Of all the animals that we’ve examined in the microcosmos, leeches are probably one of the few that can be used as a verb, to leech off someone—to take and take from them, like a worm consuming someone’s blood. Follow Journey to the Microcosmos: Twitter: https://twitter.com/journeytomicro Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JourneyToMicro Shop The Microcosmos: null Support the Microcosmos: http://www.patreon.com/journeytomicro More from Jam’s Germs: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jam_and_germs YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn4UedbiTeN96izf-CxEPbg Hosted by Hank Green: Twitter: https://twitter.com/hankgreen YouTube: null Music by Andrew Huang: null Journey to the Microcosmos is a Complexly production. Find out more at https://www.complexly.com/ SOURCES: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10833259/ http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1608/FRJ-4.1.417 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26427330/ https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francois-Joseph-Victor-Broussais https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10404516/ https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/218/21/3353/14399/A-classic-model-animal-in-the-21st-century-recent