Biological extinction is the irreversible process by which a species, subspecies, or other taxonomic unit ceases to exist, characterized by the disappearance of all viable individuals and the loss of reproductive capacity across its entire geographic range. It results from deterministic factors such as habitat loss, overexploitation, invasive species, and climate change, often interacting with stochastic processes including demographic, environmental, and genetic drift. Extinction operates as a key macroevolutionary filter shaping biodiversity patterns, turnover rates, and phylogenetic structure, and is quantified through extinction rates, selectivity analyses, and models of population viability and metapopulation dynamics across ecological and evolutionary timescales.
In just the last several months, de-extinction—bringing back extinct species by recreating them or organisms that resemble them—has moved closer from science fiction to science fact. Colossal Biosciences—an American for-profit ...
Biotechnology
Jul 7, 2025
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The collapse of tropical forests during Earth's most catastrophic extinction event was the primary cause of the prolonged global warming which followed, according to new research.
Earth Sciences
Jul 2, 2025
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Yale University ecologists reveal a lizard lineage that rode out the dinosaur-killing asteroid event with unexpected evolutionary survival traits. Night lizards (family Xantusiidae) survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K-Pg) ...
Climate change and habitat loss could cause more than 500 bird species to go extinct in the next 100 years, researchers from the University of Reading have found.
Plants & Animals
Jun 24, 2025
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Neanderthals have long been the subject of intense scientific debate. This is largely because we still lack clear answers to some of the big questions about their existence and supposed disappearance.
Planetary Sciences
Jun 19, 2025
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More than 4,000 tree species are found only in Mexico and Central America, or Mesoamerica. Research published in Plants, People, Planet reveals that nearly half of these tree species are threatened by extinction.
Plants & Animals
Jun 18, 2025
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Humans are having a highly detrimental impact on biodiversity worldwide. Not only is the number of species declining, but the composition of species communities is also changing. These are the findings of a study by Eawag ...
Environment
Mar 26, 2025
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A research team from the Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University, China, has developed a novel biocompatible nanoadhesive for corneal transplantation. The nanoadhesive is based on tetrahedral framework nucleic acids combined ...
Bio & Medicine
Feb 10, 2025
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