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. Life

    Yeasts hide in many lichen partnerships

    Yeasts newly discovered in common lichens challenge more than a century of thinking about what defines the lichen symbiosis.

  2. Animals

    To douse hot hives, honeybee colonies launch water squadrons

    The whole superorganism of a honeybee colony has sophisticated ways of cooling down.

  3. Science & Society

    GM mosquitoes succeed at reducing dengue, company says

    GM mosquito releases in Brazil have helped cut dengue cases 91 percent in a year.

  4. Animals

    Organisms age in myriad ways — and some might not even bother

    There is great variety in how animals and plants deteriorate (or don’t) over time.

  5. Animals

    How snails breathe through snorkels on land

    Shells with a tube counterintuitively sealed at the end have hidden ways to let Asian snails snorkel while sealed in their shells.

  6. Animals

    How snails breathe through snorkels on land

    Shells with a tube counterintuitively sealed at the end have hidden ways to let Asian snails snorkel while sealed in their shells.

  7. Life

    Hightailing it out of the water, mudskipper style

    A robot and a land-walking fish show how a tail might have made a huge difference for early vertebrates conquering the slippery slopes of terrestrial life.

  8. Life

    Letting parasites fight could help battle drug resistance, too

    Helping one strain of malaria trounce another in lab mice demonstrates a way of avoiding the evolution of drug resistance.

  9. Life

    Cities create accidental experiments in plant, animal evolution

    To look for evolution in human-scale time, pick a city and watch a lizard. Or some clover.

  10. Health & Medicine

    In malaria battle, indoor bug spraying has unintended consequence

    Years of spraying indoors may inadvertently have push malaria-spreading mosquitoes to venture outdoors for a bite.

  11. Animals

    ‘Kermit Sutra’ gets seventh amphibian mating position

    Bombay night frogs’ unusual mating protocol features indirect sperm transfer and female croaks.

  12. Ecosystems

    Ocean plankton held hostage by pirate viruses

    The most abundant photosynthesizers on Earth stop storing carbon when they catch a virus.