#Extinction

The loss of Earth's animal and plant species is a crisis. Just don't call it an "extinction crisis" if you aim to mobilize public concern.

Species loss ought to be a topic of paramount importance. Satyajit Das uses a new book on biodiversity, Lost Animal, as a point of departure.

For decades, ecologists have theorized that the extinction of one important species could set off a chain reaction of losses throughout an ecosystem.…

A sweeping new study of wild snakes in the southeastern US has revealed a hidden health crisis slithering beneath the surface. Researchers found that many snakes are carrying multiple infections at once, with a dangerous fungal disease called…

The Chicxulub asteroid impact at the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) boundary (66 Ma) is thought to have caused the extinction of around 75% of species in the fossil record by triggering catastrophic environmental changes1.…

Cacti may look like slow, stubborn desert survivors, but they’re actually evolving at lightning speed. Scientists studying more than 750 cactus species discovered that what really drives the explosion of new cactus species isn’t flower size or specialized…

A forgotten fossil hidden inside a garden wall has turned out to be one of Australia’s most remarkable prehistoric discoveries. Scientists have now identified the 240-million-year-old amphibian, Arenaerpeton supinatus, revealing an almost perfectly…

Crabs’ famous sideways walk may trace back to a single evolutionary moment 200 million years ago. Researchers found that most modern crabs inherited this trait from one ancestor—and never looked back.…

Colossal isn’t ‘bringing back’ lost species. But it might be working on something ‘useful.’

Researchers at Skoltech have developed an ultra-compact electro-optic modulator based on silicon photonics and plasmonics that enables high-efficiency optical signal control within a small device footprint.…

Introduction With 100 Lost Species, we set out to create a digital story about extinction that people could actively explore. Developed by Immersive Garden in...

Researchers are increasingly sounding the alarm that artificial intelligence could end humanity. But such doomsday warnings carry their own risks. Researchers are increasingly sounding the alarm that artificial intelligence could end humanity.…

A handful of plankton fossils buried in a small chunk of rock show that the oceans were teeming with life before the Late Ordovician mass extinction, the second most severe on record

In the aftermath of Earth’s most catastrophic extinction event, one unlikely survivor rose to dominate a shattered world: Lystrosaurus. Now, a stunning fossil discovery—an ancient egg containing a curled-up embryo—has finally answered a decades-old…

A badly mangled dinosaur skull, once forgotten in a drawer, turned out to be a rare and important discovery. Reconstructed by a Virginia Tech student, it revealed a new species of early carnivorous dinosaur with unusual features never seen before.…

Some feathered dinosaurs may have briefly taken to the skies—only to give it up later. By studying rare fossils with preserved feathers, researchers uncovered a surprising clue hidden in molting patterns, revealing that Anchiornis likely couldn’t fly at…