Product Details

• Producers: The Discovery Channel
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: G (General Audience)
• Studio: The Discovery Channel
• Run Time: 50.0 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000H29DWC
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #126,329 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Two hundred fifty million years ago, before the time of the dinosaurs, the earth flourished. Every niche - from the highest mountain to the deepest ocean - was buzzing with life. But then the earth experienced the single most destructive event in its history. Ninety-five percent of all species disappeared in just a few thousand years - the blink of a geological eye. It's called the Permian mass extinction and it was the worst disaster ever to hit earth. It shattered ecological order and changed evolution forever. For decades, the cause of this disaster has been a mystery. But recently, an extraordinary discovery has shed new light on the event, forcing scientists to point the finger at a massive meteor strike - just like the one that took out the dinosaurs. If both the Permian mass extinction and the dinosaur extinction were caused by meteors, then scientists will have to rethink how likely a future devastating impact may be...suddenly the odds are much higher.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and Informative about the Permian Mass Extinction, July 9, 2010

By 

microhi (USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Day the Earth Nearly Died (DVD)

This video is informative about the Permian Mass Extinction. I like the way the video interviews the scientists who went about investigating the cause of this mass extinction. The series of interviews is a good example of the scientific method, as each scientist had a hypothesis and investigated it. When the scientist's hypothesis wasn't supported the successive scientist would investigate another hypothesis. The result was that clues were ascertained as to the cause until someone figured out what happened.

The cinematography and/or simulations are well done too. My students found this video interesting and it is a difficult task to peak the interest of non-science majors.

The video ends with a conclusion that has provacative implications regarding carbon dioxide emissions and the warming of the planet. I wish I could say more in detail, but that would spoil the plot!

4.0 out of 5 stars Review of "The Day the Earth Nearly Died", July 30, 2011

By 

Marvin Saines (Las Vegas, NV USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Day the Earth Nearly Died (DVD)

This is a good documentary. But there were two weaknesses. They often didn't define whether they were talking about Centigrade or Farenheit, which is critically important, and they didn't have a good "Summary and Conclusions."

5.0 out of 5 stars Must see video, March 16, 2011

By 

gammarayburst - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Day the Earth Nearly Died (DVD)

This is a great documentary about the Permian-Triassic Extinction event. It interviews top scientists on the causes of it. It explains all of the possible causes very well and is very interesting. This is a great video for a classroom or personal education.