All Stories by Susan Milius
- Animals
This parasitic cuckoo bird shows cheaters don’t always get ahead
Birds called greater anis that can slip extra eggs into other nests create a natural test of the benefits of honest parenting.
- Climate
Climate change could increase foodborne illness by energizing flies
Warmer, more lively house flies could spread more Campylobacter bacteria by landing on more food.
- Plants
Shutdown aside, Joshua trees live an odd life
Growing only in the U.S. Southwest, wild Joshua trees evolved a rare, fussy pollination scheme.
- Animals
How black soldier fly larvae can demolish a pizza so fast
When gorging together, fly larvae create a living fountain that whooshes slowpokes up and away.
- Animals
Male birds’ sexy songs may not advertise their brains after all
A biologist backs off an idea he studied for years that the mastery of birdsong is a sign of bird smarts.
- Animals
This honeybee parasite may be more of a fat stealer than a bloodsucker
Inventing decoy bee larvae prompts a back-to-basics rethink of a mite ominously named Varroa destructor.
- Animals
How worm blobs behave like a liquid and a solid
Blobs of worms flow like a fluid, plop like a solid and fascinate scientists.
- Animals
Green darner dragonflies migrate a bit like monarch butterflies
Some dragonflies do a north-south annual migration that takes at least three generations.
- Animals
Invasive asexual midges may upset Antarctica’s delicate moss banks
Fast-multiplying insects with earthworm powers have invaded Antarctica, and scientists are worried about how their waste could affect the continent.
- Animals
Humans wiped out mosquitoes (in one small lab test)
An early lab test of exterminating a much-hated mosquito raises hopes, but is it really such a great idea?
- Animals
Counting the breaths of wild porpoises reveals their revved-up metabolism
A new method tracks harbor porpoises’ breathing to collect rare information on the energy needs of the marine mammals.
- Plants
Hybrid rice engineered with CRISPR can clone its seeds
New research has created self-cloning hybrid rice, raising hopes of higher food production.
