Movie Report “The Day the Earth Nearly Died”. Life Sciences Essay

Movie Report “The Day the Earth Nearly Died”
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course Name/Number
Instructor’s Name
Due Date
 
“The Day the Earth Nearly Died” is a forty-nine-minute long documentary produced by the BBC in 2002 to the philosophy and science series Horizon. The documentary largely focuses on the enigma of the Permian extinction, which scientists in the documentary strongly believe destroyed over ninety-percent of all life on earth at the end of the Permian.
What I learned as the documentary started is that two-hundred, and fifty million years back, before dinosaurs existed, the oceans and lands were filled with life. This period was identified as the Permian, a geological period that would soon be destroyed. At the end of the Permian era, ninety-five percent of all life was wiped out. It was the largest setback in the forward movement of evolution ever documented.
Further into the documentary, as explained by Peter Ward, sixty-five million years ago, the demise of the dinosaurs was nothing in contrast to the Permian event. I learned that the alleged demise of the dinosaurs wiped out sixty percent of all life on earth, whereas the Permian event wiped out ninety-five percent of all life on earth. Geological facts to pinpoint the exact cause of the Permian extinction are difficult to find primarily because the catastrophe took place over two-hundred and fifty million years ago. Since then, evidence that would have stated the cause has been ruined or concealed within the earth under many layers of rock. It seems rational that some disastrous environmental alteration must have made all ex...