Earth has a flair for dramatic resets, though it usually takes millions of years to deliver them. Over its long history, life has been knocked back by volcanic eruptions, climate swings, changing seas ...

Around 250 million years ago, one of Earth's largest known volcanic events set off The Great Dying: the planet's worst mass extinction event. The eruptions spewed large amounts of greenhouse gases ...

Scientists discovered hidden phosphorus spikes in ancient limestone that may help explain two of Earth’s worst marine mass ...

Extinction rates appear to have slowed since their peak in the early 1900s, suggesting not a reprieve for nature but a shift in how and where losses occur. Much of the damage was concentrated on ...

Earth responded to its most severe past warming event by evolving a new and bizarre type of photosynthesis that allowed a group of primitive plants to survive. Research led by the University of Leeds ...