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 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 ...

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 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 ...

"Most snail shells spiral clockwise, but Ned’s curves the other way — an unusual genetic quirk found in roughly one in around 40,000 snails." Ned, at rear, the 1-in-40,000 left-whorling snail, checks ...

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 ...