Geological history of Earth

A Gorgosaurus (a Late Cretaceous theropod) skeleton at auction.Photo: ANGELA WEISS/AFP (Getty Images)Researchers say they’ve discovered a large impact crater on the Atlantic seafloor that appears to be 66 million years old. That means whatever made this crater hit Earth around the same time as the rock that famously slammed into the Yucatán Peninsula, ending the reign of the dinosaurs.The newly discovered geological feature—off the coast of Guinea and Guinea-Bissau in West Africa—is called the Nadir crater; it is well…

Megalonyx, an extinct ground sloth.Illustration: Steve Brusatte / The Rise and Reign of MammalsDeep time is a headache. So many changes have happened in the cosmos, on our planet, and through evolution to create the world we know today. One of the most recent major changes, relatively speaking, was the K-Pg extinction, the mass death of the dinosaurs and many other creatures in the immediate aftermath of an asteroid impact 66 million years.01:57Rainn Wilson’s First Fandoms: Star Trek And D&DYesterday 4:32PMThe…