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. Social tuco-tucos develop more variety

    In mustachioed rodents called tuco-tucos, group life seems to have fostered more diverse immune systems than has solitary living.

  2. Looking for a mate? Oh, whatever

    Two cricket species don't seem to care whether they get mixed up at mating time, an oddity that may have something to do with the female's need to dine on leftover sperm.

  3. Puppy tests flunk long-term checkups

    A follow-up study of dog-personality tests suggests that they don't have the predictive power many puppy purchasers expect.

  4. Beaks change songs in Darwin’s finches

    A new look—and listen—at Darwin's finches finds that the famous relationship between beak size and food supply affects their courtship songs as well.

  5. Do people flirt like guppies?

    Researchers who have studied how female guppies copy other females' choice of mate are tackling the same question in Homo sapiens.

  6. Animals

    Slavemaker Ants: Misunderstood Farmers?

    A test of what once seemed too obvious to test—whether ant colonies suffer after being raided by slavemaker ants—suggests that some of the raiding insects have been getting unfair press.

  7. Banning deer boosts migratory birds

    In a 9-year test, excluding deer raised the population numbers among bird species, such as hooded warblers, that have a high conservation priority.

  8. Parasite deludes rats into liking cats

    A protozoan that infects rats dims their wariness around cats and can even lead to what Oxford researchers call a fatal attraction.

  9. Wasp redesigns web of doomed spider

    A wasp larva injects a spider with a web-altering drug, driving the spider to spin a shelter just right for a wasp cocoon.

  10. Plants

    Team corners culprit in sudden oak death

    After 5 years of mystery, California pathologists announced they may have identified the cause of a new tree disease called sudden oak death.

  11. Humans

    When Biologists Get Bombed

    Or shot at by soldiers. This isn't textbook conservation science.

  12. Animals

    Flowers, not flirting, make sexes differ

    Thanks to lucky circumstances, bird researchers find rare evidence that food, not sex appeal, makes some male and female hummingbirds look different.