You might think you know leeches: Go for a swim in the wrong shallow lake, and you’ll emerge covered in sleek black bloodsuckers that have decided you’re their next meal. But inside a leech, ...

Leeches may be creepy, but many people find hypodermic needles even creepier. That's one of the reasons why scientists have developed a new leech-inspired blood collection device, which draws blood ...

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a safe and inexpensive device for reliable blood measurements. It works using a suction cup and could also be employed to diagnose the tropical disease malaria ...

Leeches are blood-feeding organisms that have a suite of anticoagulant compounds they secrete from their salivary glands that prevent blood clotting. This allows them to maximize feeding time and ...

There has long been anecdotal evidence of the wormy creatures taking to the air, but videos recorded in Madagascar at last prove the animals’ acrobatics. By Veronique Greenwood Veronique Greenwood ...

Leeches are generally considered the stuff of nightmares. They lurk in warm, slow moving water. They drink blood. And now, scientists have recently confirmed that at least some of them know how to ...

Welcome to your worst nightmare. You’ve lost your balance and fell into a pool of slimy parasitic animals that eat only one thing. Your blood. What would happen if you were at the bottom of this pool ...

For centuries, observers have told tales of leeches leaping through the air in pursuit of their next meal—with written records of the creatures’ gravity-defying feats dating as far back as the 14th ...

Their tissue decomposes almost immediately, and their boneless bodies rarely fossilize. But a geological formation in Wisconsin preserved a leech fossil for 437 million years, a new study finds. It’s ...