All Stories by Susan Milius
- Life
Chicks do worse in noisy nests
Baby bluebirds, and their parents, appear to have trouble communicating over the racket made by nearby humans.
- Life
Invasive mite worsens honeybee viruses
Once-obscure deformed wing virus swept to prominence in honeybee colonies in Hawaiian islands as invasive pest arrived.
- Animals
How a mosquito survives a raindrop hit
Lightweight insects can ride a water droplet, as long as they separate from it before hitting the ground.
- Life
Blue-green algae release chemical suspected in some amphibian deformities
Retinoic acid levels high in waterways rich in cyanobacteria blooms.
- Life
How not to eat the wrong frog
Panamanian bats use an array of senses to keep from ingesting poison prey.
- Life
Delay of bloom blamed on climate change
Flowers that appear immune to global warming in spring may simply be taking a cue from the previous warmer autumn.
- Life
Climate change miscues may shrink species’ outer limits
Ecological partnerships are getting out of sync especially at high latitudes, a study of hummingbirds suggests.
- Animals
Better bird nesting also good for giant manta rays
Disrupting tree canopies on a Pacific atoll discourages big fish off shore through a long chain of ecological consequences.
- Life
Culture results when chimps get cracking
Adjacent groups in Africa follow different traditions when it comes to opening nuts.
- Life
Daytime anesthesia gives bees jet lag
Honeybees, as stand-ins for surgery patients, show drug’s aftereffects as biorhythms get out sync.
- Life
Pigeon navigation finding called off-course
Iron-containing cells that had been reported in beaks look mostly like immune system components, a new study finds.
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Mixed Results
Having the right blend of animal personalities can make or break a group
