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SciencePhysics & ChemistryThese Physicists Cannot Rest Until They Understand the Motions of Drunk Worms
You wake up, slightly intoxicated as tap water rinses over your body. You don’t remember why you’re here, but you’re joined by hundreds of fellow sludge worms, wriggling slowly. You start to remember: The temperature changed. The water filled with alcohol. And then the spinning begins again. While this experiment may sound odd, the scientists … Continued
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ScienceHealthA Man’s Worm Infection Left Him with a ‘Stony Hard’ Testicle
There’s no good place for parasitic worms to wreak havoc in the human body, but doctors in India say their 80-year-old patient developed a particularly unfortunate case. The man’s worm infection left him with a massively swollen, calcified right testicle. According to the paper, published earlier this month in BMJ Reports, the man had visited … Continued
By Ed Cara -
ScienceBiologyScientists Find Three-Sex, Arsenic-Resistant Nematode in Nearly Uninhabitable Lake
Scientists have discovered an extreme nematode that has three sexes, raises its larvae in a pouch like a kangaroo, and can withstand 500 times the arsenic concentration that humans can, according to a new study. We all know that on Earth, life (uh) finds a way, but some animals have figured out how to survive … Continued
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ScienceHealthWoman Relieved After Suspected Brain Tumor Turns Out to Be Tapeworm Egg
You wouldn’t expect that finding a tapeworm egg in your brain would be seen as good news, but such was the case for New York resident Rachel Palma this past fall. That’s because the larva found inside was the true cause of Palma’s worsening symptoms of insomnia and hallucinations, rather than a brain tumor that … Continued
By Ed Cara -
ScienceBiologyRussian Scientists Claim to Have Resurrected 40,000-Year-Old Worms Buried in Ice
A team of Russian scientists is lining themselves up to be the opening cast of a John Carpenter film. Earlier this month, in the journal Doklady Biological Sciences, they announced they had discovered ancient nematode worms that were able to resurrect themselves after spending at least 32,000 years buried in permafrost. The discovery, if legitimate, … Continued
By Ed Cara -
ScienceHealth
This Woman’s Horrifying Selfies Helped Track the Parasitic Worm Crawling in Her Face
A woman’s selfies helped her monitor the movements of an unwelcome guest: a roving parasitic worm living in her face. Thankfully, doctors were able to get the pesky pest—which she likely caught overseas from a mosquito—out of her body without any problems. The woman’s unsettling story was detailed in a case report published by her … Continued
By Ed Cara -
ScienceBiology
First Observation of Rigor Mortis in Worms Could Help Us Understand Death by Old Age
Living creatures do amazing things. They grow toward the sun, build cities, lay eggs, and some even bone. But living things must die, and when they do, they tend to get smelly and mushy pretty quickly. But the moments after death, before decomposition, can be amazing in their own right. Scientists have just learned a … Continued
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Tech News
Why Does This Dumb Worm Live to Be So Damn Old?
Things just don’t seem to die in the deep ocean (well, except for humans). While rockfish around 100 feet below the surface live about 12 years, those living closer to 2500 feet down can live for 200 years. There’s a deep water coral that can apparently live as long as 4,000 years. But there’s one … Continued
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Tech News
Seven Marine Animals That Look Exactly Like Dicks
The ocean is full of mystery. It is also full of penises. And biologists have taken note. Some marine animals look especially phallic—to the point that no one’s even trying to hide the truth behind a veil of innuendo. By that I mean there are literally sea creatures whose scientific names have the word “penis” … Continued
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Tech NewsThis Is An Animal, Not a Penis
This is a peanut worm. It is an animal. Not a penis. But it looks like a penis. A team of Australian researchers have been sharing photos from their month-long expedition with the RV Investigator, a research vessel currently exploring the oceans off of Australia’s coast. We covered their last phallic discovery, a seemingly faceless … Continued
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Tech News
This Alien Worm-Creature Will Haunt Your Nightmares
New species are discovered frequently, but this creature is unlike anything we’ve seen before. Called the giant shipworm, it lives inside a long shell where it consumes noxious chemicals at the bottom of muddy lagoons. An international team of scientists are now the first to study this elusive animal in the flesh, but after taking … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidThis Scary-Ass Worm Snatches the Souls of Fish Straight From Its Hole in the Ground
Damn, the ocean isn’t here to play around. This worm, known as a sand striker, buries itself in the ground and can grow up to twice the length of a human. It has no eyes and no brain and yet it can snatch the body and soul (and everything else) of a fish from right … Continued
By Casey Chan -
Tech News
Horrifying Worm Larva Is Basically a Disembodied Head
Good news, everyone: Biologists have discovered a species of marine worm that, when still in its larval stage, is nothing more than an algae-gobbling, disembodied head. Most animals have at least a semblance of an adult-like body when they’re young. But a new study published in the journal Current Biology shows this isn’t always the … Continued
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ScienceBiology
Look at This Giant Fucking Earthworm
Say hello to Dave, the largest earthworm ever discovered in Britain. This ridiculously long specimen of the common earthworm (Lumbricus terrestris) was discovered by Paul Rees of Widness, UK, who spotted the 15 3/4 inch-long (40 cm) behemoth in his veggie garden. His stepson, George, named it Dave. Knowing he had found something rather extraordinary, … Continued
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ScienceBiologyThese Disgusting Worms Can Basically Survive in Hell
Colorado is home to Sulphur Cave, which is exactly what it sounds like: a big, nasty hole that’s filled with deadly gas and dripping with acid. Nothing should live there. It’s basically hell on Earth. But then, scientists discovered clumps of limnodrilus sulphurensis wriggling around on the cave floor. In order to get in deep … Continued
By Avery Ellis -
ScienceBiologyGaze Into This Vortex of Worms Trying to Self-Assemble into a Structure
Scientists have found that these worms self-assemble into structures that allow them to survive on broad, sandy beaches. One of the phases of this self-assembly is a big, floating worm spiral. The mint sauce worm, Symsagittifera roscoffensis, is commonly studied in labs. It serves as a simple model for how symmetric animals develop, and how … Continued
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Tech News
Newly Discovered Worm’s Mouth Morphs Into Five Radically Different Shapes
A German research team recently discovered what they thought were five distinct species of nematode worms on account of significant facial differences. But it turns out they’re a single species of worm—a fascinating creature that changes the shape of its mouth depending on what food is available. The newly described nematode worm, a roundworm dubbed … Continued
