Our planet’s first known mass extinction happened about 440 million years ago. Species diversity on Earth had been increasing over a period of roughly 30 million years, but that would come to a halt ...

An illustration of the Devonian period fish, Dunkleosteus, preying on eurypterids (sea scorpions), which in turn were feeding on the smaller trilobites. Depleting oxygen and rising hydrogen sulfide ...

Since the beginning of time, Earth has created life and then wiped out most of it in catastrophic, ultra-destructive moments. Starting with the very first extinction event since multicellular life ...

New research finds extinction rates have been declining for a century, challenging assumptions of an ongoing mass extinction.

At least two mass extinction events in Earth's history were likely caused by the "devastating" effects of nearby supernova ...

Long before the dinosaurs ever lived, the planet experienced a mass extinction so severe it killed 90 percent of life on Earth, and researchers at the University of Rochester think they’ve identified ...

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Throughout its 4.5 billion-year history, Earth has endured numerous mass extinctions, each of ...

Almost all life on land and in the ocean was wiped out during "The Great Dying," a mass extinction event at the end of the Permian Era about 250 million years ago. New evidence suggests that the Great ...

A large fossil study shows young shark and ray species vanish faster, while older species stay stable over time.

A mass extinction event is already underway. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. The present extinction rate of life on Earth doesn't ...

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 ...