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.
Every human face is unique, allowing us to distinguish between individuals. We know little about how facial features are encoded in our DNA, but we may be able to learn more about how our faces develop by looking at our ancient ...
Evolution
Nov 10, 2025
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The microscopic flatworm (Stenostomum brevipharyngium) is one of nature's weirder creatures. Chop off its head, and it'll grow one back. Cut it in half, and it'll become two separate healthy worms. And now scientists have ...
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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136
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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186
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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107
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 using ...
Cell & Microbiology
Sep 24, 2025
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19
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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