Light-sensitive stem cells let bristleworms grow their eyes for life, shedding new light on how vision evolved.

ANN ARBOR, Mich.---Wings, spines, saber-like teeth---nature and the fossil record abound with examples of structures so useful they've evolved independently in a variety of animals. But scientists ...

Scientists found that adult bristleworm eyes grow continuously thanks to a rim of neural stem cells similar to those in ...

Evidence of phenotypic parallelism is often used to infer the deterministic role played by natural selection. However, variation in the extent or direction of divergence is often evident among ...

A new study, led by the University of Vienna and the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven, shows how the eyes of adult ...

A new study, led by the University of Vienna and the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven, shows how the eyes of adult ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about biodiversity and the hidden quirks of the natural world.

Palaeontologists have provided new proof of parallel evolution: conodonts, early vertebrates from the Permian period, adapted to new habitats in almost identical ways despite living in different ...

Abstract: Parallel phenotypic evolution, the independent evolution of the same trait in closely related lineages, is interesting because it tells us about the contribution of natural selection to ...