All Stories by Susan Milius
- Animals
Mad Deer Disease?
Chronic wasting disease, once just an obscure brain ailment of deer and elk in a small patch of the West, is turning up in new places and raising troubling questions about risks.
- Ecosystems
Worm Attacks: Invading earthworms threaten rare U.S. fern
An unusual study of the effects of invading earthworms on North American plants finds that the exotics might be on the way to killing off a rare fern.
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Three Dog Eves: Canine diaspora from East Asia to Americas
Genetic studies have moved the origins of dog domestication from the Middle East to East Asia and suggest that the first people to venture into the Americas brought their dogs with them.
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Spider real estate wars: Wake up early
Big spiders in a colony get prime real estate day after day by spinning webs early.
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Dolphins bray when chasing down a fish
The first high-resolution analysis of which dolphin is making which sound suggests that hunters blurt out a low-frequency, donkeylike sound that may startle prey into freezing for an instant or attract other dolphins.
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Invader ants win by losing diversity
The Argentine ants that are trouncing U.S. species derive much of their takeover power, oddly enough, from losing genetic diversity.
- Animals
The whole beehive gets a fever…
When bee larvae are fighting off disease, the nest temperature rises, so the whole hive gets a fever.
- Animals
Ear for Killers: Seals discern foes’ from neighbor-whales’ calls
Harbor seals eavesdrop on killer whales and can tell the harmless neighborhood fish eaters from roving gangs with a taste for fresh seal.
- Animals
Tadpoles kill by supersuction
A high-speed video shows tiny African tadpoles that catch their prey in a manner unlike that used by any other frog larvae: by shooting out a tubular mouth for superfast suction.
- Animals
Lizard’s Choice: Mating test pits physique versus domain
When she decides to move in, is it him or is it his real estate?
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Red Snow, Green Snow
It's truly spring when those last white drifts go technicolor as algae bloom in the snow.
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Bdelloids: No sex for over 40 million years
Researchers find the strongest evidence yet for creatures that have evolved asexually for millions of years.
