Earth’s days once got more than two hours longer, thanks to the moon drifting thousands of miles farther away in its orbit over two periods, researchers have discovered. The extra hours of sunlight, in turn, may have led to oxygenation events that ushered in a period when life’s complexity exploded, the study researchers say. “Daylength … Read more
The space rock that wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago was a rare strike from an asteroid beyond Jupiter, a new study details. The finding pins down the nature of the fateful space rock and its origin within our solar system, and may benefit technology that forecasts asteroid strikes on our planet. Most … Read more
The asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs did not trigger a long-lasting impact winter, scientists have found — a discovery that raises new questions about what happened on Earth just after it hit. One spring day 66 million years ago, a 6-mile-wide (10 kilometers) asteroid smashed into the Yucatán Peninsula and upended life on Earth. … Read more
From the creepiest Cambrian critters to massive marine reptiles, wonderfully weird sea creatures have inhabited our oceans for over half a billion years. We’ve put together a list of 25 of the strangest ancient sea monsters ever to have lived, all of which went extinct long before humans came along. The only reason we know … Read more
Depleting oxygen and rising hydrogen sulfide levels in the oceans may have been responsible for one of Earth’s most significant mass extinctions more than 350 million years ago, a new study finds. The changes were likely driven by rising sea levels and have some spooky parallels to conditions seen today. Researchers studied samples of black … Read more
A lethal pulse of ultraviolet (UV) radiation may have played a role in Earth’s biggest mass extinction event, fossilized pollen grains reveal. Pollen that dates to the time of the Permian-Triassic mass extinction event, roughly 250 million years ago, produced “sunscreen” compounds that shielded against harmful UV-B radiation, the analysis found. At that time, approximately … Read more
Bizarre, mangled fossils in Ireland were likely deformed by superheated fluids that burst out from below Earth’s crust around 300 million years ago. The superhot fluids were released when the planet’s ancient continents collided together to form the supercontinent Pangaea, a new study shows. The fossils, which mainly consist of a group of amphibian-like tetrapods … Read more
Tyrannosaurus rex was a vicious hunter with the strongest bite of any animal ever to walk on land. The beast prowled the late Cretaceous wilderness more than 66 million years ago, looking for a Triceratops or Edmontosaurus to munch on. The only thing not menacing about the king of the tyrant lizards was its tiny … Read more
The massive asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs also triggered mega-earthquakes that lasted months. Around 66 million years ago, an asteroid approximately 6.2 miles (10 kilometers) across smashed into Earth near the Yucatan Peninsula, plunging the planet into darkness and causing a mass extinction that wiped out 80% of animal life — including all the … Read more
While most ancient reptiles crawled, scuttled and hopped through their prehistoric habitats, one stealthy creature opted for an airborne technique: gliding. Tiny, “dragonlike” Coelurosauravus elivensis (see-luh-roh-SAW’-rah-vus eh-lih-VEN’-sis) used a pair of patagials — thin membranes that extended from its torso to its front limbs, forming a winglike structure to travel from treetop to treetop, according … Read more
