All Stories by Susan Milius
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Cardinal girls learn faster than boys
A female cardinal learns about as many songs as a male but in one-third the time.
- Ecosystems
Parrot survey finds poaching but also hope
The largest review yet of wild parrot nesting finds poaching worrisomely frequent but also sees cause for hope in the efects of a U.S. protection law.
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A Fly Called Iyaiyai
All that Latin has its light side.
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Slave-making ants get rough in New York
The whole ant slave-making business turns more violent in New York than in West Virginia, even though it features the same species.
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Caterpillars die rather than switch
A newly identified compound in tomatoes and other plants of the nightshade family turns hornworms into addicts that often starve rather than eat another food.
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To save gardens, ants rush to whack weeds
Ants can grow gardens, too, and the first detailed study of their weeding techniques shows that whether a gardener has two legs or six, the chore looks much the same.
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Lyme ticks lurk on golf course edges
At least half the ticks collected along woodsy edges of five golf courses in Rhode Island carry the baterium that causes Lyme disease.
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How spiny lobsters make scary noises
Spiny lobsters make alarm and protest sounds by drawing their leathery plectra—protrusions at the base of each anntenna—across scaley ridges below their eyes, much like a violin bow pulling across a string.
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Outcry saves National Zoo’s research site
In the final hours, Smithsonian Secretary Lawrence Small withdrew his proposal to close the National Zoo's research center in Front Royal, Virginia.
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For some birds, Mr. Wrong can be alright
What looks like the ultimate bad choice in romance—a mate from a different species—in some conditions may not be so dumb after all.
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Senior bees up all night caring for larvae
Honeybees turn out to be the first insect known to change circadian rhythms just because of a social cue, a crisis in the nursery.
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When parents let kids go hungry
Researchers comparing Northern and Southern birds have confirmed a prediction about parents protecting themselves at their offsprings' expense.
