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The secret lives of sea snails
Recent research shows that study at a ‘snail’s pace’ can be surprisingly interesting, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and JOEL HELLEWELL
A sea snail species without a shell, known as a “sea angel”

SCIENCE news this year has been dominated by Covid-19. Research has happened at an incredible speed, with scientists working around the clock to make rapid progress.

At the start of the year, we didn’t know that Sars-CoV-2 existed. Just nine months later, humanity has collectively sequenced and analysed its genome in detail, found evidence for a range of effective treatments and started the development of hundreds of candidate vaccines.

Other areas of science might seem sluggish by comparison. Indeed, science normally feels like it progresses at a snail’s pace. However, there is always more than meets the eye to nature. Snails are no exception.

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