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. Animals

    For glass frogs, moms matter after all

    Brief but important maternal care may have evolved before the elaborate egg-tending of glass frog dads.

  2. Animals

    Female guppies with bigger brains pick more attractive guys

    A larger-brained female guppy may pick primo males, but all that mental machinery costs her in other ways.

  3. Animals

    How one enslaving wasp eats through another

    A wasp that forces oaks to grow a gall gets tricked into digging an escape tunnel for its killers.

  4. Climate

    Changing climate could worsen foods’ nutrition

    Climate change could aggravate hidden hunger by sapping micronutrients from soils and plants, reducing nutrition in wheat, rice and other crops.

  5. Neuroscience

    Scratching is catching in mice

    Contagious itching spreads by sight mouse-to-mouse, and scientists have identified brain structures behind the phenomenon.

  6. Animals

    Wild elephants clock shortest shut-eye recorded for mammals

    Among mammals, wild elephants may need the least amount of sleep, new measurements suggest.

  7. Animals

    Score! Bumblebees see how to sink ball in goal, then do it better

    A first lesson in six-legged soccer tests bumblebees’ ability to learn.

  8. Animals

    Coconut crab pinches like a lion, eats like a dumpster diver

    Coconut crabs use their surprisingly powerful claw for more than cracking coconuts.

  9. Climate

    Desert songbirds increasingly at risk of dehydration

    With no efforts to curb climate warming, hot spots in the U.S. Southwest could turn uninhabitable for some songbirds.

  10. Climate

    Hot nests, not vanishing males, are bigger sea turtle threat

    Climate change overheating sea turtle nestlings may be a greater danger than temperature-induced shifts in their sex ratios.

  11. Animals

    What gives frog tongues the gift of grab

    Here’s what puts the grip in a frog’s high-speed strike: quick-change saliva and a tongue softer than a marshmallow.

  12. Plants

    Big genetics study blazes path for bringing back tomato flavor

    Combining taste tests with genetics suggests what makes heirloom varieties tastier than mass-market tomatoes.