Earth has a flair for dramatic resets, though it usually takes millions of years to deliver them. Over its long history, life has been knocked back by volcanic eruptions, climate swings, changing seas ...

Just over half a billion years ago, Earth was rocked by a global mass extinction event, a dramatic interruption of the Cambrian explosion of life on Earth. What happened next, in the direct aftermath ...

A 113-million-year-old marine murder mystery may finally be solved. Using chemical clues locked inside microscopic fossils, ...

Mass extinctions are extremely catastrophic events on Earth. Throughout Earth's evolutionary history, numerous mass extinctions have occurred, with five major mass extinctions being particularly ...

A fire-bellied newt (Cynops ensicauda) photographed on Amami Island (Japan). A recent study suggested that the extinction of this and other genera was part of a mass extinction event that threatens ...

Humans have wiped out around 1,400 bird species – twice as many as previously thought – with major implications for the ongoing biodiversity crisis, a new study has found. Many of the world’s islands ...

Dinosaurs ruled the Earth for over 150 million years. Compared to the mere 4–6 million years that scientists believe humans and their earliest ancestors have been on the planet, it wouldn't be ...