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.
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All Stories by Susan Milius
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Animals
Collision Course
The tales of two ornithologists trying to prevent birds colliding with windows highlight the obstacles facing applied biology.
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Animals
New fungus species found killing salamanders
First there was amphibian killer fungus Bd. Now there's Bs.
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Animals
Traveling with elders helps whooping cranes fly straight
Rare data show birds get more efficient the more they migrate along route between Wisconsin and Florida.
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Microbes
Let the bedbugs bite
Harold Harlan has been feeding bedbugs, intentionally, on his own blood since 1973. He keeps pint or quart jars in his home containing at least 4,000 bugs.
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Animals
Birds know road speed limits
Crows, house sparrows and other species judge when to flee the asphalt by average traffic rates rather than an oncoming car's speed.
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Plants
Dastardly daisies
This flower isn’t just any old sex cheat. It can be sexually deceptive three ways and in 3-D.
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Animals
Antarctic waters may shelter wrecks from shipworms
Ocean currents and polar front form 'moat' that keeps destructive mollusks at bay.
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Animals
Noise may disrupt a bat’s dinner
Mechanical cacophony can drown out the whispers of moving insect prey.
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Animals
Climate change may bring dramatic behavior shifts
Shifting temperatures and rainfall are expected to alter animal lifestyles from the poles to the tropics.
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Animals
Eye-tracking cameras show peahens’ wandering gaze
Data show that female birds are not so riveted by their suitors’ magnificence
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Life
Microbes can draw the line between species
Wasps' gut inhabitants can kill or save crossbreeds.
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Animals
Fattened livers prep white sharks for extreme migrations
The organ's reserves enable a long journey from waters off California to Hawaii and back, tracking data suggest.