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 ...

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 ...

Exploding stars in near-solar space may have triggered at least two mass extinction events in Earth's history. An analysis of ...

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 ...

Sharks might be the all time bullet-dodging champions. They’ve been around for about 450 million years, longer than trees, longer than the rings of Saturn, and longer than most of the other life on ...

Humans have wiped out hundreds of species — with many more on the brink or experiencing large declines in population. Some scientists have argued that we have entered a “sixth mass extinction” event ...

Last week, a group of Stanford researchers published a paper with a very simple, very terrifying message. The number of species that have gone extinct over the past few centuries is high—as in, up to ...

Introduction -- Beginnings -- The end-Ordovician mass extinction -- The late Devonian mass extinction -- The end-Permian mass extinction -- The end-Triassic mass extinction -- The end-Cretaceous mass ...

Mass extinction : a general view / Ashraf M.T. Elewa -- Late Ordovician mass extinction / Ashraf M.T. Elewa -- The end Ordovician : an ice age in the middle of a greenhouse / Curtis R. Congreve -- ...