Susan Milius

Susan Milius

Life Sciences Writer

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. Paleontology

    Ancient attack marks show ocean predators got scarier

    Killer snails and other ocean predators that drill through shells have grown bigger over evolutionary time.

  2. Climate

    Climate change might help pests resist corn’s genetic weapon

    Rising temperatures may allow pests to eat corn that is genetically modified to produce an insect-killing toxin.

  3. Life

    How a flamingo balances on one leg

    Flamingos’ built-in tricks for balance might have a thing or two to teach standing robots or prosthesis makers someday.

  4. Animals

    Orangutans take motherhood to extremes, nursing young for more than eight years

    Weaning in orangutans has been tricky to see in the wild, so researchers turned to dental tests to reveal long nursing period.

  5. Animals

    Blennies have a lot of fang for such little fishes

    Unlike snakes, blennies evolved fangs before venom, through probably not because of any need to hunt big prey.

  6. Genetics

    Selfish genes hide for decades in plain sight of worm geneticists

    Crossing wild Hawaiian C. elegans with the familiar lab strain reveals genes that benefit themselves by making mother worms poison offspring who haven’t inherited the right stuff.

  7. Animals

    In Florida, they’re fighting mosquitoes by meddling with their sex lives

    As an alternative to genetically modified mosquitoes, Florida skeeter police are testing one of two strategies that use bacteria to meddle with insect sex lives.

  8. Animals

    Sea creatures’ sticky ‘mucus houses’ catch ocean carbon really fast

    A new deepwater laser tool measures the carbon-filtering power of snot nets created by little-known sea animals called giant larvaceans.

  9. Climate

    Ocean acidification may hamper food web’s nitrogen-fixing heroes

    A new look at marine Trichodesmium microbes suggests trouble for nitrogen fixation in an acidifying ocean.

  10. Life

    How a mushroom gets its glow

    For the first time, biologists have pinpointed the compound that lights up in fungal bioluminescence.

  11. Life

    How a mushroom gets its glow

    For the first time, biologists have pinpointed the compound that lights up in fungal bioluminescence.

  12. Animals

    First fluorescent frogs might see each others’ glow

    A polka dot frog, the first known fluorescent amphibian, may get a visibility boost in twilight and moonlight.