Life sciences writer Susan Milius has been writing about botany, zoology and ecology for Science News since the last millennium. She worked at diverse publications before breaking into science writing and editing. After stints on the staffs of The Scientist, Science, International Wildlife and United Press International, she joined Science News. Three of Susan's articles have been selected to appear in editions of The Best American Science Writing.

All Stories by Susan Milius

  1. Animals

    This sea slug makes its prey do half the food catching

    Nudibranchs’ stolen meals blur classic predator-prey levels.

  2. Animals

    Scary as they are, few vampires have a backbone

    Researchers speculate on why there are so few vampires among vertebrates.

  3. Animals

    Climate change may threaten these bamboo-eating lemurs

    Longer dry spells and more nutrient-poor bamboo might eventually doom the greater bamboo lemur, a critically endangered species.

  4. Life

    Nanoscale glitches let flowers make a blue blur that bees can see

    Bees learn about colorful floral rings faster when nanoscale arrays aren’t quite perfect.

  5. Animals

    Being a vampire can be brutal. Here’s how bloodsuckers get by.

    Blood-sucking animals have specialized physiology and other tools to live on a diet rich in protein and lacking in some nutrients.

  6. Plants

    José Dinneny rethinks how plants hunt for water

    Plant biologist José Dinneny probes the very beginnings of root development, which may have important implications for growing food in a changing climate.

  7. Paleontology

    Woolly rhinos may have grown strange extra ribs before going extinct

    Ribs attached to neck bones could have signaled trouble for woolly rhinos, a new study suggests.

  8. Climate

    Rising temperatures threaten heat-tolerant aardvarks

    Aardvarks may get a roundabout hit from climate change — less food.

  9. Animals

    Bones reveal what it was like to grow up dodo

    Scientists take a first look at the inside of dodo bones.

  10. Life

    Polluted water: It’s where sea snakes wear black

    Reptile counterpart proposed for textbook example of evolution favoring darker moths amid industrial soot.

  11. Animals

    Ticks are here to stay. But scientists are finding ways to outsmart them

    Researchers acknowledge that there’s no getting rid of ticks, so they are developing ways to make them less dangerous.

  12. Life

    Light pollution can foil plant-insect hookups, and not just at night

    Upsetting nocturnal pollinators has daylight after-effects for Swiss meadow flowers.