All Stories by Susan Milius
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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.
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Weather cycles may drive toad decline
For the first time, scientists have linked a global climate pattern to a specific mechanism of amphibian decline.
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Friend or Foe? Old Elephants Know
Older female elephants are far better at telling friends from strangers than are younger matriarchs.
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Isn’t It a Bloomin’ Crime?
Darwin called them felons, those creatures that take nectar without pollinating anything, but some modern scientists are reopening the case.
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Lifestyles of the bright and toxic overlap
The first study of home life for Madagascar's poison frogs in the wild finds a striking resemblance to a group that's not closely related, the poison-dart frogs in the Americas.
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Tapeworms tell tales of deeper human past
A new analysis of tapeworm history suggests that people have been wrong about where we picked up pests: It was not domestication of cattle and pigs but increased meat eating in Africa.
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Do eggs go cuckoo under UV light?
People don't see ultraviolet light but birds do, so studies of egg mimickry may need to stop relying so much on human vision.
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Gender-bending flowers spice forests
In a newly discovered trick for avoiding self-pollination, ginger flowers take turns at gender roles, switching from female to male or vice versa in unison around lunchtime.
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Touching legs turns shy locusts gregarious
Researchers have discovered that sensing repeated touch on the hind leg triggers a shy, green locust to flip into swarming mode.
