All Stories by Susan Milius
- Animals
In a pack hunt, it’s every goatfish for itself
Pack hunting among goatfish is really about self-interest.
- Animals
It’s official: Termites are just cockroaches with a fancy social life
On their latest master list of arthropods, U.S. entomologists have finally declared termites to be a kind of cockroach.
- Animals
A new species of tardigrade lays eggs covered with doodads and streamers
These elegant eggs hint that a tardigrade found in a Japanese parking lot is a new species.
- Animals
This scratchy hiss is the closest thing yet to caterpillar vocalization
A new way that caterpillars make noise may involve (tiny) teakettle‒style turbulence.
- Plants
The flowers that give us chocolate are ridiculously hard to pollinate
Cacao trees are really fussy about pollination.
- Animals
Ants practice combat triage and nurse their injured
Termite-hunting ants have their own version of combat medicine for injured nest mates.
- Animals
Trove of hummingbird flight data reveals secrets of nimble flying
Tweaks in muscle and wing form give different hummingbird species varying levels of agility.
- Animals
It’s a bad idea for a toad to swallow a bombardier beetle
Toads are tough. But there are some insects even they shouldn’t swallow.
- Paleontology
This ancient creature looks like a spider with a tail
A newly discovered ancient creature looks like a spider and has silk spinners and spidery male sex organs.
- Animals
A peek into polar bears’ lives reveals revved-up metabolisms
Polar bears have higher metabolisms than scientists thought. In a world with declining Arctic sea ice, that could spell trouble.
- Animals
A killer whale gives a raspberry and says ‘hello’
Tests of imitating sounds finds that orcas can sort of mimic humans.
- Animals
Slower speed, tricky turns give prey a chance against cheetahs and lions
A bonanza of data on wild predators running shows that hunting is more than sprinting.
