A thought experiment can help visualize the challenge of achieving distinctive color patterns. Imagine gently adding a drop of blue and red dye to a cup of water. The drops will slowly disperse ...

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Nature creates incredible works of living art through its many different animal patterns, such as a leopard’s spots or a zebra’s stripes. But how do animals get these unique designs, and why are no ...

More than 70 years ago, mathematician Alan Turing proposed a mechanism that explained how patterns could emerge from bland uniformity. Scientists are still using his model—and adding new twists—to ...

Many animals have stripes or patterns for the purposes of camouflage. But why the particular designs? Harvard researchers believe they know how a certain direction occurs and they have come up with a ...

New research by University of Alberta scientists shows that one movement started by a single individual ripples through the entire group of animals and helps them form intricate and complicated ...

What do swimmers like trout, eels and sandfish lizards have in common? According to a new study, the similar timing patterns that these animals use to contract their muscles and produce undulatory ...

Designer Eleanor Lutz used high-speed nature footage, Photoshop, and Illustrator to map the wingbeats of five different species. The result is a visually arresting confluence of art and science that ...

Patterns on animal skin, such as zebra stripes and poison frog color patches, serve various biological functions, including temperature regulation, camouflage and warning signals. The colors making up ...