Speciation and extinction are the twin engines that have sculpted the diversity of life on Earth. Speciation, the process by which new species arise from ancestral populations, is driven by a mixture ...

A massive ice age wiped out ocean life 445 million years ago, reshaping ecosystems and setting the stage for jawed fish ...

In a new study in Geology, researchers calculated how long it took for novel single-celled marine species to appear after the asteroid impact, and it’s surprisingly fast.

About 445 million years ago, Earth’s oceans turned into a danger zone. Glaciers spread across the supercontinent Gondwana, ...

One of Earth’s earliest mass extinctions wiped out most ocean life during a sudden global ice age. From the ruins, jawed vertebrates survived, diversified, and transformed the course of evolution.

Ancient sloths ranged in size from tiny climbers to ground-dwelling giants. Now, researchers report this body size diversity was largely shaped by sloths’ habitats, and that these animals’ precipitous ...

The extinction of the largest dinosaurs to walk the Earth may have played a critical role in creating an environment that helped fruits evolve, thereby indirectly shaping the evolution of our own ...

For decades, the asteroid that ended the reign of the dinosaurs has stood as a symbol of total planetary devastation. But ...

pt. 1. Beyond the mainland ; 1. Introduction ; 2. History of island studies ; 3. Factors that influence island faunas. Types of islands. Dispersals to islands. The ...

Introduction -- Big Questions -- What This Book Is About -- Scientific Acronyms -- Molecular Graphics -- Section I. The Old Testament of Gene Regulation. Evolution as a Cutout Doll Problem I -- ...