All Stories by Susan Milius
- Life
Carnivores can lose sweet genes
A gene involved in taste detection has glitches in some, but not all, highly carnivorous mammals.
- Life
Sawfish don’t saw
Spiked snouts whack prey to the bottom, helping the predator better get its mouth around dinner.
- Life
After a breakup, coral embryos live on as clones
Even modest waves can break apart embryonic corals, but the bits that survive can grow into separate clones.
- Life
Sardine fishery may be in peril
Cool ocean cycle, population slide evoke collapse of Pacific resource in the late 1940s.
- Life
Old-fashioned fish regrow fins
Fish on an ancient line can regenerate lost limbs with newt-like flair, suggesting that ability was shared among ancient ancestors.
- Humans
Food exports can drain arid regions
Many dry regions ‘export’ large amounts of water in the form of agricultural products.
- Animals
Classic sooty-moth tale bolstered by new results
A scientist’s six-year backyard experiment strengthens the scenario for evolutionary changes due to industrial pollution.
- Life
Plants swap chloroplasts via grafts
The energy-converting cellular organs can pass through connections, carrying genetic material with them.
- Life
Archaeopteryx wore black
Microscopic structures in an iconic fossil feather suggest that it was the color of a crow.
- Life
Boxwood blight invades North America
The devastating fungus has already stripped shrubbery down to sticks in Europe and New Zealand.
- Life
Green gleam helps fish see violet
A deep-sea fish's eyes apparently use fluorescence to pick up hard-to-detect hues, researchers conclude.
- Life
Rhino beetle’s horn may be cheap
Outrageous-looking head spikes on the male of the species may not cost much in evolutionary terms.
