Researchers have discovered a species of leech that has a "particularly unpleasant habit of infesting humans," most notably in people's noses. The team of scientists published their study of this animal in in the Public Library of Science. The "clinical presentations" are not for the faint-of-heart. From PLoS:
A new genus and species of leech from Perú was found feeding from the nasopharynx of humans. Unlike any other leech previously described, this new taxon has but a single jaw with very large teeth. Phylogenetic analyses of nuclear and mitochondrial genes using parsimony and Bayesian inference demonstrate that the new species belongs among a larger, global clade of leeches, all of which feed from the mucosal surfaces of mammals.
This new species, found feeding from the upper respiratory tract of humans in Perú, clarifies an expansion of the family Praobdellidae to include the new species Tyrannobdella rex n. gen. n.sp., along with others in the genera Dinobdella, Myxobdella, Praobdella and Pintobdella. Moreover, the results clarify a single evolutionary origin of a group of leeches that specializes on mucous membranes, thus, posing a distinct threat to human health.
"Tyrannobdella rex N. Gen. N. Sp. and the Evolutionary Origins of Mucosal Leech Infestations" (Thanks, Antinous!)
“Until Google can protect our brand from offensive content of any kind, we are removing all advertising from YouTube,” an AT&T spokesperson told CNBC.
A remarkable easter egg from the Windows 95 era, fully anticipating what became of the world’s most beautiful operating system. The developers of Office 95 left an interesting little easteregg with a name which does seem a little unsettling. I am exploring this easteregg and showing it in this video.
That massive Equifax data breach on September 7, 2017, shocked everyone, but a year and a half later, where the data of all those 143 million Equifax users ended up is still a mystery.
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