All Stories by Susan Milius
- Animals
Sloths, moths, algae may live in three-way benefit pact
Insects and green slime may justify the slow mammal’s risky descent from trees.
- Animals
Sperm on a stick for springtails
Many males of the tiny soil organisms sustain their species by leaving drops of sperm glistening here and there in the landscape in case a female chooses to pick one up.
- Animals
Swimming dolphins don’t need to cheat
Dolphins swimming through bubbles burst old notion of underpowered muscles.
- Life
V-flying birds pick efficient flapping pattern
Ibises time their flaps to catch a boost from a neighbor’s wing.
- Animals
Dog-paddle science debunks notion of underwater trot
From Newfoundlands to Yorkshire terriers, canines swim with similar, distinctive gait.
- Animals
Smoker’s breath saves caterpillars’ lives
Larvae of the tobacco hornworm caterpillar exhale nicotine, driving away predatory spiders.
- Microbes
Microscopic menagerie
The microbes dwelling in and on multicellular organisms should be viewed as evolutionarily inseparable from their hosts, some biologists argue.
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- Plants
Lone survivor of ancient flowers is gluttonous gene consumer
The rare Amborella shrub has engulfed whole genomes from other species.
- Animals
China trumps Near East for signs of most ancient farm cats
Earliest evidence found for grain as a force in feline domestication.
- Paleontology
Fleshy comb is first found on a dinosaur
A fossil head has both a duck bill and a soft-tissue crest, scientists suggest.
- Animals
Lizard breath has surprising birdlike flow
Decades of assumptions may be wrong about the evolution of reptile lungs.
