Unchecked Global Emissions on Course To Trigger Mass Extinction of Marine Life
As greenhouse gas emissions continue to warm the world’s oceans, marine biodiversity could be on track to plunge within the next few centuries to levels…
Extinction Event
Mammals With Larger Brains Were More Likely To Survive Late Quaternary Extinction
Mammals with larger brains than similar-sized related species were more likely to have survived extinction during the Late Quaternary (between 115,000 to 500 years ago)…
The Impact of Extinction: Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Sent Extraordinary Amounts of Sulfur Into the Stratosphere
While the popular Netflix movie “Don’t Look Up” has raised public consciousness to the potential catastrophic effects of asteroid impact to planet Earth, new research…
Double Whammy: Two-Pronged Kill Mechanism in Triassic Era Extinction Event
Curtin-led research has revealed an increase in levels of both acid and hydrogen sulfide in the ocean was the double whammy that wiped out marine…
Deadliest Period in Earth’s History Was Also the Stinkiest – Toxic Microbe Burps Caused Mass Extinction
Tiny microbes belching toxic gas helped cause — and prolong — the biggest mass extinction in Earth’s history, a new study suggests. Generally, scientists believe…
Dinosaurs’ Last Spring: Groundbreaking Study Pinpoints Timing of Chicxulub Asteroid Impact
Groundbreaking study confirms time of year when an asteroid wiped out dinosaurs and 75 percent of life on Earth. A groundbreaking study led by researchers…
How Did Crocodiles Survive the Asteroid That Wiped Out the Dinosaurs?
There are two main reasons crocodiles survived the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs. First, crocodiles can live for a very long time without food. Second,…
Volcanic Fertilization of the Oceans Drove Severe Mass Extinction – Reshaping the Course of Evolution of Life on Earth
Scientists at the University of Southampton have discovered that two intense periods of volcanism triggered a period of global cooling and falling oxygen levels in…
Animals Died in “Toxic Soup” During Earth’s Worst Mass Extinction – A Warning for Today
‘The end-Permian is one of the best places to look for parallels with what’s happening now.’ The end-Permian mass extinction event of roughly 252 million…
Uncovering the Surprising Secrets Behind Earth’s First Major Mass Extinction
A team of researchers publish a new study exploring the cause of the Late Ordovician mass extinction. We all know that the dinosaurs died in…
Build Back Smaller? Extinction and Origination Patterns Change After Mass Extinctions
A sweeping analysis of marine fossils from most of the past half-billion years shows the usual rules of body size evolution change during mass extinctions…
The Climate-Driven Mass Extinction No One Had Seen – Until Now
Fossils from Duke collection uncover a previously unknown mass extinction event in Africa. Sixty-three percent. That’s the proportion of mammal species that vanished from Africa…
Researchers Discover Four Dinosaurs in Montana: Fieldwork Pieces Together Life at the End of “Dinosaur Era”
A team of paleontologists from the University of Washington and its Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture excavated four dinosaurs in northeastern Montana this…
Ancient Oxygen Spike Coincided With Massive Global Extinction
Two hundred fifty-two million years ago, much of life on planet Earth was dying. In an event that marked the end of the Permian period,…
Dark Primitive Asteroids: Zeroing In on Source of the Impactor That Wiped Out the Dinosaurs
The impactor believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs and other life forms on Earth some 66 million years ago likely came from the outer…
New Geochemical Testing Confirms Cause of End-Permian Mass Extinction Event That Wiped Out Most Life on Earth
Results demonstrate the power of nickel isotope analyses, which are relatively new, to solve long-standing problems in the geosciences. The most severe mass extinction event…
Massive Die-Off Discovered by Accident: A Shark Mystery Millions of Years in the Making
The biggest shark attack in history did not involve humans. A new study by Earth scientists from Yale and the College of the Atlantic has…
Earth’s Worst Mass Extinction Took Ten Times Longer on Land Than in the Water
Our planet’s worst mass extinction event happened 252 million years ago when massive volcanic eruptions caused catastrophic climate change. The vast majority of animal species…
