Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Screwworms—the flesh-eating parasites that are threatening cattle and wildlife, and could even infect the unlucky human—are back in the U.S.

Sarah Zhang reports on the struggles that ranchers and government officials are facing in their efforts to curb the spread of screwworms—and the desperate need for a technological breakthrough. “Now that screwworms are here, they’re really not going away anytime soon,” Zhang writes.

📸: Dinar Bud; Bloomberg / Contributor, Bloomberg; Bettmann / Contributor, Bettmann; United Archives / Contributor, Hulton Archive; dikobraziy; PeterHermesFurian; Lidya Elfa Sari.