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. It’s a tough job, but native bees can do it

    An organic watermelon field in California near remnants of wild land still had enough bees of North American species to pollinate a commercial crop, but habitat-poor farms didn't.

  2. Anthropology

    Southern Reindeer Folk

    Western scientists make their first expeditions to Mongolia's Tsaatan people, herders who preserve the old ways at the southernmost rim of reindeer territory.

  3. Animals

    Cicada Subtleties

    What part of 10,000 cicadas screeching don't you understand?

  4. Paleontology

    Overlooked fossil spread first feathers

    A new look at a fossil that had been lying in a drawer in Moscow for nearly 30 years has uncovered the oldest known feathered animal.

  5. Humans

    Science Revalued: Report seeks revived Smithsonian science

    A long-awaited report on science at the Smithsonian Institution calls urgently for more funding and also recommends preservation of beseiged materials-research center.

  6. Ragweed may boom with global warming

    An experiment that includes artificially heating plots of tallgrass prairie suggests that global warming could boost growth of ragweed, putting more pollen into the air for allergy sufferers.

  7. Animals

    Homing Lobsters: Fancy navigation, for an invertebrate

    Spiny lobsters are the first animals without backbones to pass tests for the orienteering power called true navigation.

  8. Animals

    Ant Traffic Flow: Raiding swarms with few rules avoid gridlock

    The 200,000 virtually blind army ants using a single trail to swarm out to a raid and return home with the booty naturally develop three traffic lanes, and a study now shows that simple individual behavior makes the pattern.

  9. Animals

    Ant Traffic Flow: Raiding swarms with few rules avoid gridlock

    The 200,000 virtually blind army ants using a single trail to swarm out to a raid and return home with the booty naturally develop three traffic lanes, and a study now shows that simple individual behavior makes the pattern.

  10. Biodiversity may lessen Lyme disease

    A survey of Lyme disease rates suggests that a greater diversity of small mammals and lizards may help keep the rates down.

  11. Old lemming puzzle gets new answer

    A novel analysis suggests food supply variations as the answer to the decades-old puzzle of what makes lemming populations boom and bust.

  12. Ecosystems

    Trust That Bird? A bit of future-think lets jays cooperate

    A blue jay will cooperate with a buddy for mutual gain in food despite opportunities to betray the partnership.