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A pair of Schistosoma mansoni seen in SEM imaging (Credit: USUHS/Public Domain) ================================================================================== Usually, when parasitic worms attempt to invade the human body, the skin serves as the first line of defense. Pain receptors sound the alarm, prompting immune cells to swarm and stop the would-be invader in its tracks. However, new research has discovered that one of the world’s most pervasive parasitic worms, Schistosoma mansoni, sidesteps this natural alarm system by manipulating pain-sensing neurons to infiltrate a host’s body. A study published in The Journal of Immunology reveals how this blood fluke exploits a specialized class of neurons marked...

In a waste-conscious move, the crocodile was “prepared for a feast in the traditional manner,” police said, but not before authorities took the opportunity to give local children an impromptu “crocodile safety session,” including an “up-close look at the dangers within our waterways.” Speaking to public broadcaster ABC, Northern Territory Police Sergeant Andrew McBride said the animal was “cooked up into crocodile tail soup, he was on the barbecue, a few of the pieces were wrapped up in banana leaves and cooked underground.” “It was a rather large traditional feast and there were a few full bellies,” Sergeant McBride said.

Trump "had asked for up to 10,000 National Guard troops to be available" to the speaker and Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser," said the former president's chief of staff. "And, unfortunately, they did not take him up on that." rk Meadows, former chief of staff to President Trump, said that during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) asked the Department of Defense what time Congress members could get their lunch. Meadows told the John Solomon Reports podcast on Tuesday that while he wasn't in the room at the time of the call, Pelosi contacted Department of...

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) -- A pride of lions has killed and devoured 20 villagers, wounded 10 others and eaten at least 70 cattle in southern Ethiopia in the past week, police said Tuesday. The attacks have forced at least 1,000 people to flee their homes in Hadia Zone, in the Southern Nation and Nationalities People State, 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, according to a police statement.