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. The Next Ocean

    Increasing carbon dioxide in the air is changing the pH of the ocean, which could mean very different communities of sea creatures.

  2. Humans

    Encyclopedia of Life starts online—at times

    The project to create an online Encyclopedia of Life with a Web page for every species has taken its first, baby steps. The free-access, scientifically vetted encyclopedia, headquartered at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., opened its first portal to preliminary Web pages (www.eol.org) Feb. 26. Some 11 million hits in the first few hours […]

  3. Animals

    Hidden Depths: Antarctic krill startle deep-ocean scientists

    The first camera lowered 3,000 meters to the seabed off the coast of Antarctica videoed what biologists identify as the supposedly upper-ocean species of Antarctic krill.

  4. New dating finds oldest coral yet

    A sample of a black coral from a depth of 400 meters turns to be 4,200 years old.

  5. Animals

    People bring both risk and reward to chimps

    Tolerating human researchers and ecotourists brought a group of chimpanzees a higher risk of catching human diseases but a lower chance of attacks from poachers.

  6. Earth

    Don’t like it hot

    King penguins don't live on continental Antarctica but even they are vulnerable to warming water.

  7. Animals

    Bird fads weaken sexual selection

    There's a new look for a hot male among lark buntings every year.

  8. Animals

    The naming of the elephant-shrew

    A new species of giant elephant-shrew, small bounding forest dwellers very distantly related to elephants, has been discovered in Tanzania. With video.

  9. Animals

    Very brown sheep have a dark side

    Big, dark sheep on a Scottish island are not breaking the rules of evolution after all.

  10. Biological Moon Shot

    The first entries—with the basics for a mere 30,000 species—in the Web-based Encyclopedia of Life are scheduled for release in a matter of weeks.

  11. Ecosystems

    Big Foot: Eco-footprints of rich dwarf poor nations’ debt

    The first global accounting finds rich and middle-income nations stomping heavy footprints on poorer ones.

  12. Animals

    Fenced-off trees drop their friends

    Protecting acacia trees from large, tree-munching animals sets off a chain of events that ends up ruining the trees' partnership with their bodyguard ants.