Since the 1980s, a strange X-ray emission has puzzled astronomers. At the heart of the Helix Nebula, a dying star may have destroyed a neighboring planet, revealing a rare and ...

For over a decade, a star system on the verge of unleashing a deadly gamma ray burst appeared to have its guns trained on ...

A new study reveals that Earth's biomes changed dramatically in the wake of mass volcanic eruptions 252 million years ago.

Learn about the climate changes that followed the end-Permian extinction, allowing select species to take over the planet's ...

Scientists have identified a refuge in China where it seems that plants weathered the planet's worst die-off. The end-Permian mass extinction, also known as the "Great Dying," took place 251.9 million ...

However, the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event was not the worst loss of life in our planet’s history. That distinction belongs to the Permian-Triassic extinction or the Great Dying.

A decades-old cosmic mystery may finally be solved. Scientists now suspect that the strange X-ray glow from a distant white ...

After tracking a puzzling X-ray signal from a dying star for decades, astronomers may have finally explained its source: The old star might have destroyed a nearby planet. Dating back to 1980 ...

MIT researchers estimate one planet, BD+05 4868Ab, is losing mass at a rate of 10 Earth masses per billion years. Since it’s roughly moon-sized, its total destruction is imminent—within a few ...