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. Animals

    Collision Course

    The tales of two ornithologists trying to prevent birds colliding with windows highlight the obstacles facing applied biology.

  2. Animals

    New fungus species found killing salamanders

    First there was amphibian killer fungus Bd. Now there's Bs.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. Plants

    Dastardly daisies

    This flower isn’t just any old sex cheat. It can be sexually deceptive three ways and in 3-D.

  7. Animals

    Antarctic waters may shelter wrecks from shipworms

    Ocean currents and polar front form 'moat' that keeps destructive mollusks at bay.

  8. Animals

    Noise may disrupt a bat’s dinner

    Mechanical cacophony can drown out the whispers of moving insect prey.

  9. Animals

    Climate change may bring dramatic behavior shifts

    Shifting temperatures and rainfall are expected to alter animal lifestyles from the poles to the tropics.

  10. Animals

    Eye-tracking cameras show peahens’ wandering gaze

    Data show that female birds are not so riveted by their suitors’ magnificence

  11. Life

    Microbes can draw the line between species

    Wasps' gut inhabitants can kill or save crossbreeds.

  12. 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.