Researchers in Japan have altered the destiny of a rout of snails by changing the chirality of their shells before birth. By delicately manipulating a batch of developing embryos, the scientists ...

A snail with a shell spiraling to the right can’t mate readily with a lefty. So, changes in the single gene that controls shell direction have created new snail species, say researchers. Among the 20 ...

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 ...

A genetic spin doctor sets snail shells to swirl clockwise, new research confirms. And the twist in this story comes at the beginning — when snail embryos are just single cells. Working at the Tokyo ...

Jeremy the snail wasn't like most of his fellow gastropods. His particularly unique spiraled shell has left a mark on science history. Discovered in 2016 in London, Jeremy immediately stood out to ...

Tiny snails found on Australia's eastern coast can flicker their spiral shells like dim, blue-green light bulbs. Some snails excrete bioluminescent trails of snot or blink their muscly foot to attract ...

Snails can be objects of fascination for kids playing outside. Lucky for the snails, they have their hard shells to protect them from children and predators alike. But are they born with that natural ...

All mollusks build their own shells, whether they live in water or on land. Creatures like snails, clams, oysters and mussels use an organ called a mantle to secrete layers of calcium carbonate, which ...