Woman finds awesome snake with awesome leg, immediately beats it to death.

Dean Qiongxiu, 66, said she discovered the reptile clinging to the wall of her bedroom with its talons in the middle of the night.

"I woke up and heard a strange scratching sound. I turned on the light and saw this monster working its way along the wall using his claw," said Mrs Duan of Suining, southwest China. Mrs Duan said she was so scared she grabbed a shoe and beat the snake to death before preserving its body in a bottle of alcohol.

The snake -- 16 inches long and the thickness of a little finger -- is now being studied at the Life Sciences Department at China's West Normal University in Nanchang.

Just to the West of Normal, yes.

The sewer monster is made up of thousands of tiny organisms called bryozoans, or moss animacules, said N.C. State University biologist Thomas Kwak. Invertebrates, they bunch together in colonies and feed with tiny tentacles.

"They can get as big as the size of a watermelon," he said.

They've been known to clog pipes, but Raleigh officials aren't worried, even though bryozoans can move up to 10 centimeters a day. "I don't know if we've seen anything move on its own inside a sanitary sewer line," Public Utilities Director Dale Crisp said.

Previously, previously.

These people think you'd be better off with some parasitic worms. And they will sell them to you. Worm Therapy: Helminth-Induced Immune Modulation

My favorite bits from the FAQ:

I have heard bad things about medical treatments in Mexico.

Most of what has been reported in the American press is accurate if not prone to hyperbole.

Will I get worse before I get better?

It is not uncommon to experience what is known as the "worm flu".

How long do the worms last?

That depends on the worm you use. In the case of hookworm you can expect them to last between three to seven years. In the case of the tapeworm it is important to kill the worm before it reaches sexual maturity.

Is it safe?

We would like to take a moment to discuss hookworm specifically. This is an organism that uses a human host and though there are animal surrogates these surrogates run the risk of attenuating the organism or transmission of zoonotic disease. Thus, we use human hosts. This means that the organism that is crawling through your skin and into your bloodstream is only a few weeks removed from developing in the ovaries of its parent organism that feeds on the blood of another human. Moreover, some companies raise their hookworm from ova to the infective L3 stage using human feces. We do not. We can mitigate the risk of hookworm carrying fecal bacteria into your bloodstream and we can use hosts that are tested for blood born pathogens but there are mechanisms of vertical transovary transmission that may exist. This type of transmission of disease has not been reported in the literature and our human reservoirs undergo routine testing to mitigate the risk of co-infection. Bottom line: do your research.

Side Effects and Warnings for Beef Tapeworm

Common symptoms include loss of appetite or feeling of fullness, increased appetite, abdominal pain, weakness, headache, nausea, constipation, diarrhea, vomiting and spontaneous emergence of proglottids from the anal sphincter.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, and frankly, the entire poop tag.

Giant Sea Worm Unmasked as Coral Killer

Aquarists at the Blue Reef Aquarium in Newquay have discovered the identity of a mysterious killer that had been devastating their coral reef display over recent months. Staff at the award-winning attraction had been puzzled by violent attacks on their fragile living reefs - in some cases the corals had been literally cut in half.

After staking out the display for several weeks, aquarists decided as a last resort to take it apart rock by rock. Halfway through the process the terrifying perpetrator was finally revealed - a monstrous four-foot-long giant reef worm.

"It really does look like something out of a horror movie! It's over four feet long with these bizarre-looking jaws. Having done some research we also discovered that it is covered with thousands of bristles which are capable of inflicting a sting resulting in permanent numbness'."

Matt believes it probably arrived as a juvenile in a delivery of living rock from another aquarium.

Cephalopod Surprise, by Skippy