Field Museum researchers found that the gene responsible for making the tiny cellular hairs is missing in these parasitic worms.

Genetic analysis has revealed that horsehair worms, of the phylum Nematomorpha, took an evolutionary detour that cost them about 30% of genes found in other animals.

Our world is full of bizarre and intriguing creatures. One of the strangest, though, is the hairworm, a parasitic worm known as a “mind control worm” in some circles. These parasitic worms are ...

Parasitic hairworms manipulate the behavior of their hosts in what's sometimes called 'mind control.' A new study reveals another strange trait shared by different hairworm species: they're ...

Parasitic hairworms look harmless but are actually one of nature's most sophisticated DNA thieves, which has given them the power of mind-control, according to new research.

The hairworm lacks the genes necessary to produce cilia in its cells, typically found in all animals.

In a world full of bizarre animals, hairworms are some of the strangest: parasitic worms that manipulate the behavior of their hosts in what’s sometimes called “mind control.” A new study in the ...

But as it turns out, that isn't the only quality that sets them apart. After analyzing and sequencing DNA samples from two hairworm species, Cunha and her colleagues found something astonishing.

The team sequenced the genomes of a freshwater and saltwater hairworm. After comparing the genomes of these hairworms to other animals, the researchers found that they didn't have about 30 percent of ...

Hairworm parasites have little use for people, although rare infections of humans in China, Japan and Canada have been reported in medical and parasitological scientific journals.

A new study in the journal Current Biology reveals another strange trait shared by different hairworm species: they're missing about 30% of the genes that researchers expected them to have.