Most of us are aware that an asteroid strike led to the extinction of the dinosaurs some 66 million years ago. But fewer are aware that this was just one of several mass extinction events to have occurred throughout the Earth’s history.

In this episode we catch up Prof Michael Benton, a palaeontologist based at the University of Bristol and author of the new book Extinctions: How Life Survives, Adapts and Evolves.

He tells us all about the previous extinctions that have changed the balance of life on Earth, how they happened and what we can learn about the future of the planet by studying them.

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