About 445 million years ago, Earth nearly wiped out life in the oceans. Glaciers spread across the supercontinent Gondwana, ...

Some 445 million years ago, life on Earth was forever changed. During the geological blink of an eye, glaciers formed over ...

During these waves of mass extinction, most vertebrate survivors were confined to refugia, or isolated biodiversity hotspots ...

Scientists have uncovered a treasure trove of fossils buried under Arctic mud for about 250 million years. These remains, ...

Discover how the first mass extinction put jawed fishes on the map, species that would later come to dominate animal life on ...

Now, evidence suggests that some of these spiral-shaped species did manage to persist after all. Recent analysis of ammonite ...

About 66 million years ago – perhaps on a downright unlucky day in May – an asteroid smashed into our planet. Even groups that weathered the catastrophe, such as mammals, fishes and flowering plants, ...

A spectacular fossil trove on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen shows that marine life made a stunning comeback after Earth’s ...

Tropical riparian ecosystems—those found along rivers and wetlands—recovered much faster than expected following the end-Permian mass extinction around 252 million years ago, according to new research ...

More than 250 million years ago, life on Earth faced its most devastating crisis — a global event so severe that it wiped out nearly three-quarters of life on land and an even larger share in the ...

Some animals have been around since the time of the dinosaurs—and they’re still thriving today! Known as “living fossils,” these creatures have barely changed over millions of years and continue to ...

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) Stewart Edie, Smithsonian Institution (THE CONVERSATION) About 66 million years ago – ...