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. Seabird makes citrusy bug repellant

    Auklet feathers carry a cocktail of citrus-smelling chemicals, including compounds that squashbugs secrete to repel predators.

  2. Geneticists define new elephant species

    A new study of the genetics of African elephants shows that forest dwellers differ so much from those roaming the savannas that the two may be separate species.

  3. Animals

    It’s a snake! No, a fish. An octopus?

    An as-yet-unnamed species of octopus seems to be protecting itself by impersonating venomous animals from sea snakes to flatfish.

  4. Animals

    Big woodpeckers trash others’ homes

    Pileated woodpeckers destroy in an afternoon the nesting cavities that take endangered red-cockaded woodpeckers 6 years to excavate.

  5. Animals

    When rare species eat endangered ones

    To cut down on their salmon smolt catch, Caspian terns were encouraged to move from one island to another in the Columbia River.

  6. Animals

    Oops. New feathers turn out lousy

    Going to the trouble of molting doesn't really get rid of a bird's lice after all.

  7. Animals

    Stinking decorations protect nests

    The common waxbill's habit of adorning its nests with fur plucked from carnivore scat turns out to discourage attacks from predators.

  8. Ecosystems

    Streamers could save birds from hooks

    A test on active longline fishing boats finds that an inexpensive array of streamers can reduce accidental deaths of seabirds by more than 90 percent.

  9. Animals

    Smart tags show unexpected tuna trips

    The first report on Atlantic bluefin tuna wearing electronic tags reveals much more dashing across the ocean than expected.

  10. Animals

    Bat bites bird. . .in migration attacks

    The largest bat in Europe may hunt down migrating birds.

  11. The trouble with small male spiders

    A test of an old view of sexual cannibalism—that it's a way of rejecting suitors—finds that small males lose out, but not from attacks by females.

  12. Funnel-web males send knockouts in air

    Male funnel-web spiders seem to waft some kind of gas toward females that renders the females limp, enabling the males to mate without being eaten.