Massive volcanic eruptions on the Indian peninsula have long been proposed as an alternative cause for the demise of the dinosaurs. This phase of active volcanism took place in a period just before ...

Many of their descendants—modern birds—are currently threatened by extinction, with hundreds of species at risk due to human activity. This article explores the major extinction events that influenced ...

Ancient sea organisms survived until a sudden extinction 550 million years ago, revealing what may be the first major mass extinction.

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 ...

(CNN) — A cataclysm engulfed the planet some 252 million years ago, wiping out more than 90% of all life. Known as the Great Dying, the mass extinction that ended the Permian geological period was the ...

As monotremes, unusual traits like egg-laying may have helped secure the lineage during the extinction event that erased countless others. Platypuses survived by living small, and being rightly placed ...

Nearly one million years ago, humanity came perilously close to disappearing. A new study reveals that our ancestors may have been reduced to just 1,280 individuals, leaving the human race on the ...