All Stories by Susan Milius
- 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.
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- Animals
How the ghost shark lost its stomach
The lack of a digestive organ in fish and other animals is linked to genetics.
- Animals
Insect form of sexual frustration takes toll
Smelling female fruit flies but not mating with them can actually shorten males’ lives.
- Animals
Odd head of seahorse cloaks its sneak attacks
Head shape creates hydrodynamic fake-out for stealth hunting.
- Life
Fungal fight club
Combat between fungal individuals is a bit like war between heaps of spaghetti.
