All Stories by Susan Milius
-
AnimalsWhat’s for dinner? Mom.
Female spiders of one species make the ultimate sacrifice when raising their young: The mothers feed themselves to their children.
-
AnimalsNews Brief: Rabbit-hunting pythons are altering Everglades
Rabbits may breed rapidly, but not fast enough to compensate for the huge summer appetites of huge pythons roaming Florida’s Everglades.
-
PhysicsEyelashes: The ‘sweet’ length
New mathematical and aerodynamics studies find what seems to be the optimal length for eyelashes — the length that protects best. And surprise: Longer is not always better.
-
AnimalsBat signals jammed
Mexican free-tailed bats can jam each other’s signals while hunting at night. The interference makes snagging an insect supper even more competitive for the flying mammals.
-
AnimalsNews Brief: No hopping for these ancient ‘roos
By hopping, today’s kangaroos can scoot swiftly through the countryside. That was not true for some of their ancient cousins. True giants, those now-extinct kangaroos would have walked on two feet — and relied on their tippy-toes.
-
AnimalsA fish out of water — walks and morphs
When this modern ‘walking’ fish was raised on land, its body changed. How it adapted resembles some prehistoric fish. These alterations hint at evolutionary changes that may have made life on land possible.
-
AnimalsTrees: Koala air conditioning
When koalas sprawl over a tree branch, they may not be lazy. They just might be taking advantage of some natural cooling — enough to survive a heat wave.
-
AnimalsPythons seem to have an internal compass
The giant, Burmese pythons living in Florida’s Everglades like their adopted home. And new research shows they can find their way back to it if people try to move them somewhere else. Not all snakes will do this.
-
AnimalsLook ma — no stomach
Many animals can digest their meals without an acid-producing stomach. And research now shows they jettisoned those stomachs a long, long time ago.
-
AnimalsVampires’ gift of ‘blood honey’
A Maryland biologist probes the unusual dining behaviors of a blood-thirsty bat.