Scientists have found examples across the animal kingdom that show how parasites manipulate their hosts' behavior. In a bid to reach maturity and breed, they often lead their hosts to experience ...

It’s Halloween season, the liminal period when the general public seems to have a greater tolerance for stomach-churning content, so let’s talk about parasites, perhaps the most disgusting — and ...

The two species of African rhinoceros are conservation icons. Large, charismatic, and vitally important for their ecosystems, to lose either species would be a devastating blow. But what of their ...

Ancient Cambrian fossils have preserved the oldest known example of parasites in action. More than 500 million years ago in what is now southern China, tubelike parasites clung to the shells of tiny ...

A common parasite long thought to lie dormant is actually much more active and complex. Researchers found that Toxoplasma gondii cysts contain multiple parasite subtypes, not just one sleeping form.

The COVID-19 outbreak has put into stark relief the disruption parasites can cause, both in human society and ecosystems. Researchers have long sought to better understand the evolutionary importance ...

Parasites have a public relations problem. Unlike the many charismatic mammals, fishes and birds that receive our attention (and our conservation dollars), parasites are thought of as something to ...

Bloodsucker, leech, tick – few things have a reputation worse than parasites. But these biological hangers-on also have a comic cultural history. In biology, a parasite is an organism that lives on or ...