(PhysOrg.com) -- Mass extinctions occur repeatedly, though irregularly, throughout Earth’s history, and occasionally these extinctions have been devastating to life on our planet - or have they? Extinction events have sometimes ...
Three hundred miles off the southeastern coast of Africa, Madagascar is a land of mystery. There is such a rich diversity of vertebrates found only on the island that is so unlike anything seen elsewhere in the world that ...
A previously overlooked factor—the position of continents—helps fill Earth's oceans with life-supporting oxygen. Continental movement could ultimately have the opposite effect, killing most deep ocean creatures.
Earth Sciences
Aug 17, 2022
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A team of scientists has identified an additional force that likely contributed to a mass extinction event 250 million years ago. Its analysis of minerals in southern China indicate that volcano eruptions produced a "volcanic ...
Earth Sciences
Nov 17, 2021
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Two hundred fifty-two million years ago, much of life on planet Earth was dying.
Earth Sciences
Aug 2, 2021
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Earth has experienced five major mass extinction events over the past 500 million years. Massive volcanic eruptions have been identified as the major driver of the environmental changes that precipitated at least three of ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 29, 2021
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It's not often a new mass extinction is identified; after all, such events were so devastating they really stand out in the fossil record. In a new paper, published today in Science Advances, an international team has identified ...
Earth Sciences
Sep 16, 2020
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Imagine reading by the light of an exploded star, brighter than a full moon—it might be fun to think about, but this scene is the prelude to a disaster when the radiation devastates life as we know it. Killer cosmic rays ...
Astronomy
Aug 18, 2020
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Researchers at the University of Southampton have shown that an extinction event 360 million years ago, that killed much of the Earth's plant and freshwater aquatic life, was caused by a brief breakdown of the ozone layer ...
Earth Sciences
May 27, 2020
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Volcanic activity did not play a direct role in the mass extinction event that killed the dinosaurs, according to an international, Yale-led team of researchers. It was all about the asteroid.
Earth Sciences
Jan 16, 2020
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