Farther back in our planet’s history, volcanic eruptions, rapid climate change, and plummeting oxygen levels have caused at least four additional mass extinctions, with smaller pulses of biodiversity ...

Scientists have long treated mass extinctions as events locked deep in the fossil record. That framing now feels less distant ...

Humans have wiped out hundreds of species — with many more on the brink or experiencing large declines in population. Some scientists have argued that we have entered a “sixth mass extinction” event ...

Extinction is inevitable. Expected. Almost all (99%) species that have ever existed have died out. Those disappearances have largely occurred at consistent background rates. But in the context of mass ...

Humans have been shaping their environment since time immemorial. From cities to farms to highways, our impact has grown so large that we've pushed planetary boundaries, fueling concerns about climate ...