All Stories by Susan Milius
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AnimalsSome young fruit flies’ eyeballs literally pop out of their heads
The first published photo shoot of developing Pelmatops flies shows how their eyes rise on gangly stalks in the first hour of adulthood.
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A sea slug’s head can crawl around and grow a whole new body
Some chopped-up flatworms can regrow whole bodies from bits and pieces. But a sea slug head can regrow fancier organs such as hearts.
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Tiny spider uses silk to lift prey 50 times its own weight
Dropping the right silk let’s a spider haul mice, lizards and other giants up off the ground.
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Plants‘Vampire’ parasite challenges the definition of a plant
Langsdorffia are stripped down to their essentials. Lacking green leaves for photosynthesis, they steal energy and nutrients from other plants.
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AnimalsWhat you need to know about ‘murder hornets’
Two new specimens of the world’s largest hornet have just turned up in the United States. Here’s what to make of them and other alien-hornet invaders.
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AnimalsBumblebees may bite leaves to spur plant blooming
In a pollen shortage, some bees nick holes in tomato leaves. This can speed up flowering and pollen production by weeks.
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AnimalsWhy elephants and armadillos might easily get drunk
Stories of drunken elephants may not be a myth. Differences in a gene for breaking down alcohol could explain how they get tipsy.
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AnimalsPandas use their heads as a kind of extra limb for climbing
Their short legs on a stout bear body mean pandas use a rare technique to climb up a tree.
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Climate5 things to know about the climate-saving benefits of tree planting
A recent analysis of the benefits of massive efforts to plant more trees triggered a firestorm of controversy.
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AnimalsHigh-speed camera reveals the secrets of a legless larva’s leap
Research reveals how a blob of an insect can leap more efficiently than it crawls. Its body acts like a spring.
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AnimalsYoung aphids sacrifice themselves to make home repairs
Young aphids swollen with fatty substances save their colony by self-sacrifice. They use that goo to patch breaches in the wall of their tree home.
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Health & MedicineGeneticists get closer to knowing how mosquitoes sniff out our sweat
Scientists have found that a protein in the antennae of some mosquitoes detects a chemical in human sweat.