Two periods of volcanism caused severe mass extinction, shows study
Scientists at the University of Southampton have discovered that two intense periods of volcanism triggered a period of global cooling and falling oxygen levels...
Loss of ancient grazers triggered a global rise in fires, shows Yale study
From 50,000 years to 6,000 years ago, many of the world’s largest animals, including such iconic grassland grazers as the woolly mammoth, giant bison,...
Scientists discover water bear fossil in a 16-million-year-old amber
Good luck finding an animal tougher than a tardigrade.
These tiny creatures are famous for their ability to survive in the most extreme conditions, including...
Scientists find new force behind past mass extinction event
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...
Scientists discover new bulbous nosed dinosaur
A new dinosaur with an unusually large nose has been identified by University of Portsmouth and Natural History Museum scientists.
The new species, named Brighstoneus...
Tiny pterosaurs dominated Cretaceous skies, shows study
The newly hatched juveniles of large and gigantic pterosaurs likely outcompeted other smaller adult pterosaur species to dominate the Late Cretaceous period around 100...
Scientists discover the oldest known modern crab in amber
Researchers have discovered the oldest known modern crab — trapped in amber since the time of the dinosaurs.
The 100-million-year-old fossil of the crab, Cretapsara...
Early dinosaurs may have lived in social herds as early as 193 million years...
To borrow a line from the movie “Jurassic Park:” Dinosaurs do move in herds.
And a new study shows that the prehistoric creatures lived in...
Mass extinction changes rules of body size evolution
Scientists at Stanford University have discovered a surprising pattern in how life reemerges from cataclysm.
Research published Oct. 6 in Proceedings of the Royal Society...
Scientists find a previously unknown mass extinction event
Sixty-three percent.
That’s the proportion of mammal species that vanished from Africa and the Arabian Peninsula around 30 million years ago, after Earth’s climate shifted...