Uploaded December 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Are we living through a mass extinction?
Paleontologist Thomas Holtz explains what extinction and mass extinction events are, how they’ve shaped the history of life on Earth, and why scientists are warning of a potential sixth mass extinction today. Learn how evidence from the fossil record, geology, and evolutionary biology help us understand past biodiversity crises—and what they can tell us about our future.
Mass extinctions are catastrophic overhauls of the diversity of life on land and see. There are five well-attested such events in the history of life, and evidence we could be on the cusp of a sixth. We'll look at the record of past events, and what we know about how they happened and what might have caused them. These environmental crises might serve as warnings for our own future, and what a "sixth extinction" might mean from human society.
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. is Principal Lecturer in Vertebrate Paleontology at the Department of Geology, University of Maryland, College Park. His research focuses on the origin, evolution, adaptations, and behavior of carnivorous dinosaurs, and especially of tyrannosauroids (Tyrannosaurus rex and its kin). He received his Bachelors in Earth & Planetary Geology at Johns Hopkins in 1987 and his Ph.D. from the Department of Geology & Geophysics at Yale in 1992. He is also a Research Associate of the Department of Paleobiology of the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History and serves on the Scientific Council of Maryland Academy of Science (which operates the Maryland Science Center (Baltimore, MD)). In addition to his dinosaur research, Holtz has been active in scientific outreach. He has been a consultant on museum exhibits around the world, and on numerous documentaries. He is the author of the award-winning popular audience books. He is the current editor of the “Life of the Past” series at Indiana University Press.
Views expressed in this talk are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Capital Area Skeptics (NCAS).
#massextinction #paleontology #fossilrecord #sixthmassextinction #extinctionevent #earthhistory #biodiversitycrisis #climatechange #evolutionarybiology #thomasholtz #dinosaurs #skepticism #scienceeducation #ncas
Are we living through a mass extinction?
Paleontologist Thomas Holtz explains what extinction and mass extinction events are, how they’ve shaped the history of life on Earth, and why scientists are warning of a potential sixth mass extinction today. Learn how evidence from the fossil record, geology, and evolutionary biology help us understand past biodiversity crises—and what they can tell us about our future.
Mass extinctions are catastrophic overhauls of the diversity of life on land and see. There are five well-attested such events in the history of life, and evidence we could be on the cusp of a sixth. We'll look at the record of past events, and what we know about how they happened and what might have caused them. These environmental crises might serve as warnings for our own future, and what a "sixth extinction" might mean from human society.
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. is Principal Lecturer in Vertebrate Paleontology at the Department of Geology, University of Maryland, College Park. His research focuses on the origin, evolution, adaptations, and behavior of carnivorous dinosaurs, and especially of tyrannosauroids (Tyrannosaurus rex and its kin). He received his Bachelors in Earth & Planetary Geology at Johns Hopkins in 1987 and his Ph.D. from the Department of Geology & Geophysics at Yale in 1992. He is also a Research Associate of the Department of Paleobiology of the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History and serves on the Scientific Council of Maryland Academy of Science (which operates the Maryland Science Center (Baltimore, MD)). In addition to his dinosaur research, Holtz has been active in scientific outreach. He has been a consultant on museum exhibits around the world, and on numerous documentaries. He is the author of the award-winning popular audience books. He is the current editor of the “Life of the Past” series at Indiana University Press.
Views expressed in this talk are those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Capital Area Skeptics (NCAS).
#massextinction #paleontology #fossilrecord #sixthmassextinction #extinctionevent #earthhistory #biodiversitycrisis #climatechange #evolutionarybiology #thomasholtz #dinosaurs #skepticism #scienceeducation #ncas
