The longevity of the Greenland shark
At three hundred feet, we are profoundly changed. The pressure at these depths is nine times that of the surface. The organs collapse. The heart beats at a quarter of its normal rate, slower than the rate of a person in a coma. Senses disappear. The brain enters a dream state. At six hundred feet down, the ocean’s pressure—some eighteen times that
... See moreJames Nestor • Deep: Freediving, Renegade Science, and What the Ocean Tells Us about Ourselves
One way to make sense of the biodiversity crisis would simply be to accept it. The history of life has, after all, been punctuated by extinction events, both big and very, very big. The impact that brought an end to the Cretaceous wiped out something like seventy-five percent of all species on earth. No one wept for them, and, eventually, new speci
... See moreElizabeth Kolbert • Under a White Sky
Some species survived a long time. But among groups of species, the probability of extinction was roughly the same whether it was ten thousand years old or ten million years old.