The explosive supernova deaths of nearby massive stars may have played a significant role in triggering at least two mass extinction events in Earth's history, according to new research. As some of ...

Earth has experienced five documented mass extinctions to date. With the sixth extinction around the corner, scientists are looking to the past to try and understand how life continues on after one of ...

A pair of Sacabambaspis fish, around 35 cm in length, which had distinct, forward-facing eyes and an armored head. No fossils of animals like Sacabambaspis from after the Late Ordovician Mass ...

About 66 million years ago – perhaps on a downright unlucky day in May – an asteroid smashed into our planet. Even groups that weathered the catastrophe, such as mammals, fishes and flowering plants, ...

Supernova destroying planet, illustration. A rocky planet lies in the wake of its star, which has just gone supernova. The explosion shatters the planet. A complete census of massive stars in our part ...

At least two mass extinction events in Earth's history were likely caused by the "devastating" effects of nearby supernova explosions, a new study suggests. Researchers at Keele University say these ...

Everyone knows that dinosaurs are extinct, and most people have some idea about how it might have occurred. But the exact periods in history when it happened are less well known. Was it a single ...

The Late Devonian represents a critical interval in Earth’s history, marked by a profound restructuring of marine biodiversity and a series of mass extinction events. This period witnessed extensive ...

But if there is one thing we’ve learned from the history of past mass extinctions, it is (with a nod to “Jurassic Park”): “Life finds a way.” The post The Rise and Fall of Dinosaurs, As Explained by ...

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 ...

The Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction, occurring approximately 66 million years ago, represents one of the most dramatic biotic crises in Earth’s history. It is marked by the abrupt disappearance ...