A woman who went to the emergency room for chest pain learned that her symptoms had a rather unusual cause: a porcupine quill that she had unknowingly ingested, according to a recent report of the ...

A new study shows that microscopic barbs allow porcupine quills to slice into flesh easily and stay there stubbornly. Image via Jeffrey Karp If you’ve ever had a violent encounter with a porcupine, it ...

Porcupines may be animals many people try to avoid, but medical researchers have recently become interested in studying the spiked creature – more specifically, studying the porcupine’s quills.

If you’ve never been smacked by a porcupine, you might not understand just how hard it is to remove the quills once they’re lodged in your flesh. But as it turns out, these quills are inspiring better ...

If you’re unlucky enough to have met the business end of a porcupine—or if you have a pesky dog that has—you probably know a thing or two about porcupine quills. Scientific research is now catching up ...

The barbs on porcupine quill tips let them penetrate flesh with less force and hold on with more force than a barbless needle. Sophie Bushwick reports Porcupines sport some 30,000 quills, which easily ...