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. Microbes

    Microscopic menagerie

    The microbes dwelling in and on multicellular organisms should be viewed as evolutionarily inseparable from their hosts, some biologists argue.

  2. Animals

    Year in Review: Odd cicada history emerges

    Brood II returns better understood.

  3. Plants

    Lone survivor of ancient flowers is gluttonous gene consumer

    The rare Amborella shrub has engulfed whole genomes from other species.

  4. Animals

    China trumps Near East for signs of most ancient farm cats

    Earliest evidence found for grain as a force in feline domestication.

  5. Paleontology

    Fleshy comb is first found on a dinosaur

    A fossil head has both a duck bill and a soft-tissue crest, scientists suggest.

  6. Animals

    Lizard breath has surprising birdlike flow

    Decades of assumptions may be wrong about the evolution of reptile lungs.

  7. Animals

    A corsage that bites

    The orchid mantis uses a flowery subterfuge to lure prey.

  8. Animals

    How the ghost shark lost its stomach

    The lack of a digestive organ in fish and other animals is linked to genetics.

  9. Animals

    Insect form of sexual frustration takes toll

    Smelling female fruit flies but not mating with them can actually shorten males’ lives.

  10. Animals

    Odd head of seahorse cloaks its sneak attacks

    Head shape creates hydrodynamic fake-out for stealth hunting.

  11. Life

    Fungal fight club

    Combat between fungal individuals is a bit like war between heaps of spaghetti.

  12. Plants

    Tannosome

    A newly discovered structure where mouth-puckering compounds called tannins form inside plant cells.