A groundbreaking study suggests that the famous Cambrian explosion—the dramatic burst of diverse animal life—might have actually started millions of years earlier than we thought. By analyzing ancient ...

Shell-rich rocks trace a mostly upward climb in ocean life, with each mass extinction slashing both diversity and biomass ...

Stanford study shows ocean biomass has risen over 540 million years, linking biodiversity to long-term ecosystem health.

Rather than a constant upward trajectory of evolution, it’s been billions of years of boom-and-bust cycles – first an explosion of life, and then a mass extinction of all but the most hardy hangers-on ...

Biomass reveals the real impact and energy flow of life in an ecosystem, like knowing not just the cast of a play, but who ...

A mass extinction event wiped out around 90% of life. What followed has long puzzled scientists: The planet became lethally ...

The collapse of tropical forests during Earth's most catastrophic extinction event was the primary cause of the prolonged ...

A new study of ancient fossil trails pushes the origins of complex life deeper into Earth’s history, before the Cambrian Period began.

When Siberian volcanoes kicked off the Great Dying, the real climate villain turned out to be the rainforests themselves: ...

Paleontologist and Geologist Dr. Ken Lacovara joins WIRED to answer the internet's burning questions about fossils. Can we ...

An ancient climate tipping point is revealed in new fossils dating back to Earth’s most severe extinction event, called the ...