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 ...

There’s a reason fashion designers look to animal prints for inspiration. Creatures have evolved a dizzying array of patterns: stripes, spots, diamonds, chevrons, hexagons and even mazelike designs.

Animal stripes and spots might look decorative, but they’re the result of deeply complex biological processes that begin long before an animal is born. These patterns aren’t painted on by chance. They ...

There are many purposes that spots and stripes serve in nature, but how they form has been more of a mystery to scientists. Now, researchers have advanced their breakthrough theory – and it could help ...

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 ...

The same physical process that helps to remove dirt from laundry could explain how tropical fish and other patterned animals get their spots, according to new research. Published in Science Advances, ...

Nature follows mathematical rules and creates repeating patterns across completely different organisms and environments.

The zebrafish, a small fresh water fish, owes its name to a striking pattern of blue stripes alternating with golden stripes. Three major pigment cell types, black cells, reflective silvery cells, and ...

Some patterns arise simply or randomly, but others develop via complex, precise interactions of pattern-generating systems. Their beauty aside, the intricacies of these systems are inspiring the ...

How did animals get their spots and stripes? New research upgrades Alan Turing’s theory on the formation of skin patterns. When Ben Alessio visited the Birch Aquarium in San Diego, he found an ...