Troy, NY, USA. Scientists announced the complete sequencing of a complex carbohydrate biopolymer, important for everything from cell structure and development to disease pathology and blood clotting.

Investigations into the structure of complex biomolecules has revolutionized our understanding of evolution and development, medical diagnostics, drug development, and forensic science. However, until now one major type, the carbohydrate biopolymer, has remained largely uncharted.

Lausanne, Swizerland. A common mechanism gives shape to living beings, which implements the genomic body plan in a highly efficient — and surprisingly simple — manner that explains why our organs and appendages wind up in their proper place.

In only two days, such things as vertebrae, limbs, ribs, and tailbone take their place in the embryo.