Ray commented on Nova on 04.22.12
“Deadliest Tornadoes”, first aired on April 11, 2012, showed the destruction that took place during the tornado events in spring of 2011. The film described the basic facts of how tornadoes form, some history and geography of tornadoes and some of the efforts to give immediate warnings to people in the path of a tornado. The program was promoted as “The science behind the tornado outbreak of 2011, tornado prediction and how communities can protect themselves from future storms”. During the last minute and a half of the film there were brief general assertions about global warming using words like “probably”, “is it?” and “potential”. There was not a single word during the entire documentary discussing the science of global warming and the effect of greenhouse gas emissions. If the theme of the film really is “how communities can protect themselves from future storms”, how is it possible that the producers of this often excellent series could so completely ignore this critically important topic? I note that the credits for the show indicate the major funder for this program is the “David H. Koch Fund for Science”. To those who may not know, David H. Koch along with Charles Koch are owners of the second largest privately held corporation in the United States, the core of which are fossil fuel related industries. The Koch brothers have donated tens of millions of dollars to groups and individuals who attempt to debunk the science of human caused global warming, are actively involved in lobbying congress for this point of view and have promised as much as $100 million to defeat political candidates who advocate addressing this problem. So, what’s up NOVA, PBS and WGBH, have you become yet another employee of Koch Industries?

B. commented on Nova on 04.11.12
Great footage, but lacking clarity in the basic narrative I think I may have learned more of the science of tornadoes from Twister. Putting images of places side by side to show progression. More history explaining that EF means Enhanced Fujita, and who Ted Fujita actually was 023. There was so much jumping around between dates and places November, Veterans Day, April, July. Why not just tell the story in the order the events occurred. Or show a table comparing years or places and years. Or a timeline graph superposition. Death toll, number of tornadoes, weather conditions, etc. The augmented reality effects are certainly interesting...but more basic effective visual aids and a clearer narrative would have improved the documentary. I could barely read the word Joplin on the map white on white! Worth watching certainly, but not up to the standard of regular Nova episodes.

Lisa commented on Nova on 10.13.11
Dogs Decoded ? I demand equal time for cats.

michael commented on Nova on 06.28.11
Nova what are dreams ? please submit the following question In 1972 I was working in a mine 1/2 mile underground when it caved in . The first rocks that hit me were from a colapsed roof they hit me from above and without warning or sound . One min I was working the next I was in this incredible vortex or double spiral of light and memory of little vignettes of my life "flshing before me " This was a deliberate exit of some sort of enery that was moving very quickly and very fast without anything that resembles the unconscious as we know it .The vingnettes of my life that I was shown had alot to do with the way I was exiting .They were often bland of character and seemingly non consequential there were no happy birthdays or moments of Santa Claus they were fairly pedestrian yet they all had to do with choice .and that was key One example I remember was thiere were 3 kids and I gave candy to two but not the third one this choice radicalized and made hazzard of my spiraling double helix exit upwards in billionths of a second I was rocking in a terrible fear of the kind I knew which not while at other flshes of this photo chain made mellow and smooth my transit as if I was inside the genetic RNA and DNA chain .The xperience could not have taken more than a min . I also saw my log dead mother and some favorite relatives by a brilliant river they were motionless yet I could feel them "waiting and happy I was there " just then and this was miliseconds I was at the same time at what I can only describe as a "fork in my spiraling path . This time I had no choice and I was propelled back into the physical my body back into the mine . I had a compound fracture of the femur in which the bones exited my leg and a severe head injury in which a rock cleaved off the left side eye orbit and eye of my face . Fortunately I was knocked under a steel I beam which sved me when the whole buisness 20tons came down on top of me I regained consciousness after the fork only to hear the other miners digging for me my light was still on and I was within or inside a debris field of a collsped shaft .Now here is what is strange I thought I was now dreamiong I could see the bones of my leg sticking out of my pant leg and the sinew and jellied mass of my eye resting on my chest but this was just a dream and the other my mother and the river a reality The experience was so real and this so horroble I just wanted to wake up from this nighmare . Since there was no sleep this cannot be a psychlogical dream state as we know it .There was no warning one min I was working and the next I was leaving my body I was a witness to these memories and I was a participant I was being shown something that was relevant and real as I am writing this . I am told by others who have had near death experiences of similar occurances but mine was different because all of a sudden the lights went out and I was definitely leaving ///Thank you /Michael outside of the physical . This was not a sleep induced space this was not a dream

John commented on Nova on 11.10.10
On Oct. 1, 1996, I saw a PBS Nova program called “Einstein Revealed” and I have long felt that it “revealed” to me far more than its producers ever intended. Since then not a day has gone by that I don’t think about that show and how it messed up my life. Within 3 months seeing the show I became convinced that nothing more than an extremely complex conceptual error, made by Einstein almost a hundred years ago, prevents us from building spacecraft capable of moving thousands of times the speed of light. To this day I am convinced that, because of Special Relativity, scientists and physicists do not fully comprehend the compound structure of what we think of as motion. However, since that show I’ve also learned, the hard way, that laymen like myself who are all referred to by physicists as “crackpots” are not allowed to make any big scientific discoveries. I believe that we were meant to be the fruit on the tree of life our manifest destiny to carry the seeds of life to the distant worlds of other stars, and were it not for the errors of entrenched scientist, we would have done so already! Imagine what it would be like to think, for 14 years, that you’ve made one of the biggest scientific discoveries of our time, and not be able to do anything about it. So if you really want to make a difference in this world how about a Nova show where the so called “crackpots” get to take on the experts? I have a few questions about Special Relativity that I would love to see them try to answer. John A. Bachmurski

Eric commented on Nova on 10.23.10
From watching the first 15 minutes of "Building the Great Cathedrals," I can see that NOVA is continuing to dumb down its content to keep "up" with the rest of the networks. For anyone who knows anything about medieval church construction, this program comes across like an episode of "Ghosthunters," the laughable SciFi channel series. Instead of informing viewers on an interesting topic, you try to titillate them with exaggeration, inaccurate statements, and nonsense about "radical new theories." Good going, PBS. With your help, we wont have to wait 500 years to have the society depicted in "Idiocracy."

Ralph commented on Nova on 04.14.10
Hunting the Edge of Space would have been a great deal more enjoyable if you had not failed in your responsibility to accurately report that Milton Humason was as responsible for the discoveries attributed to Hubble as was Hubble himself. Of course the fact that Humason was a nobody with only an eighth grade education and no connections probably explains the prejudice and dismal failure of your program to recognize the contributions made by Humason. Why am I not surprised.

Theoldhorse commented on Nova on 02.19.10
I would appreciate the reviewers correcting the typographical errors they introduced in transcribing my comment. Its 5 to 10 miles, not 510 miles.

theoldhorse commented on Nova on 02.18.10
National Geographic did a great job of photographing the natural process of glacial ice melting seasonally and glaciers moving and calving where some of them reach the sea. The adventurer/photographer who has become fascinated with the "extreme ice" found in the polar regions is not a scientist much less the final word on whether the burning of fossil fuels releasing CO2 is the primary cause of global warming. Much ado is made about the melting of Columbia Glacier on the southern coast of Alaska. Not discussed is Glacier Bay and the glaciers of the Brady Ice field, which are further south. The National Park Service map shows that the progress of glacial retreat in the Glacier Bay was greatest between 1750 and 1907, a distance of about 75 miles. Between 1907 and today the retreat has varied between 510 miles, with a period after 1927 when the ice grew into the bay. In the past few days the scientists behind the warning that the Himalayan glaciers will disappear by 2035 have admitted that it was based on a news story in the New Scientist, a popular science journal, published eight years before the IPCCs 2007 report. It has also emerged that the New Scientist report was itself based on a short telephone interview with Syed Hasnain, a littleknown Indian scientist then based at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi. Hasnain has since admitted that the claim was "speculation" and was not supported by any formal research. NOVA does a disservice to the public by presenting a totally onesided settled science version of the issue of global warming (now broadened to "climate change") designed to cause undo alarm. The program is not only deceptive but also untimely now that it is clear that the "science" has not been an open process and been heavily influenced by politics.

Kyanna commented on Nova on 08.31.09
nova is the best science program in the history of television.

Steven commented on Nova on 07.21.09
Best science program on TV! Keep up the great work guys!