
EvolutionJuly 1, 2022
Toxic Slime Contributed to Earth’s Worst Mass Extinction—And It’s Making a Comeback
Global warming fueled rampant overgrowth of microbes at the end of the Permian period. Such lethal blooms may be on the rise again
Chris Mays is a lecturer in paleontology at University College Cork in Ireland. His research focuses on mass extinctions and how polar plants and animals responded to warming events in the past.

Toxic Slime Contributed to Earth’s Worst Mass Extinction—And It’s Making a Comeback
Global warming fueled rampant overgrowth of microbes at the end of the Permian period. Such lethal blooms may be on the rise again