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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Trouble with truffles
A Chinese truffle species has invaded Italy, raising fears that the newcomer could overgrow the Italian black truffle on its home territory.
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Animals
Twee Twee Tweetle
Bird brains have a separate pathway for the babbling nonsense of baby talk.
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Animals
Sexy side of UV-B
The first evidence of ultraviolet-B courtship in animals comes from jumping spiders.
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Life
Bat that roared
Although the human ear can't detect it, bats make astonishingly loud noises while hunting.
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Humans
Bear deadline
Court calls for the already overdue decision on listing polar bears as a threatened species.
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Ecosystems
Beetle attack overturns forest carbon regime
Ravaged Canadian region switches from carbon sink to net carbon source.
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Climate
Researchers rethink fate of celebrity plankton
A poster-species for the hazards of greenhouse gas accumulation thrives in carbon dioxide-rich waters.
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Animals
First Frog without Lungs
An aquatic frog in fast-flowing water in Borneo turns out to be the first frog species with no lungs.
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Animals
Robin stole credit for Batman’s deeds
Bats turn out to be overlooked but significant eaters of insects, pests and other arthropods on shade-grown coffee farms and in tropical forests.
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Out of Thin Air
Biologists dream of the day when they could engineer crops to make fertilizer out of the nitrogen in the air.
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Animals
Night Flights: Migrating moths may use a nighttime compass
Silver Y moths choose to fly when wind blows in the same direction that they migrate, and they may even compensate when the wind pushes them off-course.
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High CO2—a gourmet boon for crop pest
Relatively high concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide weaken soybean defenses against Japanese beetles.