Scientists have cautioned – Earth is entering its sixth phase of mass extinction

A study conducted by the universities of Stanford, Princeton and Berkeley, has revealed that vertebrates were disappearing at a rate 114 times faster than normal. There are apprehensions that the Earth is entering its sixth phase of mass extinctions – and humans could be the first casualty.
The last such event occurred 65 million years ago, when dinosaurs were wiped out – probably as a result of a large meteor hitting the Earth as reported in bbc.com dated 19 June 2015.

One of the authors of the study has indicated that humans are now entering the sixth great mass extinction event and, unless it is checked life would take many millions of years to recover and the human would possibly disappear early on. The scientists arrived at the conclusion by examining historic rates of extinction for vertebrates - animals with backbones - by assessing fossil records. They found that the current extinction rate was more than 100 times higher than in periods when Earth was not going through a mass extinction event.
Since 1900, the report says, more than 400 more vertebrates had disappeared. The worry is that such a loss would normally be seen over a period of up to 10,000 years – but, it has happened within 115 years!!
This can be attributed to known causes like climate change, pollution and deforestation. The study also shows that given the knock-on effect of ecosystems being destroyed, the benefits of nature like pollination by bees could be lost within three human generations.
It can be said that we are sawing off the limb that we are sitting on. In the opinion of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), at least 50 species of animals are inching towards extinction every year. Also, nearly 41% of all amphibians and 25% of mammals are threatened with extinction.
As an example - 94% of all lemurs are under threat and more than a fifth of all lemur species are classed as "critically endangered". Their habitat in Madagascar has been wiped out by illegal logging and they are also regularly hunted for their meat.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Jurassic World, a huge Box Office success, nets $511m in first weekend

Jurassic World, co-produced by Steven Spielberg, is the latest in the series that took off with Jurassic Park. Its latest version Jurassic World netted $511m in first weekend to overcome all competition and score the biggest worldwide box office opening weekend ever.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 15 June 2015.

It pulled in $511m globally as it opened in cinemas, to send into the shadows Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 which netted $483m in 2011. This is as per box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
In North America it made $204.6m – slightly short of the record $207m in 2012 for an opening weekend in the region, held by Marvel's The Avengers. The blockbuster movie also earned $100m in China alone apart from topping the box office in 66 countries. The movie has had largely good reviews.
Jurassic Park, the first in the series, was directed by Steven Spielberg released in 1993 and it had opened with over $50m and the audience fell in love with moving dinosaurs that had, till then, been just images in books. The audience was at once repelled and thrilled by its homage to the dinosaurs that everyone had grown up with and had been intrigued by.
The charm of Jurassic Park was that it all appeared to be so real and believable.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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How did dinosaurs die – was it due to volcano

Till now, it was believed that sixty-six million years ago, a 5-mile (8km) wide asteroid crashed into the Earth at 70,000 miles per hour (112,600 km/h), and turned into vapor on impact. That vapor and the heavy dust from the impact blocked out the sun and set off a disastrous chain of events that finally led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. However, researchers in the US have now found more evidence for the theory that major volcanic eruption began just before the impact, possibly also playing a role in the extinction.
The research team has precisely dated rocks from the Deccan Traps - a region of west-central India that preserves remnants of one of the largest volcanic eruptions on Earth. They have examined the rocks and have tried to locate a rock that might contain zircon - a uranium-containing mineral that forms in magma after an eruption. If found, that can be used as a very precise dating tool.
It was a tough ask and the researchers collected more than 50 samples of rocks from the region that represented the largest pulse of volcanism. Fortunately, samples from both the bottom and top of this volcanic layer did contain zircon. This helped the team to pinpoint the timing of the beginning and end of the Deccan Traps eruptions.
Based on their analysis, the researchers have been able to determine that the eruption began 250,000 years before the asteroid strike and continued for 500,000 years after the giant impact. The scientists at MIT and Princeton University have also calculated that the volcano spewed out a total of 932,000 square miles (1.5 square km) of lava which, in turn, led to the extinction of dinosaurs.