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.

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 ...

The strikingly patterned ornate boxfish has no lack of detail when it comes to its hexagonal spots and keen stripes — the intricate markings are so sharp-edged in the species that it had engineers at ...

Scientists may have finally solved the mystery of how some animals get their stripes and spots. There are many animals that have these patterns on their skin or fur—including tigers, zebras and the ...

Spots and stripes can be found everywhere in the animal kingdom. From the savannahs of Africa to the coastal waters off southern Australia, countless species boast distinctive markings. For decades, ...

Nature creates incredible works of living art through its many different animal patterns, such as a leopard’s spots or a zebra’s stripes. But how do animals get these unique designs, and why are no ...

Nature is full of many patterned animals, from the stripes on zebras, spots on leopards, to the intricate details on sea creatures. Researchers have studied for a long time the biological explanation ...

Patterns abound in nature, from zebra stripes and leopard spots to honeycombs and bands of clouds. Somehow, these patterns form and organize all by themselves. To better understand how, researchers ...

Leopards may be well known for never changing their spots, but new research suggests it may one day be possible - in a lab, at least. Scientists have successfully programmed cells to form patterns ...

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 ...

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 ...