In the first 24 hours after a python devours its massive prey, its heart grows 25%, its cardiac tissue softens dramatically, and the organ squeezes harder and harder to more than double its pulse.

Understanding which genes are involved in regulating the python's rapid heart muscle changes may have implications for treating cardiac hypertrophy, or thickening of the heart muscle, she said. "This ...

Able to stretch as long as a telephone pole and swallow an antelope or alligator whole, a python is a marvel of nature. Consider how it feeds: In the first 24 hours after devouring its massive prey, ...

In the first 24 hours after a python devours its massive prey, its heart grows 25%, its cardiac tissue softens dramatically, and the organ squeezes harder and harder to more than double its pulse.