extinction
Does the Rise of AI Explain the Great Silence in the Universe?
Artificial Intelligence is making its presence felt in thousands of different ways. It helps scientists make sense of vast troves…
DART Showed We Can Move an Asteroid. Can We Do It More Efficiently?
Like many of you, I loved Deep Impact and Armageddon. Great films, loads of action and of course, an asteroid…
Did a Comet Wipe out the Dinosaurs?
About 66 million years ago a massive chunk of rock slammed into Earth in what is the modern-day Yucatan Peninsula.…
Scientists Think They Know What Caused the Deadliest Mass Extinction in the History of the Earth
Humanity can have a love/hate relationship with itself, but there's no denying that we're the pinnacle of evolution on Earth…
A Supernova Exploded Dangerously Close to Earth 2.5 Million Years Ago
In its 4.5 billion year history, Earth has had to run the gauntlet. Numerous catastrophes have imperilled the planet, from…
A New Mass Extinction has been Discovered, Wiping Out Life 233 Million Years Ago, and Leading to the Rise of the Dinosaurs
Most everybody knows that the dinosaurs perished rapidly in a tumultuous extinction, caused by an asteroid strike about 66 million…
Did Snowball Earth Happen Because of a Sudden Drop in Sunlight?
Hundreds of millions of years ago, Earth went through two episodes of severe glaciation. These two episodes—the Sturtian and the…
It Was Almost Certainly an Asteroid Impact that Wiped Out the Dinosaurs. In Fact, Volcanoes Might Have Helped Life Recover
It seems almost certain that an asteroid impact wiped out the dinosaurs. But only almost. Another competing theory won't completely…
During Mass Extinction Events, Volcanoes Were Releasing About the Same Amount of CO2 as We Are Today
200 million years ago, a mass extinction event wiped out about 76% of all species on Earth—both terrestrial and marine.…
The Evidence is Leaning More and More Towards an Asteroid Ending the Dinosaurs
Which camp are you in: volcanoes? Or asteroids? When it comes to the extinction of the dinosaurs, science has whittled…