Despite the intriguing aspects of the Devonian world, scientists did not know exactly how fast the Earth became inhospitable for life across Devonian mass extinction event. Our team of geologists from Germany, Belgium, the USA and China looked at rhythmical climate cycles in the rock record to figure out the precise timing of the Late Devonian extinction. We now know how fast the Devonian oceans turned hostile to life, and we published these findings in Nature Communications.