mass extinction

Supernovae are cataclysmic explosions that occur during the last evolutionary stages in the life of massive stars.

Latest study supports the idea that the asteroid impact 66 million years ago was the main driver of dinosaur extinction, not intense volcanic activity as some have suggested.

The largest of these prehistoric species was 10 times the length of anchovies living today.

Scientists say the environmental changes that took place in the end-Triassic extinction event could be similar to what is predicted for the near future.

The extinct animal may reveal how modern birds survived the asteroid that wiped out large dinosaurs.

"We are beginning to transition and go through the extinction," study author David Gruber said. "Who comes out the other side is up for grabs."

248 million-year-old fossils discovered in Russia almost 60 years ago re-examined by scientists.

Scientists from the Deep Carbon Observatory have provided results from a decade-long study into the world's carbon reservoirs.

Scientists believe that the Earth is currently going through its sixth mass extinction event.

A study has reconstructed the immediate aftermath of the asteroid 66 million years ago to learn more about the impact of the momentous event.

Huge changes to the oxygen levels on our planet caused the mega die-off, researchers found.

The Earth is in the grips of what scientists have dubbed the "Sixth Mass Extinction" with the global rate of species extinction at least "tens to hundreds of times higher" than the average over the past 10 million years.

Plant extinctions endanger other organisms, ecosystems and the ability of humans to survive on our planet.

Study suggests weakening of the field resulted in reduced protection from UV rays, leading to mammalian extinctions on Earth.

The research could help scientists understand natural disasters like landslides.

But if we act now, conservation efforts could save "billions of years of unique evolutionary history," scientists say.

The Great Dying mass extinction saw 90 percent of life disappear in just 30,000 years.

The eruption may have wiped out the ozone layer.

The finding fills in the gap between volcanic eruptions and marine extinctions that had been bugging scientists.

The latest subject revealing our Earth's past: bonsai-like pine trees.

Time is running out, these experts say.

U.S. scientists find fossil fragments from 13 trees locked away on the Transantarctic Mountains.

You have never had luck this terrible.

Brrrr, it's cold in here, there must be 350 billion tons of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere.

Michael Rampino believes dark matter may be responsible for catastrophic events on Earth.

Many scientists argue we are in the midst of a mass extinction caused by habitat destruction and climate change.

A newly discovered global extinction event resulted in 36 percent of marine megafauna going extinct.

A spike in mercury from the eruptions was recorded in sediments found across four continents.

The ancient hatchling will shed light on the evolution of the toothed birds that lived alongside the dinosaurs.

Newly discovered crater in the Falklands may correspond with the Great Dying event 250 million years ago.