Our guest post this week comes from Emei Ma, a scientific artist. If you would like to contribute a guest post, please get in touch on Twitter or Facebook. Occasionally, we come across an image or a video that compels us to ask, “What is that?” Such was the case when I saw the mesmerizing work of Aaron…
Month: August 2016
In focus: The mysterious extra ‘digits’ of pandas, moles and elephants
The biological ‘five finger rule’ is strikingly consistent throughout living tetrapod vertebrates. Humans and other primates, most carnivorous mammals, crocodiles, lizards and tortoises all typically possess the five digits (fingers and toes) characteristic of tetrapod limbs. It wasn’t always so – the ancient ancestors of the first vertebrates to walk on land, such as Ichthyostega and Acanthostega, had up to…
Metamorphosis made eas(ier)! Breathtaking 3D scans reveal secrets of a developing butterfly
Ever wondered what biological witchcraft is going on inside the chrysalis (‘cocoon’) of a developing butterfly? One team from Manchester University and the Natural History Museum has a better idea than most – Tristan Lowe and colleagues used CT scanning technology to trace the development of living animals undergoing metamorphosis. Their use of CT ingeniously…
Anatomy To You 