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The science behind extinction
A collection of research and insights from Stanford experts who are deciphering the mysteries and mechanisms of extinction and survival in Earth’s deep past and painting an increasingly detailed picture of life now at the brink.
Counting penguins with autonomous drones
A new multi-drone imaging system was put to the test in Antarctica. The task? Documenting a colony of roughly 1 million Adélie penguins.
Evolution of symbiosis
DNA data from more than 3,300 species reveals how lichens stayed together, split up, swapped partners and changed form over 250 million years.
Evolutionary theory of economic decisions
When survival over generations is the end game, researchers say it makes sense to undervalue long shots that could be profitable and overestimate the likelihood of rare bad outcomes.
Predicting the unpredictable
Researchers combined avalanche physics with ecosystem data to create a computational method for predicting extreme ecological events. The method may also have applications in economics and politics.
Perseverance will seek signs of life on Mars
According to Stanford University Mars experts, NASA’s latest Martian rover will drive a wave of exciting discoveries when it lands on the Red Planet – and possibly alter scientists’ understanding of the blue one it launches from.
Summer reading: Illuminating our planet and paths toward sustainability
Faculty at Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences recommend these 24 books for your summer reading.
A steaming cauldron follows the dinosaurs’ demise
The Chicxulub impact crater that is linked to the extinction of the dinosaurs hosted a hydrothermal system that chemically and mineralogically modified more than 100,000 cubic kilometers of Earth’s crust, according to new research.
How cosmic rays may have shaped life
Physicists propose that the influence of cosmic rays on early life may explain nature’s preference for a uniform “handedness” among biology’s critical molecules.
Staying off the murder hornet list
Experts from the Stanford-based Natural Capital Project explain the value of wild bees in our agricultural systems, especially in light of the increased risk murder hornets pose to domesticated honey bees.
Hunting down clues to Earth's early molten days
Scientists are still trying to piece together how Earth transformed from a molten planet to one with living creatures walking around on its silicate mantle and crust. Hints lie in the strange ways materials behave under extreme temperatures and pressures.
High schoolers co-author paleobiology study with Stanford researchers
A cohort of the Stanford Earth Young Investigators program helped advance our understanding of the relationship between the body size and circulatory systems of marine animals over a vast time frame.
New ancient plant captures snapshot of evolution
Researchers have discovered an ancient plant species whose reproductive biology captures the evolution from one to two spore sizes – an essential transition to the success of the seed and flowering plants we depend on.
Promising signs for Perseverance rover in its quest for past Martian life
New research indicates river delta deposits within Mars’ Jezero crater – the destination of NASA’s Perseverance rover on the Red Planet – formed over time scales that promoted habitability and enhanced preservation of evidence.
'A bad time to be alive': Study links ocean deoxygenation to ancient die-off
Researchers present new evidence that the deoxygenation of the ocean wiped out biodiversity during one of the “Big Five” mass extinctions in Earth’s history – relevant information as climate change contributes to decreasing oxygen in the oceans today.
How social squid communicate in the dark
Researchers begin to reveal how social squid communicate in the near-blackness of the deep sea.
What other planets can teach us about Earth
Scientists exploring space are bringing back insights about Earth’s deep past, its complicated relationship with life and our planet’s future.
How did marine animals become so diverse?
Upending an evolutionary theory proposed in the 1950s, scientists have found that the groups most resistant to extinction also contain the greatest ecological diversity – their members perform a larger number of different functions in ecosystems.
Scientists find clues to how tiny fish ‘pauses’ its life
Stanford scientists have identified molecular drivers that put the “pause” in “diapause,” a life stage of the African killifish that suspends its development as an embryo.