Science Stories Roundup: 6 Cool Discoveries You Missed

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Subject: Golden apple snails and their ability to regenerate eyes.
Regeneration Ability: Snails can wholly ⁢regrow their eyes, and this has been known since at least the 18th century (with garden snails regrowing heads).
Eye Similarity ⁢to Humans: ⁢ Golden apple snail eyes share anatomical and genetic ‍features with human eyes.
Research Publication: A paper detailing this research was published in Nature ⁣Communications in 2025. (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-61681-6)
Breeding: Golden apple snails breed readily in lab environments (unlike many other snail species) because ‍they are invasive.
Eye Structure: Snails have “camera type eyes” with a cornea, lens, and retina with ⁢photoreceptor cells.
Gene ‍Count: Approximately 9000 genes are⁤ involved in eye regeneration, reducing to ⁣1175 by day 28.
Vision in Regenerated Eyes: It’s currently unknown if the regenerated eyes are functional (if the snails can actually see with them).
Gene Experiment (pax6): Mutating the pax6 gene in snail embryos resulted in the snails developing without eyes, indicating its role in eye growth.
Future Research: Researchers will ⁤investigate⁢ if pax6 is also involved in eye regeneration and identify other perhaps involved genes.
researcher: Alice Accorsi, a molecular ⁣biologist at the University of California, davis. DOI’s:
Archaeometry, 2025: 10.1111/arcm.70030
Journal of Medieval History, 2025: 10.1080/03044181.2025.2546884
* ⁣ Nature Communications, 2025: 10.1038/ (incomplete ⁣DOI provided in the text)