The sixth mass extinction 12 January 04

We’re already living through the worst mass extinction since the end of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. I don’t know about you, but I feel ashamed that my species’ impact on the planet is akin to an asteroid strike. And it’s going to much worse: a paper published in Nature this week predicts that a quarter to a third of all species alive today will face extinction by 2050 because of global warming. There was extensive coverage, for once, of this dire prediction in the UK quality press, and now Nature has made the whole paper (and a related one) free online. Don’t miss it.