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Nature Cell Biology 9, 1010–1015 (1 September 2007) | doi:10.1038/ncb438

Convergent extension and the hexahedral cell

Jeremy B. A. Green & Lance A. Davidson

A basic tissue-sculpting problem The first sculpting skill that a child learns is to roll a ball of clay out into a cylinder or snake. It would be astonishing to see a ball of clay roll itself out in this way, and yet a ball of embryonic cells can do just this.