Tiny microbes belching toxic gas helped cause—and prolong—the biggest mass extinction in Earth's history, a new study suggests.
Earth Sciences
Dec 20, 2021
3
763
Anyone who has studied biology, watched a nature documentary, or, for that matter, simply enjoyed time in the outdoors, has likely been amazed by the variety of plant and animal life on our planet.
Ecology
Aug 30, 2017
0
459
For years, scientists have debated whether humans or the climate have caused the population of large mammals to decline dramatically over the past several thousand years. A new study from Aarhus University confirms that climate ...
Ecology
Dec 14, 2023
4
661
Dinosaurs have quite the reputation for being the largest, fiercest predators in life's history. Yet, 40 million years before dinosaurs ruled, Pampaphoneus biccai dominated South America as the biggest and most bloodthirsty ...
Paleontology & Fossils
Sep 12, 2023
0
886
One wasp species has evolved the ability to recognize individual faces among their peers—something that most other insects cannot do—signaling an evolution in how they have learned to work together.
Plants & Animals
Jan 27, 2020
4
9453
The passenger pigeon. The Tasmanian tiger. The Baiji, or Yangtze river dolphin. These rank among the best-known recent victims of what many scientists have declared the sixth mass extinction, as human actions are wiping out ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 18, 2023
2
851
Compared with many animals, human eyes aren't particularly adept at distinguishing colors or seeing in dim light. But by one measure at least—something called visual acuity—human eyes can see fine details that most animals ...
Evolution
May 30, 2018
6
492
Human laughter is common, but it's a somewhat mysterious part of our evolution. It's clear to evolutionary scholars that we laugh as a part of play, signaling our cooperation or friendliness. But how did laughter evolve? ...
Plants & Animals
May 7, 2021
1
5918
Clues from Canadian rocks formed billions of year ago reveal a previously unknown loss of life even greater than that of the mass extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, when Earth lost nearly three-quarters of ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 29, 2019
5
1957
A Texas A&M-led research team has discovered that a population of endangered red-crowned parrots is thriving in urban areas of South Texas. The parrots are a unique case, considering that many animal species are affected ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 22, 2023
0
329
