All Stories by Susan Milius
- Animals
A caterpillar outwits corn defenses by gorging on fattening ‘junk’ food
The crop plants defend themselves with zombie-maker wasps, but one pest has a desperate work-around.
- Animals
Green blood in lizards probably evolved four times
Pigment buildups that would cause jaundice in people are normal for some New Guinea skinks.
- Animals
These caterpillars march. They fluff. They scare London.
Oak processionary moths have invaded England and threatened the pleasure of spring breezes.
- Animals
A deadly frog-killing fungus probably originated in East Asia
The disastrous form of Bd chytrid fungus could have popped up just 50 to 120 years ago.
- Animals
Here’s how to use DNA to find elusive sharks
Hard-to-find sharks that divers and cameras miss appear in genetic traces in the ocean.
- Animals
Fighting like an animal doesn’t always mean a duel to the death
Conflict resolution within species isn’t always deadly and often involves cost-benefit analyses.
- Animals
Defenseless moths do flying impressions of scary bees and wasps
Faking that erratic bee flight or no-nonsense wasp zoom might save a moth’s life.
- Plants
New genetic details may help roses come up smelling like, well, roses
A detailed genetic look at China roses and an old European species shows that there’s a built-in trade-off between color and scent.
- Animals
Male fruit flies enjoy ejaculation
Red light exposure made some genetically engineered fruit flies ejaculate, spurring a surge of a brain reward compound — and less desire for booze.
- Animals
These hummingbirds aim their singing tail feathers to wow mates
Acoustic cameras reveal how male Costa’s hummingbirds can aim the sound produced by fluttering tail feathers during courtship dives.
- Animals
How honeybees’ royal jelly might be baby glue, too
A last-minute pH shift thickens royal jelly enough to stick queen larvae to the ceiling of hive cells.
- Animals
Toxins from the world’s longest animal can kill cockroaches
Bootlace worms can stretch up to 55 meters long and ooze toxins that can kill cockroaches and green crabs.
