Susan Milius

Susan Milius

Life Sciences Writer

Life sciences writer Susan Milius has been writing about botany, zoology and ecology for Science News since the last millennium. She worked at diverse publications before breaking into science writing and editing. After stints on the staffs of The Scientist, Science, International Wildlife and United Press International, she joined Science News. Three of Susan's articles have been selected to appear in editions of The Best American Science Writing.

All Stories by Susan Milius

  1. Animals

    African cicadas warm up before singing

    The first tests of temperature control in African cicadas have found species with a strategy that hogs energy but reduces the risk of predators.

  2. Animals

    Life Without Sex

    The search is on for creatures that have evolved for eons without sex.

  3. Animals

    Snake Pits: Viper heat sensors locate cool spots

    Scientists who glued aluminum foil and plastic balls to live rattlesnakes say that snakes use their heat-sensing organs for more than hunting prey.

  4. Plants

    Sun-tracking dads make better pollen

    In one of the first tests of paternal behavior in plants, snow buttercups that were allowed to follow their natural tendency to track sun movement made more-viable pollen than did tethered blooms.

  5. Gene find could yield decaffeinated plants

    The first published report of cloning a gene for caffeine synthesis raises the possibility of creating decaf plants.

  6. Animals

    Skin Scam: Parasite’s host provides an insect hideaway

    A group of parasitic insects called Strepsiptera can hide inside their victim by making the host form a protective bag of its own skin.

  7. Agriculture

    Mad Cow Future: Tests explore next generation of defenses

    As Canadian health officials investigate mad cow disease within the country's borders, researchers are already working on the next generation of defenses.

  8. Bad Dancers: Childhood chills give bees six left feet

    Honeybees kept just a bit cool when young grow up looking normal but dancing badly, which impedes their ability to communicate with other bees.

  9. Troubling Treat: Guam mystery disease from bat entrée?

    A famous unsolved medical puzzle of why a neurological disease spiked on Guam may hinge on the local tradition of serving boiled bat.

  10. Animals

    Ballistic defecation: Hiding, not hygiene

    Evading predators may be the big factor driving certain caterpillars to shoot their waste pellets great distances.

  11. Do people flirt like guppies?

    Researchers who have studied how female guppies copy other females' choice of mate are tackling the same question in Homo sapiens.

  12. Beaks change songs in Darwin’s finches

    A new look—and listen—at Darwin's finches finds that the famous relationship between beak size and food supply affects their courtship songs as well.