In biological sciences, morphology is the branch that studies the form, external structure, and macroscopic organization of organisms and their parts, independent of function. It encompasses comparative morphology, which analyzes homologous structures across taxa; functional morphology, which relates structural features to mechanical or biomechanical constraints; and developmental morphology, which examines changes in form during ontogeny. Morphological data, including body plans, organ systems, and patterning of tissues, are central to systematics, phylogenetic inference, and taxonomy, and are integrated with molecular and genetic information to elucidate evolutionary relationships, phenotypic variation, and constraints on organismal design.
Research by Assistant Professor Jacob S. Suissa at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is revealing complexity in how ferns have evolved. Instead of the vascular structure inside fern stems changing as a direct adaptation ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 27, 2025
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Experts have been puzzled by recently discovered fossils from the hand of an extinct human relative, Paranthropus boisei. They have been surprised by a mix of human-like and gorilla-like traits in the fingers.
Evolution
Oct 27, 2025
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In a new paper in Science, experts from the University of Chicago describe steps that took place some 66 million years ago to transform the carcasses of a duck-billed dinosaur, Edmontosaurus annectens, into dinosaur "mummies" ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Oct 23, 2025
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New research has uncovered a species of hook-toothed lizard that lived about 167 million years ago and has a confusing set of features seen in snakes and geckos—two very distant relatives. One of the oldest relatively complete ...
Plants & Animals
Oct 1, 2025
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How can we guess the size of an extinct animal when all that remains are a few scattered bones? A study conducted by researchers at ULiège now provides an answer to this question. Using mathematical methods applied to hundreds ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Sep 24, 2025
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A multinational research team has discovered a mysterious tubular structure—previously unknown in any organism—within Profftella, a symbiotic bacterium associated with a major global citrus pest. This discovery, made ...
Cell & Microbiology
Sep 24, 2025
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Scientists have shown that two previously separate modes of plant branching regulation can be connected, revealing the most complete picture yet of how plants control their architecture.
Plants & Animals
Sep 19, 2025
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How did digits evolve? While it is clear that they derive from genetic programs already present in fish, their precise origin remains a matter of debate. An international team led by the University of Geneva (UNIGE) with ...
Evolution
Sep 17, 2025
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How do cells know what they should become as the body develops? Biological development depends crucially on spatial patterns: the lines that eventually give rise to segments, organs, or markings like stripes and spots. Yet ...
Evolution
Sep 16, 2025
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The tongues of chameleons and salamanders might not seem like the inspiration for tomorrow's engineering breakthroughs, but inside the Deban Laboratory at the University of South Florida, biology and engineering are colliding ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 8, 2025
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