This Film Sucks! The Science of Leeches for Geek Week
As part of YouTube Geek Week, the Ri and Dr Tim Cockerill explore the science of Leeches. As an entomologist, Tim is used to getting up close and personal with insects and here he lets a...
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Leeches. For most people, they're the stuff of nightmares. But there's a lot more to them than just slimy bloodsuckers. Now, the leeches in this tank are medicinal leeches, and they've got this name for a really good reason. So for about 2,000 years, up until quite recently, it was thought that the body's health was kept in balance by substances called humours which flowed through the body. Now blood was one of those humours, and if you had bad blood or too much blood, then it needed to be drained. And that is where these guys came in. Draining the blood from the body was known as bloodletting. And using leeches to do this was the height of fashion in Victorian times. In fact, millions were used every year across Europe. Leeches are...
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Leeches. For most people, they're the stuff of nightmares. But there's a lot more to them than just slimy bloodsuckers. Now, the leeches in this tank are medicinal leeches, and they've got this name for a really good reason. So for about 2,000 years, up until quite recently, it was thought that the body's health was kept in balance by substances called humours which flowed through the body. Now blood was one of those humours, and if you had bad blood or too much blood, then it needed to be drained. And that is where these guys came in. Draining the blood from the body was known as bloodletting. And using leeches to do this was the height of fashion in Victorian times. In fact, millions were used every year across Europe. Leeches are...
