, offers an explanation for one of the striking differences between men and women: the evolutionary development ...
Evolution
Aug 17, 2026
2
1524
Islands are widely recognized as natural laboratories of evolution. The ocean restricts movement among islands, allowing isolated populations to adapt to different environments and, at times, diverge into new species. However, ...
Plants & Animals
Aug 16, 2026
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59
The Mauritian dodo—a global symbol of human-caused extinction and one of the world's largest pigeons—may not have deserved its reputation as a silly simpleton and may have been the only member of its group to live in the ...
Ecology
Aug 8, 2026
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46
Neanderthals were generally more strongly built than most people living today. Their bones show signs of large muscles, and they had characteristic features such as prominent brow ridges and relatively short tooth roots.
Evolution
Aug 5, 2026
1
883
A new study provides quantitative data on cranial vault thickness in Homo antecessor, based on the analysis of three parietal fragments recovered from the Gran Dolina site in the Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain.
Evolution
Aug 3, 2026
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154
The left-right asymmetry of South African butterfly lilies (genus Wachendorfia) has been regarded as a classic evolutionary puzzle for more than a century. Due to the mirror-image arrangement of the floral parts, the plants ...
Evolution
Aug 2, 2026
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40
The fossilized spines of saber-toothed cats in the La Brea Tar Pits reveal evidence of an unexpectedly high prevalence of rare spinal nerve tumors, suggesting that the species became inbred just before extinction. These tumors, ...
Evolution
Jul 27, 2026
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66
University of Michigan researchers have used an AI tool to demonstrate that birds in the group Passeriformes evolved in rapid evolutionary bursts and that these bursts frequently coincided with climate shifts throughout Earth's ...
Evolution
Jul 20, 2026
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24
