All Stories by Susan Milius
- Animals
Year in review: The post-pigeon century
Birds' troubles received an eerie emphasis in the news when biologists marked the 100th anniversary of the death of the last known passenger pigeon.
- Life
New tree of life confirms strange history of birds
A genetic analysis supports some odd groupings in the bird tree of life, showing a lot of convergent evolution in avian history.
- Life
Electric eels remote-control nervous systems of prey
Electric eels’ high-voltage zaps turn a prey fish against itself, making it freeze in place or betray a hiding place.
- Life
Springs bring gecko stickiness to human scale
Springs of a stretchy alloy let gecko-inspired adhesives work at human scales to climb glass walls or grab space junk.
- Life
Iguanas’ one-way airflow undermines usual view of lung evolution
Simple-looking structures create sophisticated one-way air flow in iguana lungs, undermining old scenarios of lung evolution.
- Animals
When sweet little bees go to war
Tiny Tetragonula bees don’t sting but have strong jaws. The bees fight by biting a combatant and not letting go.
- Life
Study finds lack of evidence for infanticide link to monogamy
A new study contradicts idea that the rise of infanticide among mammals drove the evolution of monogamy.
- Life
Epic worldwide effort explores all of insect history
A whopper of a genetic analysis fits all living orders of insects into one genealogical evolutionary tree.
- Animals
Bats jam each other in echolocation battles for food
By blaring a special call at just the right instant, Mexican free-tailed bats can ruin each other’s sonar-guided swoops toward prey.
- Life
Hummingbirds take stab at rivals with dagger-tipped bills
Sharp points on the bills of male long-billed hermit hummingbirds may have evolved as weaponry.
- Life
Close look at new fungus reveals origins, spread of salamander killer
A second chytrid fungus described last year targets salamanders and may be spreading in the animal export trade.
- Plants
How female ferns make younger neighbors male
Precocious female ferns release a partly formed sexual-identity hormone, and nearby laggards finish it and go masculine.
