NOVA: Mystery of the Megavolcano

I've been buying Nova documentaries so my 7-year old son can get some science in his head in addition to the complete list of Transformers and the details of their fates.This DVD does that job admirably; he watched it quite closely, and after we watched it, it was clear that he understood the material and was enthused about it. He wasn't so enthused about living in a state adjacent to Yellowstone NP, but you can't have everything!For adults, the material is still compelling, since you'll pick up more than a few interesting details of volcanic geology, how they match volcanic ash to a volano, and lest I forget, that Yellowstone's only 40k years overdue for the most destructive eruption ever.For adults there's still a few "hmm" moments. For instance, matching ash from remote deposits back to the original "super volcano" plays a major role in the investigation portrayed by the documentary.However, while there are several excellent scenes when not-matching samples are displayed against each other, when the matching samples are displayed, it's just two photos of the same sample. Ooh, boo, since I was really interested in seeing how an ash sample from many hundreds of miles away matches what they found in the crater. Would it be a match that's obvious to the uninitiated, or is it more like a fingerprint, where you have to know what to look for?But that's a nit relative to the overall production, which is more than well enough done and met my goals perfectly.

This is a great DVD on one of the largest volcanos to erupt 70,000 years ago. This has great detail, scientist interviews, and a great story. I've seen this before several times on TV and had to get it as soon as the price was right. This was written and produced by British David Sington who has done some fantastic films (Magnetic Storm, In the Shadow of the Moon, Dimming the Sun, Death Star, etc. - I have all of them). He really does excellent work - highly sophisticated, educational, entertaining, good music, just everything). I've seen this over and over again and I never get tired of it - there's always something I didn't catch before. This is loaded with information - can't keep my eyes off it.

This is a good "connect the scientific dots" mystery story of how scientists were able to learn about and attempt to recreate the eruption of Toba around 74,000 years ago. My students will enjoy viewing it. I just wish they had given at least a nod to the "genetic bottleneck" theory; they didn't mention it at all.

I am happy to have Megavolcano in my video library. It is an interesting, well researched presentation about the world we live in. I enjoyed the special effects, the interviews with the scientists and the geography of the film. I have watched this film many times (on the internet) and will watch it many more times. Megavolcano has increased my growing interest in our planet. Watch it.

I enjoyed watching this documentary film narrating the discovery and study of a previously unknown to science natural disaster from the past - an enormous volcanic eruption which occurred roughly 75 000 years ago.This cataclysm almost certainly significantly affected the climate, at least for some years - it may even have caused a short global "mini ice age". Some scientists link this event to a "genetic bottleneck" in human history, reflecting a possible sudden reduction of number of humans, as a consequence of rapid deterioration of living conditions.This film doesn't adress much this latter issue and no, there will be no gorgeous CGIs showing how this disaster looked... Instead, it describes how numerous scientists, working independantly one of another in different places and in different fields of science, realised that SOMETHING which was huge, instantaneous and of destructive nature happened globally 75 000 years ago, affecting first three continents and two oceans - and later the whole planet. Watching the discovery of isolated clues and then the process of combining them into a portrait and the place of residence of the culprit, is actually a pretty fascinating thing...This is, as far as I can judge, hard science, so it will probably please most people who are a little bit of geeky/nerdy disposition (like me) and, as all NOVA episodes, it is also a short thing (45 minutes) - but still, I liked it a lot and I learned a lot. Enjoy!

This video shows several scientists and how these real scientists actually do their work running down clues to evidence-based conclusions.

very intersesting material,goodflim work

My mom wanted this. She was happy when it arrived and in good shape too. Thank you.

Great Nova documentary. If you like to watch the power of nature this is for you. The scale of these wonders is truly hard to get your head around.

I enjoyed watching this documentary film narrating the discovery and study of a previously unknown to science natural disaster from the past - an enormous volcanic eruption which occurred roughly 75 000 years ago.IMPORTANT PRECISION: this is a Region 1 (NTSC) DVD, which will NOT play on European Region 2 equipment. If you don't have an American or two-system DVD player, it is better to try to find this film on the internet.This cataclysm almost certainly significantly affected the climate, at least for some years - it may even have caused a short global "mini ice age". Some scientists link this event to a "genetic bottleneck" in human history, reflecting a possible sudden reduction of number of humans, as a consequence of rapid deterioration of living conditions.This film doesn't adress much this latter issue and no, there will be no gorgeous CGIs showing how this disaster looked... Instead, it describes how numerous scientists, working independantly one of another in different places and in different fields of science, realised that SOMETHING which was huge, instantaneous and of destructive nature happened globally 75 000 years ago, affecting first three continents and two oceans - and later the whole planet. Watching the discovery of isolated clues and then the process of combining them into a portrait and the place of residence of the culprit, is actually a pretty fascinating thing...This is, as far as I can judge, hard science, so it will probably please most people who are a little bit of geeky/nerdy disposition (like me) and, as all NOVA episodes, it is also a short thing (45 minutes) - but still, I liked it a lot and I learned a lot. Enjoy!