extinction

It’s bad enough that Earth could be losing thousands of species each year. Now, two independent studies of birds have concluded the ones most likely to disappear are those that serve unique—and possibly irreplaceable—functions in their ecosystems. Consider the toucan: Its iconic beak lets it eat and disperse seeds and fruit too large for other birds in South American rainforests. Yet these striking creatures, as well as vultures, ibises, and others with distinctive physical…

No Tory would admit it, but in terms of projecting Britain on to the global stage Extinction Rebellion, or XR, has been one of the country’s most successful exports during the Brexit years. It was founded by organic farmer Roger Hallam, environmental campaigner Gail Bradbrook and a core of others in 2018, and among their first major actions was the blockading of four central London sites in April 2019 – a 10-day coup engrossingly chronicled in this documentary by Leigh Bloomfield, which should rightfully double up as a…

Some 65 million years ago, a 10-km-wide asteroid crashed into Earth near what is today Mexico. It triggered a mass extinction. Nearly 75 percent of life — including non-avian dinosaurs and large marine reptiles — was wiped out. But what happened to sharks? The marine predators survived. But, researchers say that their survival and evolution through multiple mass extinctions received little analytical attention. A new study has now attempted to shed some light on their evolution during the catastrophic event. The…

For decades, people across the world have wondered if there was a possibility to bring back the hundreds of species lost to extinction. Now, a group of scientists and entrepreneurs has come together to create a company that will work on technology to achieve this. Software entrepreneur Ben Lamm, who is known for his penchant for emerging technologies, has announced the launch of Colossal, a bioscience and genetics company. The organisation has been co-founded by Dr. George Church, a world-renowned geneticist and biotech…

Historically, Shelta Cave was one of the most diverse cave systems in the eastern United States. Long before Niemiller and other scientists came along, beetles, salamanders, shrimp, crayfish, and other animals lived out their days in the dark. Often blind and lacking pigmentation, many cave-dwelling species live longer than their surface-dwelling relatives, thanks to slower metabolisms—a common evolutionary adaptation to subterranean life. For example, the red swamp crayfish, the unfortunate star of many a Louisiana…

Graphical abstract. Credit: Journal of Asian Earth Sciences (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.jseaes.2021.105066 Researchers investigating rocks in India have found chemical evidence of a series of rapid fluctuations in climate during the greatest known mass extinction event, around 252 million years ago. Michael Brookfield at the University of Texas at Austin, U.S., with colleagues in Taiwan, report their findings and interpretations…

For millennia, many animals and plants have coped with occasional climate changes by moving into new areas. But humans’ relatively recent burning of fossil fuels is pushing global temperatures upward at an exceptionally rapid rate, placing many species on what a new book by science journalist Benjamin von Brackel notes has been called an “escalator to extinction”—and raising the question of whether migration can save them this time. It is estimated that land-dwelling animals are now moving toward the poles at a rate of an…

A yacare caiman (Caiman yacare).Reptiles, the majority of which are predators, are cold-blooded and scaly animals. Their ranks include some of the most deadly and venomous creatures on Earth, including the saltwater crocodile and spitting cobra.Many of these fascinating creatures are feared by humans and live in difficult-to-access areas such as swamps. Compared with birds, amphibians, and mammals, very little data is available on the distribution, population size, and extinction risk of reptiles. As a result, wildlife…

Artist’s illustration of the Chicxulub asteroid entering Earth’s atmosphere 66 million years ago, triggering events that caused a mass extermination.When the asteroid now known as the Chicxulub impactor fell from outer space and slammed into the Earth 66 million years ago, cockroaches were there. The violent impact caused a massive earthquake, and scientists think it also triggered volcanic eruptions thousands of miles from the impact site. Three-quarters of all plants and animals on Earth died, including all dinosaurs,…

Over tens of millions of years, the wingless midge Belgica antarctica has perfected the art of freezing itself to push through the darkest and coldest of Antarctica's winter months, carving out an exclusive niche as the continent's only native insect.   As climate change nudges polar temperatures ever higher, this hard-earned set of survival skills could ironically be detrimental to its very existence, potentially driving it to the brink of extinction.Laboratory experiments conducted by a team of researchers from the US,…