An international team of researchers has discovered a gene in snails that determines whether their shells twist clockwise or anti-clockwise – and could offer clues to how the same gene affects body asymmetry in other animals including humans. The research, published in the journal Current Biology and led by a scientist at The University of Nottingham, UK, is an important step in understanding how our organs are placed asymmetrically within the body and why this process can sometimes go wrong when some or all of the major internal organs are reversed or mirrored from their normal placement in the body.
In this video, Dr Angus Davison explains how they found the gene and why it is significant.

Still images courtesy of Esther de Roij, Gary McDowell, Lauren Holden with digital composition by Jeremy Guay, Peregrine Creative.