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. 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.

  2. Animals

    Ballistic defecation: Hiding, not hygiene

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

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. Puppy tests flunk long-term checkups

    A follow-up study of dog-personality tests suggests that they don't have the predictive power many puppy purchasers expect.

  6. Looking for a mate? Oh, whatever

    Two cricket species don't seem to care whether they get mixed up at mating time, an oddity that may have something to do with the female's need to dine on leftover sperm.

  7. Social tuco-tucos develop more variety

    In mustachioed rodents called tuco-tucos, group life seems to have fostered more diverse immune systems than has solitary living.

  8. She salamanders punish fickle mates

    Female salamanders get aggressive if the male they share a rock with wanders back after an interlude with another female.

  9. Yikes! The Lichens Went Flying

    Tales from the dark (and frequently crunchy) side of biodiversity.

  10. Animals

    Toothy valves control crocodile hearts

    The odd cog teeth of the crocodile heart may be the first cardiac valve known to control blood flow actively.

  11. Plants

    Any Hope for Old Chestnuts?

    Next year will mark the 100th anniversary of the discovery of chestnut blight in the United States, but enthusiasts still haven't given up hope of restoring American chestnut forests.

  12. Fig-Wasp Upset: Classic partnership isn’t so tidy after all

    Genetic analysis suggests that a textbook example of a tight buddy system in nature—fig species that supposedly each have their own pollinating wasp species—may need to be rewritten.