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 ...

The great pond snail is helping scientists make great leaps in their understanding of asymmetries in the animal kingdom. Paul Starosta/Corbis Whether it flies, walks or swims, nearly any given animal ...

Prod a snail embryo with fine glass rods and you can make its shell coil in the opposite direction to normal. This gives an insight into how and when bodily symmetry is controlled through a mixture of ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- New insights about a tiny snail that lives on the ocean floor could help scientists design better armor for soldiers and vehicles, according to MIT researchers. A team of materials ...

Deep within the Kairei Indian hydrothermal vent field, two-and-one-half miles below the central Indian Ocean, scientists have discovered a gastropod mollusk, whose armor could improve load-bearing and ...