600-million-year-old body blueprint found in sea anemones

A new study from the University of Vienna reveals that sea anemones use a molecular mechanism known from bilaterian animals to form their back-to-belly body axis. This mechanism (“BMP shuttling”) enables cells to organize themselves during development by interpreting signaling gradients. The findings, published in Science Advances, suggest that this system evolved much earlier than…

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MPs to vote on decriminalising abortion

Getty Images A law change aimed at decriminalising abortion will be debated in the House of Commons on Tuesday. Two Labour MPs, Tonia Antoniazzi and Stella Creasy, have tabled rival amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill. Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle could pick one or both amendments to be debated by MPs, but is likely…

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