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. Animals

    Underage Spiders: Males show unexpected interest in young mates

    Male Australian redback spiders mate readily with females too young to have external openings to their reproductive tracts, a tactic that reduces the male's risk of getting cannibalized.

  2. Animals

    Seabirds take record summer vacations

    Sooty shearwaters that breed in New Zealand have set a new record for off-season travel, covering 64,000 kilometers between visits to their mating ground.

  3. Ecosystems

    Fish as Farmers: Reef residents tend an algal crop

    A damselfish cultivates underwater gardens of an algal species that researchers haven't found growing on its own.

  4. Animals

    Crouching Scientist, Hidden Dragonfly

    Although dragonflies are among the most familiar of insects, science is just beginning to unravel their complex life stories.

  5. Animals

    Hot and hungry bees hit hot spots

    New lab experiments suggest that bumblebees like warm flowers and can learn color cues to pick them out.

  6. Animals

    Babbling Bats: Do pups talk baby talk as human infants do?

    Young sac-winged bats make long strings of adultlike noises and could be the first animals besides some primates and birds that babble when they're babies.

  7. 30 Hours with Team Slime Mold

    A bunch of biologists volunteer for a mad weekend of biodiversity surveying to see what's been overlooked right outside Washington, D.C.

  8. Bee Concerned: Big study—Selective pollinators are declining

    A new study provides evidence of a decline among some of Europe's insect pollinators and the wild plants that need them.

  9. Plants

    Orchid bends around to insert pollen

    An orchid species in China has set a new record for acrobatics in self-pollination, twisting its male organs around and inserting them into the cavity where the female organ lies.

  10. Animals

    Stilts for ants make case for pedometer

    Changing the leg length of desert ants upsets their ability to judge distance, providing the first evidence in any animal of a built-in odometer based on stride.

  11. Animals

    Live Prey for Dummies: Meerkats coach pups on hunting

    Meerkats easing their pups into the job of handling live prey are among the few animal species shown so far to be natural teachers. With audio.

  12. Animals

    Dawn Sneaks: Old birds sing early, cuckold sleepyheads

    Among European birds called blue tits, older males join the springtime dawn chorus extra early—which may signal their charms to philandering females.