Friday, 24 May, 2013

Three gross “biotherapies”: Leeches suck blood after surgery. Maggots clear dead tissue from wounds. Parasitic worms fight ulcerative colitis.

“It’s true. There’s always one in every group,” says UW-Madison entomology professor and mosquito expert Susan Paskewitz. That’s not to say mosquitoes target certain people because they’re tastier or have higher quality blood. Rather, it’s all about how easy you are to locate. “The main things are how you smell and how hot you are,” [...]

This Why File surveys the latest in forensic anthropology, with a visit to the Forensic Anthropology Center at the University of Tennessee, AKA The Body Farm.

Embryonic stem cells become blood cells in lab experiment, raises hope for eventual treatment.