News Animals

Little push turns snail lefties to righties

Bumping an embryo’s cells can switch the direction of its spiral

By Susan Milius

- More than 2 years ago

This is a long way from working in politics. But for a snail, researchers report that just a little nudge of some early-dividing cells can push a youngster from left-leaning to right, or vice versa.

DIRECTIONS The same species of snail coils either left or right depending on the positioning of cells when the first four divide into eight.