A recently published study puts forth a new theory that volcanic eruptions combined with widespread ocean detoxification pushed Earth's biology to a tipping point in the Late Devonian era, triggering ...

New study reveals brief, globally coherent phosphorus spikes linked to ancient marine mass extinctions. The findings highlight how nutrient-cycle disruption can contribute to ocean oxygen loss and ...

Last year, hiking in Morocco’s eastern Atlas Mountains, I found an ammonite, a fossil of those spiral-shape cephalopods that to many symbolize paleontology itself. The fossilization process had turned ...

For decades, scientists have debated what wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. The usual suspects? A massive asteroid or powerful volcanic eruptions. But now, researchers from Dartmouth ...

Exploding stars in near-solar space may have triggered at least two mass extinction events in Earth's history. An analysis of the frequency of supernova explosions in the Milky Way, led by ...

Violent supernovas may have caused two of Earth’s largest mass extinctions that have never been completely explained, according to a theory put forward in new research.During the final stages of a ...

There have been five unquestionably great extinctions on earth: the end-Ordovician, the late-Devonian, the end-Permian, end-Triassic, and the end-Cretaceous extinctions. Some think we are now in a ...

Human beings have existed for 300,000 years and have managed to live in many unstable environments. We’ve survived ice ages, devastating pandemics and world wars. But how would we fare even further ...

Dunkleosteus ruled a restless Devonian ocean, where armor met innovation. Here’s how modern science is rewriting the story of ...

Earth has a long and dramatic history, and one recurring theme is extinction. Did you know that over the last 500 million years, our planet experienced five major mass extinction events? These events ...

Diverse and full of sea life, the Earth’s Devonian era — taking place more than 370 million years ago — saw the emergence of the first seed-bearing plants, which spread as large forests across the ...