Articles by

Susan Milius

How dandelions rig the odds for catching upward gusts

It’s surprisingly difficult — by puffing from any one direction — to send all of a dandelion’s...

These plants build ant condos that keep warring species apart 

Call them nature’s own luxury high-rise condo rentals. Squamellaria plants, from the same family as coffee and...

Why these zombie caterpillars can’t stop eating 

Here’s a new detail of how a real-life Cordyceps fungus zombifies still-living animals: Crashing their “blood sugar.”...

This bug’s all-in helicopter parenting reshaped its eggs

Parents will fret, even among bugs. And even among bugs, it’s complicated. Ferociously protective parenting has evolved...

This spider’s barf is worse than its bite

A single drawing from a 94-year-old scientific paper has revived interest in one of the more...

How luna moths grow extravagant wings

For the first time, biologists have linked the ribbony “tails” streaming from big, green luna moths’ hind...

Frog ribbits erupt via an extravagant variety of vocal sacs

Here’s a great case of real life turning out to be stranger than fiction. From baby’s first...

Bats wearing tiny mics reveal how the fliers avoid rush hour collisions

The first bat-wearable microphone is helping biologists study the bats’ good safety record at avoiding collisions in...