Francis Horne, a biologist who studies shell formation at Texas State University, offers this answer. The exoskeletons of snails and clams, or their shells in common parlance, differ from the ...

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 ...

This is the only animal in the world known to incorporate iron into its exoskeleton. It builds its shell out of the stuff, and even its soft, fleshy foot is covered in thick iron plates like a ...

Aurelie Moya receives funding from the Australian Research Council. Curious Kids is a series for children. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskids@theconversation ...