Simply Speaking
Animals are complex beasts. They display a fantastic array of structures from horns to hair, feathers to fur. Animals look very different from one another and go about their business in very different ways, but the process of development links them together because for every animal, or indeed every organism, the journey to sophisticated adult begins with a single cell which divides, develops and differentiates according to a pre-programmed plan.
Studying that plan tells us not only how a ball of cells decides that an arm will be an arm and not antennae, but can provide insights into the development of traits in species important to agriculture, such as wool in sheep and feathers in chickens.
To learn more about the work of Denis Headon's group watch this short video clip.