Many animals get their external marking—like, feathers, hair or scales-from genetics. But it turns out, the crocodile gets its head patterns differently. Scientists normally explain the spectacular ...

A bacterium has evolved an enzyme that assembles in a fractal structure, a mathematical pattern that repeats itself at smaller scales. Fractal patterns are found throughout nature on large, ...

The boundary of a cell defines the shape and scale of its subcellular organization. However, the effects of the cell's spatial boundaries as well as the geometry sensing and scale adaptation of ...

Now, in a new study, Milinkovitch and his team reported that the polygonal head scales form due to the growth and compression of skin, which creates a self-organizing pattern of folds. 2 These ...

Layering prints and patterns is a design approach that creates a sophisticated look full of depth and dimension. When done incorrectly, however, the result can be a distracting and scattered space. To ...

The phenomenon that forms interference patterns on television displays when a camera focuses on a pattern like a person wearing stripes has inspired a new way to conceptualize electronic devices.

Scientists normally explain the spectacular diversity of animal patterns by pointing to genetics. But a study in Nature suggests that, at least for crocodile heads, different forces might be at play.