All Stories by Susan Milius
- Animals
Can leeches leap? New video may help answer that debate
For some, it’s the stuff of nightmares. But a grad student’s serendipitous cell phone video might resolve a long-running debate over leech acrobatics.
- Life
It’s a big year for cicadas. Here’s what to know about this year’s emergence
Periodical cicadas are an odd marvel of nature. This year, the biggest brood of all is coming out in the U.S. South while another emerges in the Midwest.
- Animals
Want to see butterflies in your backyard? Try doing less yardwork
Growing out patches of grass can lure adult butterflies and moths with nectar and offer lawn mower–free havens for toddler caterpillars.
- Plants
Plant ‘time bombs’ highlight how sneaky invasive species can be
Sycamore maples and some other plant invaders lurked for centuries before starting to choke out native ecosystems and species.
- Animals
Big monarch caterpillars don’t avoid toxic milkweed goo. They binge on it
Instead of nipping milkweed to drain the plants’ defensive sap, older monarch caterpillars may seek the toxic sap. Lab larvae guzzled it from a pipette.
- Life
These snails give live birth, and it’s the babies that may do the labor
Protecting eggs in mom’s body may have given rough periwinkle snails an advantage over egg-laying cousins, letting them spread to far more coastline.
- Animals
Ant face patterns like swirls and stubble might have practical value
Reviewing thousands of ant photos hints that facial surface patterns might offer benefits, like structural support or abrasion protection.
- Life
Faking death lets some female frogs slip the mating grip of a male
Suddenly looking dead, grunting like a guy or vigorously rotating can help female frogs survive mating balls in species with aggressively grabby males.
- Microbes
Watch: Recent microbial discoveries are changing our view of life on Earth
Videos capture the strange movements and predatory styles of protists — among the closest microbial cousins to multicellular life.
- Life
‘Polyester bees’ brew beer-scented baby food in plastic cribs
Ptiloglossa bees’ baby food gets its boozy fragrance from fermentation by mysteriously selected microbes.
- Life
Honeybees waggle to communicate. But to do it well, they need dance lessons
Young honeybees can’t perfect waggling on their own after all. Without older sisters to practice with, youngsters fail to nail distances.
- Life
Orca moms baby their adult sons. That favoritism pays off — eventually
By sharing fish with their adult sons, orca moms may skimp on nutrition, cutting their chances of more offspring but boosting the odds for grandwhales.
