The proboscis of the bloodworm is one of the most nightmarish structures in nature. The club-shaped, tubular mouth explosively shoots out of the marine worm’s body, like the inner jaws of the deadly star of Alien, and is studded with copper-infused fangs laced with paralyzing neurotoxins. Once the proboscis latches onto prey, the worm sucks in its meal. Now, a team analyzing the biomechanics of a bloodworm’s proboscis has found that the key to its eversion, the process of flipping internal struc