All Stories by Susan Milius
- Animals
Familiar face calms stressed-out sheep
The sight of the face of a familiar sheep seems to reduce stress in troubled sheep.
- Animals
When bluebirds fight, bet on the bluest
The male bluebirds with the bluest (and most ultraviolet) plumage turned out to be the toughest competitors in a study of who won the rights to prime nest boxes.
- Plants
Green Red-Alert: Plant fights invaders with animal-like trick
Mustard plants' immune systems can react to traces of bacteria with a burst of nitric oxide, much as an animal's immune system does.
- Animals
Will Mr. Bowerbird Fall for a Robot?
Push a button and she turns her head. But can she turn his?
- Ecosystems
Fly may be depleting U.S. giant silk moths
A parasitic fly introduced to fight gypsy moths starting in 1906 may be an overlooked factor in the declines of giant silk moths.
-
A.M. and P.M. Clocks: Fruit fly brain has double timekeepers
Two research teams have pinpointed one group of fly-brain neurons keeping time for morning activity and a different neuron group performing the same function for evening activity.
- Animals
Separate Vacations: Birds winter apart but return in sync
Mated pairs of black-tailed godwits may fly off to winter refuges a thousand kilometers apart but can still arrive back at their breeding site the next spring within a few days of each other.
-
They’re Sequencing a What?
Announcements of new targets for genome sequencing are bringing celebrity to lesser-known twigs on the tree of life.
- Animals
Beat Goes On: Carp heart keeps pace when fish lacks oxygen
Without oxygen, a Scandinavian fish not only can survive but also maintains a normal heartbeat for days.
- Plants
Morphinefree Mutant Poppies: Novel plants make pharmaceutical starter
A Tasmanian company has developed a poppy that produces a commercially useful drug precursor instead of full-fledged morphine, and a research team now reports how the plant does it.
- Animals
Pirates of the Amphibian: Males fertilize eggs of another guy’s gal
For the first time among amphibians, scientists have found frogs that sneak their sperm onto egg clutches left by another mating pair.
- Plants
A new, slimy method of self-pollination
When all else fails for pollination, a Chinese herb in the ginger family resorts to something botanists say they haven't seen before: a do-it-yourself oil slick.
