The Fossils of the 21st Century
In 100 million years, human civilization will have bit the dust. Perhaps a nuclear war scorched the planet, or a…
Coal Did Something Extremely Weird to Earth's Climate 300 Million Years Ago
Coal, that ancient dead plant stuff responsible for electrifying the world and blackening the lungs of millions, is…
Terrifying Ocean Predator Changes Our View of the Worst Mass Extinction in History
252 million years ago, the Earth was in a really bad place. At the boundary of the Permian and Triassic periods, our…
Some Good News About the Worst Mass Extinction in Earth's History
If the fact that the Earth is careening toward a sixth mass extinction event makes you uncomfortable, good news: it…
Our Atmosphere Is Leaking Oxygen and Scientists Don't Know Why
It’s nothing to lose sleep over—really, I promise—but Earth’s atmosphere is leaking oxygen. Atmospheric oxygen levels…
The Sixth Mass Extinction Will Be Like Nothing In Earth's History
The sixth mass extinction—the one that seven billion humans are doing their darnedest to trigger at this very moment—is…
There Is A Lot Of Confusion About What Geologic Epoch We're In
For the record, planet Earth is still in the Holocene.
Maybe We Don't Have to Nuke Mars (So Much) After All
Terraforming Mars could be our only option once we screw this planet up beyond repair, but how exactly are we going to…
This Atmospheric Time Capsule Could Change Earth's History
Buried inside ancient grains of rock salt, a team of geologists has discovered traces of a breathable, animal-friendly…
Mysterious Moon Scars Could Rewrite Earth's History
Four billion years ago, an endless barrage of space rock pummeled the surface of the Earth and the Moon, in a period…
Astronomers Might Have Just Solved a Key Mystery About the Origin of Life
If a massive solar storm struck the Earth today, it could wipe out our technology and hurl us back to the dark ages.…
This Might Be the Weirdest Thing That's Ever Happened to Earth's Atmosphere
Life has been transforming Earth’s atmosphere since the first single-celled organisms evolved. But few instances of…
We Might Be Totally Wrong About Why the Dinosaurs Went Extinct
How the dinosaurs went extinct is a contentious topic of endless scientific debate. Were they killed by a giant…
The Future Happened 56 Million Years Ago
History has a way of repeating itself. Humans are currently conducting a grand experiment with Earth’s climate, but the…
How to Survive a Mass Extinction
If we want to know what sorts of creatures will survive the next mass extinction, the best place to look is the fossil…
Carbon Emissions Haven't Been This High Since Dinosaurs Went Extinct
Carbon hasn’t entered our atmosphere this quickly in at least 66 million years—since an asteroid slammed into our…
It Looks Like Climate Change Drove These Giant Marine Reptiles To Extinction
A hundred million years ago, ichthyosaurs—massive marine reptiles that look like a dolphin mated with a fish—ruled…
Scientists To Drill Into the Dinosaur-Killing Impact Crater in Mexico
Sixty-six million years ago, planet Earth had a shit day when a six-mile-wide asteroid smashed into the Yucatán…
New Evidence Is Challenging What We Know About the Deadliest Mass Extinction in History
The extinction at the end of the Permian period 252 million years ago was one of the darkest chapters in the history of…
What Killed the Dinosaurs Was More Devastating Than an Asteroid
For nearly 40 years, paleontologists have argued over what really killed the dinosaurs. Was it an massive asteroid…