Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Researchers inhibited a ...

Feathers are among the most complex cutaneous appendages in the animal kingdom. While their evolutionary origin has been widely debated, paleontological discoveries and developmental biology studies ...

1. Introduction to the morphology, development, and ecology of feathers -- 2. Molecular and cellular mechanisms of feather development provide a basis for diverse evolution of feather forms -- 3. The ...

At first glance, feathers may seem like simple parts of a bird’s body. But if you look closer—under a microscope or through a scientific lens—they reveal an intricate story of evolution, biology, and ...

Some feathered dinosaurs may have briefly taken to the skies—only to give it up later. By studying rare fossils with preserved feathers, researchers uncovered a surprising clue hidden in molting ...

Birds are inextricably linked to feathers, which allow them to fly, keep warm and put on dramatic displays. Feathers, however, predate birds—having first belonged to extinct dinosaurs. Finding out ...

Maria McNamara receives funding from the European Research Council and Research Ireland. A delicate, innocuous little fossil reptile known as Mirasaura grauvogeli – “Grauvogel’s wonder reptile” – is ...

In a new study, researchers inhibited a gene during embryonic development to make chicken feathers more primitive, like the kind of simple tube-shaped proto-feathers that likely first emerged in the ...