The first time I was bitten by a leech, I was swimming in a West Virginia river. I remember the scene perfectly: I crawled out to dry off and tried to wipe the mud off my knees, but the leech wouldn’t ...

Since the dawn of civilization, leeches have been firmly attached to medicine. Therapeutic bloodsuckers are seen in murals decorating the tombs of 18 th dynasty Egyptian pharaohs. They got their ...

The oldest leech ever discovered has turned out to be a shape shifter of expectations, preserving a body plan that looks nothing like the streamlined bloodsuckers that haunt horror movies and hospital ...