DURHAM, N.C. -- We humans are fixated on big brains as a proxy for smarts. But headless animals called brittle stars have no brains at all and still manage to learn through experience, new research ...

Researchers collected dozens of sea creatures known as brittle stars from Mexico’s Pacific coast between 2011 and 2020, but when they looked through archives to try to identify their catch ...

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The sequenced genome of the brittle star revealed unique gene arrangements and provides insights into ancient genes involved in limb regeneration. Sneha Khedkar is an Assistant Editor at The Scientist ...

The paper J. Delroisse et al., “A puzzling homology: A brittle star using a putative cnidarian-type luciferase for bioluminescence,” Open Biology, 7:160300, 2017. Degrees of separation Although the ...

Brittle stars, belonging to the class Ophiuroidea, are a diverse group of echinoderms that play significant roles in marine ecosystems. Recent research in brittle star systematics and taxonomy has ...

A brittle star. Photo by the Florida Museum of Natural History Invertebrate Zoology. Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert!

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert ...

Ophiojura, discovered living on a seamount deep in the Pacific Ocean, is the last known survivor of a unique group of animals that diverged from its closest relatives way back in the Jurassic period.