'Mass Extinction' vivifies the science of die-offs

摘要

Anyone with a passing interest in dinosaurs knows that the beasts were killed off some 65 million years ago after a colossal asteroid struck Earth. But what many people probably don't know is how paleontologists came to that conclusion. Mass Extinction: Life at the Brink tells that story. The hour-long documentary, airing on the Smithsonian Channel, explores the causes of two of Earth's five mass extinctions: the dinosaurs' demise and the "Great Dying." That long-ago extinction, roughly 252 million years ago, saw as many as 97 percent of species on Earth disappear. By focusing on how researchers have pieced together these ancient whodunits, Mass Extinction offers great insight into how science works.