Surprising new fossil evidence undermines the idea that there was ever a mass extinction on land – and may force us to ...

Putting an end to a mass extinction sounds like an impossible task, but some researchers argue that doing so would be setting our ambitions too low ...

While the causes of the “big five” mass extinctions varied, understanding what happened during these dramatic chapters in Earth’s history — and what emerged in the aftermath of these ...

Not everything dies in a mass extinction. Sea life recovered in different and surprising ways after the asteroid strike 66 ...

View Full Profile. Learn about our Editorial Policies. Most scientists agree that five events in Earth’s history qualify as “mass extinctions”—defined as events where more than three-quarters of ...

The first of the Big Five mass extinctions transpired about 445 million years ago, marking the boundary between the Ordovician and Silurian periods back when fish and land plants were still ...

known as "background extinction." The five peaks show the "Big Five" mass extinction events, when extinction rates sharply exceeded background rates. These occurred at the end of the Ordivician ...

(CNN) — No species lasts forever — extinction is part of the evolution of life. But at least five times, a biological catastrophe has engulfed the planet, killing off the vast majority of ...