Editor's Summary
12 July 2007
Before and after
Some 250 million years ago, at the Permian–Triassic boundary, over 90% of plant and animal species then alive were wiped out. Much attention, naturally, has focused on the event that caused the mass extinctions, and on the fascinating organisms that were lost. Yet it is the detailed comparison of the species that survived and those that didn't, that may provide the clues that finally reveal the nature of the extinction event.
News Feature: Mass extinctions: Reading the book of death
Studies of mass extinctions tend to emphasize the sheer scope of the carnage. But subtle differences between the species that died and those that survived can be crucial, finds Nick Lane.
doi:10.1038/448122a