Research led by a physicist at the University of California, Riverside, shows how viruses form protective shells (capsids) ...

Shells provide good protection for turtles, but that may not be why those shells originally formed. Denver paleontologist Tyler Lyson says the shells evolved because the turtles' ancestors, ancient ...

A virus is a small infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses can infect all types of life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including ...

Symmetry is a feature of many plants, animals and even some molecules — like water. But that’s not the case with snails and their coiled shells. They are chiral — asymmetrical in such a way that they ...

Many microbes wear beautifully patterned crystalline shells, which protect them from a harsh world and can even help them reel in food. Now scientists have zoomed in on the very first step in ...