Dinosaurs would likely still roam Earth if the Chicxulub asteroid had hit elsewhere

The resulting climate change, not the asteroid impact itself, killed most dinosaurs

Although the Chicxulub impact caused widespread destruction through earthquakes and tsunamis, the subsequent nuclear winter, acid rain, and eventual greenhouse warming drove mass extinction. Roughly 70% of species, including all non-avian dinosaurs, went extinct.

A modern-day version of the dinosaur-killing asteroid would kill billions of people

Such an asteroid would level Central America, trigger tsunamis, spark global fires, and plunge the planet into an artificial winter lasting over a decade. Bunkers would be insufficient for survival without years of provisions.

Variations in beak shape helped birds survive the dinosaur extinction event

The asteroid that struck Earth 66 million years ago killed some avian dinosaurs. The smaller species endured by reproducing more quickly and adapting to the environment. Their different beaks allowed them to eat more varied foods for survival.

Studies show the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs was from the outer asteroid belt

Isotopic evidence confirms the rock was a carbon-rich asteroid, likely born beyond Jupiter and later knocked into Earth's path after billions of years of orbital drift and gravitational nudges. Its path spanned over 4 billion years and ended in the extinction of 75% of life, including all nonavian dinosaurs.

Jupiter may have affected the trajectory of the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs

Despite its reputation as Earth’s cosmic shield, Jupiter’s gravity pulls more asteroids into Earth-crossing orbits. Simulations show that Earth experiences over three times more asteroid impacts because of Jupiter’s influence than if Jupiter didn’t exist.

Research suggests a 95-kilometer-wide (59-mile-wide) asteroid impact could boil the Earth's oceans

Even a 1-kilometer-wide (0.62-mile-wide) asteroid can trigger earthquakes and tsunamis on impact with oceans. The overwhelming majority of asteroids that reach Earth are much smaller and burn up in the atmosphere before reaching the ground.

Dinosaurs emerged 245 million years ago when Earth’s continents were still conjoined

Once the supercontinent split apart, dinosaurs evolved into thousands of species as they adapted to their changing environments. All non-avian dinosaurs went extinct about 66 million years ago following an asteroid impact, while avian dinosaurs evolved into today’s birds.

What would happen if a massive asteroid struck Earth?

While NASA states that no known asteroid currently threatens Earth, past impacts demonstrate that the risk is real. The agency has tested deflection technology to alter an asteroid's path, as this visualization imagines a worst-case collision scenario.

There are lots of weird ideas about dinosaur extinction, like hungry, hungry caterpillars

One of the great historical puzzles is this: why did the dinosaurs go extinct? Whether an asteroid, poison plants, volcanos and climate change, or something else, it's still a mystery. Scientists have been debating this question for almost a hundred years. One insect scholar suggests that caterpillars are the culprits.

What did Earth look like when dinosaurs roamed?

The face of the Earth isn’t remotely the same as when the dinosaurs ruled the roost. The passing of millions of years, plate tectonics, and a spotty track record with asteroid collisions have changed the planet’s surface. Use this interactive globe to see what the Earth looked like millions of years ago.

Discovering how the dinosaurs went extinct may have helped avert nuclear war

This NPR Throughline episode explains how the 1980 discovery that an asteroid-driven dust cloud killed the dinosaurs inspired Cold War scientists’ fears of “nuclear winter”—a sunlight-blocking aftermath of nuclear war that may have discouraged leaders from launching one.

Dinosaurs ranged from the size of chickens to multistory buildings

The largest known dinosaur, Argentinosaurus, was about 39 meters long and outweighed a Boeing 737. Species like Parvicursor and Epidexipteryx were less than 45 centimeters long, though the actual smallest dinosaur is likely lost to history.

Mammals thrived under the feet of dinosaurs

An explosion of fossil finds reveals that ancient mammals evolved a wide variety of adaptations allowing them to exploit the skies, rivers and underground lairs.

Dinosaurs thrived in the Arctic year round

The Arctic in the Cretaceous Period was a rough place to live, especially in winter. And yet, the fossils of many kinds of dinosaurs have been discovered there. So how were they able to survive in this harsh environment?

Dinosaur portrayals in film mistakenly limit them to only living in tropical climates

The ancient creatures have been brought to life in cinema by combining animatronics and CGI. However, creative liberties have created misconceptions about dinosaurs for audiences, including that the Tyrannosaurus rex could not see stationary prey.

Only 40% of city-destroying asteroids have been detected

Statistical modeling shows that while we have identified the majority of extinction-level asteroids, smaller asteroids that can cause significant damage remain elusive. Some asteroids, like the one that exploded over Chelyabinsk in 2013, can't be detected ahead of time since they come from the sun's direction.

Ballistic experiments show that tardigrades are unlikely to be an alien species

Those fired from guns at speeds as high as 825 meters per second (1,845 mph) could be resuscitated after impact. Shock pressure from greater speeds tore apart the samples, suggesting they could not survive asteroid impacts if brought to Earth from outer space.

Why Earth would become a more deadly environment without the ozone layer

The ozone layer blocks almost all of the sun's harmful, including dangerous UVC rays that can damage cells by breaking chemical bonds. Without it, rates of skin cancer, crop failures, oceanic die-offs, and widespread ecosystem collapse would increase significantly, making Earth largely uninhabitable.

Atlantis and the apocalypse: the world of fringe archaeology

A Netflix series called "Ancient Apocalypse" claims that a thriving civilization was wiped out during the ice age by comets and floods, but left humanity with science and technology. Experts call this “pseudo-archaeology.” This hour-long podcast...

The highly contaminated Chernobyl region suffers from reduced biodiversity

Although isolation and radiation have driven adaptations in some organisms, decades of radiation have caused ongoing harm to wildlife and vegetation, including population declines in birds and insects. Higher rates of deformities and tumors have also been seen compared with animals in surrounding regions.

Remnants of another planet that helped form the moon may be beneath Earth's surface

Large mantle structures beneath Africa and the Pacific Ocean may be the buried remains of Thea, a large Mars-sized planet that collided with Earth. The theory is supported by isotopic evidence from volcanic and lunar rocks.

What revisiting a 1979 experiment reveals about ecosystem recovery after deep-sea mining

A 2023 study co-led by the National Oceanography Centre and the Natural History Museum, London, found that tracks made by the mining vehicle remained largely unchanged since 1979. Small animals, such as amoeba-like xenophyophore, were seen in the cleared areas, but sightings of larger animals known to live in the region were much rarer. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

Researchers think most of its residents escaped with their lives—but how?

With only a few hundred bodies recovered, evidence suggests most Pompeiians fled. This TED-Ed animation follows the stories of three hypothetical residents—one who stayed inside, one who ran, and one who fled by sea—to illustrate how their survival ultimately depended on the choices they made.

Aliens may be closer to Earth than scientists have previously assumed

The hunt for extraterrestrial life is often associated with traveling far into the depths of space for clues. But answers could be closer than we think. Modern space missions have demonstrated our capability of sending probes beyond the solar system, making it plausible that other civilizations could do the same.

Biologists believe over 5,000 coyotes inhabit LA as of 2025

Panic and fear of coyotes spread in the 1980s after the first recorded instance of a human killed by the animal in American history, but LA and Chicago residents today are learning to live alongside the animal. Research shows that coyotes can even benefit urban ecosystems by helping to control populations of geese and deer, and by improving songbird survival through preying on cats.

Larger animals like giraffes, elephants, and blue whales have developed a unique defense against cancer, a phenomenon known as Peto's Paradox

Volcanic activity may have triggered the Black Death by spewing gases that led to crop failures in Europe, thus forcing the import of grain ships with plague-infested fleas.

After NASA's Voyager 1 captured Earth as a single pixel as it left the solar system in 1990, astronomer Carl Sagan used the image to reflect on humanity's fragility and the responsibility to protect 'the only world we've ever known.'

Artificial coral reefs have been 3D printed from nontoxic, biodegradable terracotta clay, which coral polyps have used as a foundation for rebuilding marine ecosystems.

Explore the animals that populate the depths of the ocean, from fish and coral in the first few hundred feet, all the way down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

Some Pokémon have been named after real and fictional organisms, while some real-world species have been named after Pokémon, such as Chilicola charizard and Binburrum zapdos.

See a 3D reconstruction of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital that was home to an estimated population of 200,000 to 400,000.

Shooting stars, or meteors, are fragments of asteroids and comets that burn up as they enter Earth's atmosphere, creating streaks in the sky called meteor showers.

In 1963, a basement renovation in Turkey revealed a passageway to a hidden, multilevel underground city that once housed as many as 20,000 people

Human-to-human transmission of hantavirus remains extremely rare, so the 2026 hantavirus cruise ship outbreak doesn't mean we're facing a COVID-style pandemic risk.

Chaos theory—informally known as the butterfly effect—is the reason why weather forecasts are presented with probabilities rather than certainties.

Scientists can determine Earth's past climate conditions by analyzing air trapped in microscopic bubbles within ice cores—columns of compressed snow layers that build up over hundreds of thousands of years.

When caught in the mouths of cardinal fish, seed shrimp release glowing, bioluminescent chemicals, which alert predators of the cardinal fish, prompting the shrimp's ejection.

An investigation suggests a Scottish island became awash in forever chemicals via seafoam and seaspray—raising questions about what that means for the safety of other coastal areas.

Scientists testing how climate change affects plants found, in a years-long simulation study, that poison ivy grew 70% faster with the resulting extra carbon dioxide.

Before humans, the Soviet Union and the United States sent animals—including apes, dogs, and cats—to space during the Space Race.

Discover the catastrophic consequences of a failure of the US electrical grid—something that is more likely than many Americans think.

The American cockroach is actually from Africa, an apparent hitchhiker aboard ships carrying enslaved people, with evidence suggesting the bug may have arrived in the New World as early as the 1600s.

In 1915, workers recovered a submarine-like vessel from the Chicago River, prompting fears of German espionage

The Dracula character, now seen as the vampire archetype, was inspired by a seafood-induced nightmare its creator experienced.

The distributor behind 'Rocky Horror' pulled the film from its scheduled national release, believing it would be a failure, though it eventually amassed a dedicated fanbase through midnight showings, a trend that continues over 50 years later.

In 2018, 26-year-old missionary John Allen Chau was killed by tribesmen after attempting to reach and evangelize on India's isolated North Sentinel Island

Studies suggest when you sleep is as important as how much you get, and syncing with your circadian rhythms may lead to less fatigue and improved long-term health outcomes

Doctors differentiate between a phobia and fear by asking patients whether their fear interferes with their day-to-day activities.

Exploring the Larry Bird punch that almost changed March Madness