A new "atlas" of early embryonic development in mammals suggests that the process is highly chaotic — but there is some method to the madness. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn ...

Biologists have provided new insights on a longstanding puzzle in biology: How complex organisms arise from a single fertilized cell. Producing a new 'gene atlas' with 4-D imaging, the researchers ...

In the earliest hours after fertilization, an embryo takes its first steps toward becoming a living organism by shedding maternal control and activating its own genetic program. This critical process, ...

New findings offer insight into why some embryos fail to develop past zygotic genome activation (ZGA), pointing to an unexpected root of human infertility. A critical point in early development is ...

A gene that turns on very early in embryonic development could be key to the formation of the placenta, which provides the developing fetus with what it needs to thrive during gestation. The placenta ...

Over half of our genomes consists of thousands of remnants of ancient viral DNA, known as transposable elements, which are widespread across the tree of life. Once dismissed as the "dark side" of the ...

New stem cell-based embryo model reveals previously unknown communication between early tissues that become the spine and muscles in the central part of the body. From the moment an embryo starts to ...

Scientists have developed a new human-based endometrial model to study embryonic implantation in the early stages of pregnancy.