Snail shells coil in response to a lopsided protein gradient across their shell mantles, finds new research. In contrast the shell mantle of limpets, whose shells do not coil, have a symmetrical ...

The snail’s shell diameter averages about 22 to 30 millimeters (.87 to 1.18 inches). Each snail’s shell has a unique combination of stripes and colors, so no two are exactly alike. These snails eat ...

A genetic spin doctor sets snail shells to swirl clockwise, new research confirms. And the twist in this story comes at the beginning — when snail embryos are just single cells. Working at the Tokyo ...

Symmetry is a feature of many plants, animals and even some molecules — like water. But that’s not the case with snails and their coiled shells. They are chiral — asymmetrical in such a way that they ...

Taking a trick from birds and butterflies, a mollusk shines blue using intricate structures that allow selective reflection of light. But unlike other animals, the blue-rayed limpet, a snail that ...

Our excavations at Shanidar Cave in north-eastern Iraq have produced a tiny shell plaque which was made by the first modern people in the region. This little object seems to have been made to ornament ...