The amniote egg evolved new internal structures to accommodate gas exchange between the embryo and the atmosphere and to deal with wastes.

During this 8 year span he and his fellow researchers published a series of papers in which they discussed the use of genetic algorithms to evolve neural structures inside 3D cellular automata.

Fish were also undergoing a huge radiation, and the first tetrapods were beginning to evolve leg-like structures.

Drylands are complex, evolving structures whose characteristics and dynamic properties depend on many interrelated links between climate, soil, and vegetation.

Features of the dinosaur included a near perfect skull, strong jaw muscles and a powerful biting and crushing bill - showing that it evolved structures like those in today's parrots.

Put those two together and you can evolve structures in the brain that have specific functions.

As creatures struggled to survive and reproduce, the general argument went, those that evolved new and useful structures, like precisely focusing eyes or elaborate courtship displays, prevailed.

A species, after all, cannot evolve structures with a view to their potential usefulness millions of years down the road--unless our general ideas about causality are markedly awry, and the future can control the present.

Corals have evolved structures, often tree-like, which offer the algae maximum access to light.

Thick blubber deposits provide insulation, as well, and blood vessels in the flippers and legs have evolved intricate structures to preserve heat.