Talk: An unnatural history of extinction
This event is part of the Royal Society's Summer Science Exhibition 2026.
Anyone alive today is among a tiny fraction of the once living: over 90% of species that ever existed are now extinct. How did we come to think of ourselves as survivors in a world where species can vanish forever, or as capable of pushing our planet to the verge of a sixth mass extinction?
Extinction is a surprisingly modern concept – and a phenomenon that’s not as natural as we might think. In Europe during the age of revolutions, scientists gathered enough fossil evidence to determine that mammoth bones, for example, were not just large elephants but a lost species that once roamed the Earth alongside ancient humans. Extinction went from being regarded as theologically dangerous to pervasive, and even inevitable.
Sadiah Qureshi, author of Vanished: An Unnatural History of Extinction, is the winner of the Royal Society’s Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar prize and lecture and was shortlisted for the 2025 Trivedi Science Book Prize. In this talk, she will show us that extinction is more than a scientific idea; it’s a political choice that has led to devasting consequences.
This event is part of the Trivedi Science Book Prize talks strand and Attenborough at 100: a weekend of wildlife at Summer Science Exhibition 2026.
Attending the event
This event will be held in Theatre 2 at the Royal Society on Saturday 4 July 2026, 3.10pm – 3.40pm.
- Free to attend as part of Summer Science Exhibition on a first-come, first-served basis, subject to seat availability. We recommend that visitors arrive 10-15 minutes before the session
- Eventbrite tickets for Summer Science Exhibition are recommended, with only a limited number of walk-up tickets released on the day
- This talk will take place in person
- A recording of this talk will be available later on the Royal Society YouTube channel
- Live subtitles will be available
- Travel and accessibility information and details on planning your visit - contact us directly to arrange any specific accessibility requirements
- Food and drink will be available for purchase at our onsite café
For all enquiries, please email us.
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