Leeches might seem like relics of a bygone age of medicine, but they haven’t outlived their usefulness to people yet. The freshwater leech Helobdella austinensis can eat its weight in snails every day ...

Medical bills are often littered with bizarre line items. If you're in Russia, those little charges might include half a dozen slimy, slithering leeches. About 10 million of the blood-sucking ...

Saving the graft was critical so the medical team proposed a treatment that surprised Lofgreen: leeches. “I was absolutely floored,” says the 31-year-old Idaho resident. “My initial reaction was, Okay ...

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. It’s not exactly the kind of therapy you’d expect to get at the ...

(USA TODAY) -- Andrew Plucinski’s leeches are picky about skin. When offered the chance to bite a person who bathes in smelly soap they recoil, even when they’re hungry. Leeches prefer their humans ...

1. There are 650 known species of leeches. 2. The largest leech discovered measured 18 inches. 3. About one-fifth of leech species live in the sea, where they feed on fish. 4. The leech has 32 brains ...

Pity the poor leech. For more than a century, it has been a poster child for the once-decrepit state of medicine. Nothing illustrates the relative backwardness of pre-20 th century health care than ...

It's the beginning of the spooky season, which means ghouls, ghosts, and bloodsuckers abound. One of the most famous bloodsuckers in nature is, of course, the leech. These parasites feed on blood and ...

The biological history of leeches is difficult to study: Their tissue decomposes almost immediately, and their boneless bodies rarely fossilize. But a geological formation in Wisconsin preserved a ...

A chance video by a grad student relishing her first big field trip might help resolve an argument that’s raged among biologists for more than a century. The question: Can leeches jump? Yes, at least ...

Learn about a 480-million-year-old leech fossil that revealed that ancient leeches didn’t have the biological components necessary to suck blood. It’s the beginning of the spooky season, which means ...