morphology Archives

Look at those feet! Early evolution of rodents and lagomorphs

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Dr Fostowicz-Frelik has investigated the ankle bone morphology of fossils discovered in the Erlian basin to understand the variations in locomotor adaptations in early rodent lineages

Rodents and lagomorphs form Glires, a group of gnawing mammals with enlarged ever-growing incisors. In the beginning, Glires were neither ‘true’ rodents nor lagomorphs; we call them basal or stem taxa. Species from this incredibly successful group had different heel structures to suit different lifestyles. Fast running or jumping requires different heel shapes compared to slow clambering or climbing. Dr […]

Rethinking the Tree of Life with new tools

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Dr Sung-Hou Kim has applied a new way of thinking to an old model, the Tree of Life, which dates back to Darwin.

Professor Sung-Hou Kim and his colleagues from the University of California, Berkeley, have applied a new way of thinking to the Tree of Life, a concept that has been around since Darwin’s time. Drawing from their collective expertise, they applied an Information Theory-based non-alignment method to compare whole-proteome sequences, the protein sequences coded by all genes of each organism. Their […]

Quantifying layered patterns in nature, medicine, and materials

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The morphology of layered anisotropic systems plays a crucial part in the development of new materials as well as in medical, forensic and biomimetic research. The ability to quantitatively describe these morphologies is required for solving scientific and engineering problems. Dr Igor Smolyar, from the National Centers for Environment Information/NOAA, Professor Tim Bromage, from New York University and Professor Dr […]