Susan Milius

Susan Milius

Life Sciences Writer

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. Sperm whales as a carbon sink

    New estimates suggest the mammals’ feeding habits help take in carbon.

  2. All kinds of tired

    Donkeys sleep about three out of each 24 hours. Certain reef fish spend the night moving their fins as if swimming in their sleep. Some biologists argue that all animals sleep in some form or another. But identifying sleep can get complicated. Insects have brain architecture so different from humans’, for example, that electrophysiological recordings […]

  3. Health & Medicine

    Pigs use mirrors

    After some time to play around with a mirror, pigs figure out what to do when they glimpse a reflection of food.

  4. Animals

    Ants in the pants drive away birds

    Yellow crazy ants can get so annoying that birds don’t eat their normal fruits, a new study finds.

  5. Agriculture

    Potato famine pathogen packs unusual, sneaky genome

    DNA of infamous Phytophthora microbe reveals big, quick-changing zones, possibly the key to the pathogen’s vexing adaptability

  6. Ecosystems

    Google works on a different web

    Page ranking system inspires algorithm for predicting food webs’ vulnerability.

  7. Earth

    Oh, rats — there go the snails

    A food fad among introduced rats has apparently crashed a once-thriving population of Hawaii’s famed endemic tree snails.

  8. Animals

    Oops, missed that fossil iridescence

    Nanostructures on a preserved feather offer the first fossil evidence of bird colors not from pigments, a new study says.

  9. Animals

    Fruity whiff may inspire new mosquito repellents

    Odors from ripening bananas can jam fruit flies’ and mosquitoes’ power to detect carbon dioxide, a new study finds.

  10. Animals

    Back off, extinct moa

    A New Zealand tree’s peculiar leaves may have served as defenses against long-gone giant birds.

  11. Animals

    Vocal abilities lost, found and drowned out

    Reports from the meeting of the American Ornithologists' Union

  12. Earth

    Rapid evolution may be reshaping forest birds’ wings

    Logging during the last century might have driven birds in mature boreal forests toward pointier wings while reforestation in New England led to rounder wings.