With names like “knobby rams-horn,” “masked duskysnail” and “Hoko vertigo,” Pacific Northwest mollusks may have an amusing image, but they’re also some of the most intriguing invertebrates in the ...

Then, using a method called physical-optical tomography, they carefully ground the fossils 20 micrometers at a time, taking digital microscope photos ... than the mollusks' new names: Punk ferox ...

“The names Punk and Emo were actually ... process—the scientists were able to combine the images into detailed 3D representations of the mollusks. “I really like the names, and they ...

Fossil-based renderings of the mollusks reveal that both species possessed numerous spines, offering them a counterculture aesthetic that has since informed their scientific names. The researchers ...