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extinction

ASTRONOMY: Did a Supernova Trigger a Mass Extinction on Earth?

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supernova - pixabay

A global extinction event around 359 million years ago may have been triggered by the death blast of a distant star, a new study suggests. Toward the end of the Devonian period (416 million to 358 million years ago), there was a mass extinction known as the Hangenberg Event; it wiped out armored fish called placoderms and killed off approximately 70% of Earth’s invertebrate species. But scientists have long puzzled over what caused the die-off. Recently, preserved plant spores offered clues about this ancient extinction. Fossil spores spanning thousands of years at the boundary of the Devonian and the Carboniferous … Read more

What If Humans Went Extinct?

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climate change - pixabay

Deep within Guatemala’s rainforest sits one of the most famous remnants of the Maya civilization: a roughly 2,000-year-old citadel turned to ruins called Tikal. When Alan Weisman hiked through the surrounding region, he discovered something fascinating along the way: “You’re walking through this really dense rainforest, and you’re walking over hills,” said Weisman, author and journalist. “And the archaeologists are explaining to you that what you’re really walking over are pyramids and cities that haven’t been excavated.” In other words, we know about sites like Tikal because humans have gone to great efforts to dig up and restore their remains. … Read more

What Will Drive Us to Extinction First?

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apocalypse

The scene opens on a sparse, gray landscape, a gnarled tree in the foreground, bits of ash slowly drifting down from the sky. On the horizon, a few huddled figures stumble forward and into a bleak future. If this sounds familiar, it’s because it’s a common visual trope in many post-apocalyptic films. Usually, these films tell the story of a catastrophe — an asteroid strike perhaps, or a nuclear war — that causes humanity’s demise, and then follows the challenges that the remaining humans face as they try to save their species from extinction. Such films grip the public imagination. … Read more

SCIENCE: Climate Change Killed Off Most Life on Earth Before

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Ammonite

The end of the Permian period, around 252 million years ago, was a dire time for life on Earth. Scientists believe a series of violent volcanic eruptions occurred in what is today Siberia, pumping greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere, which warmed the planet. Then came the “Great Dying.” About 96 percent of creatures in the ocean and 70 percent of terrestrial species living on the supercontinent Pangaea went extinct in a matter of several thousand years (not a very long time in geological terms). The so-called Permian-Triassic mass extinction event was the worst in Earth’s … Read more

News: Are We Overdue for An Extinction Level Event?

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Earth

Humans are woefully unprepared for a surprise asteroid or comet, a Nasa scientist warned on Monday, at a presentation with nuclear scientists into how humans might deflect cosmic dangers hurtling toward Earth. “The biggest problem, basically, is there’s not a hell of a lot we can do about it at the moment,” said Dr Joseph Nuth, a researcher with Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Speaking at the annual meeting of American Geophysical Union, Nuth noted that large and potentially dangerous asteroids and comets are extremely rare, compared to the small objects that occasionally explode in Earth’s sky or strike its … Read more