David Peterman in the AMMLab (Ammonoid Motility Modeling Laboratory) holding a 3-D-printed reconstruction of the planispiral ammonite, Paracoroniceras lyra. David Peterman, Kathleen Ritterbush and ...

A few fun facts about the many-armed creatures. By Knvul Sheikh Octopuses, squids and their cephalopod cousins have haunted the human imagination for centuries. Their long, unfurling arms and ...

These extinct shelled cephalopods ruled the ocean for 300 million years. But how they swam and shaped the seas remains a mystery. "Snake stones" or ancient sea creature? Credit: opacity/flickr/CC ...

University of Utah paleontologists David Peterman and Kathleen Ritterbush know that it's one thing to use math and physics to understand how ancient marine creatures moved through the water. It's ...

In a university swimming pool, scientists and their underwater cameras watch carefully as a coiled shell is released from a pair of metal tongs. The shell begins to move under its own power, giving ...

Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. The oldest ancestor ...

New research shows that the oldest ancestors of the group of animals that includes octopuses and vampire squids had not eight but 10 arms. The study, which describes a new species of vampyropod based ...

Scientists scanned a fossil of the Jurassic cephalopod Vampyronassa, pictured here, and found clues that it was an active hunter. A. Lethiers, CR2P-SU Finding and studying fossils of Earth’s ...

Cephalopods—mollusks like octopus, squid, and cuttlefish—seem to universally excite people. Many marine enthusiasts have a favorite, from the color-changing octopus to the multi chambered nautilus.

Robotic ammonites, evaluated in a university pool, allow researchers to explore questions about how shell shapes affected swimming ability. They found trade-offs between stability in the water and ...