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<!DOCTYPE html><html lang="en"><head><meta charSet="utf-8"/><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" class="jsx-3080627139"/><meta property="og:site_name" content="Podcast Guru" class="jsx-3080627139"/><title class="jsx-4145644783 jsx-2435782980">Radiolab: Worst. Year. Ever | Throughline | Podcast Guru</title><meta name="description" content="<description>What was the worst year to be alive on planet Earth? We make the case for 536 AD, which set off a cascade of catastrophes that is almost too horrible to imagine. A supervolcano. The disappearance of shadows. A failure of bread. Plague rats. Using evidence painstakingly gathered around the world - from Mongolian tree rings to Greenlandic ice cores to Mayan artifacts - we paint a portrait of what scientists and historians think went wrong, and what we think it felt like to be there in real time. (Spoiler: not so hot.) We hear a hymn for the dead from the ancient kingdom of Axum, the closest we can get to the sound of grief from a millennium and a half ago.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;The horrors of 536 make us wonder about the parallels and perpendiculars with our own time: does it make you feel any better knowing that your suffering is part of a global crisis? Or does it just make things worse?" &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;This week we're sharing a bonus episode from &lt;a href="https://radiolab.org/podcast/worst-year-ever"&gt;Radiolab: Worst. Year. Ever. &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Learn more about sponsor message choices: &lt;a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices"&gt;podcastchoices.com/adchoices&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy"&gt;NPR Privacy Policy&lt;/a&gt;</description>" class="jsx-4145644783 jsx-2435782980"/><meta property="og:title" content="Radiolab: Worst. Year. Ever | Throughline | Podcast Guru" class="jsx-4145644783 jsx-2435782980"/><meta property="og:description" content="<description>What was the worst year to be alive on planet Earth? We make the case for 536 AD, which set off a cascade of catastrophes that is almost too horrible to imagine. A supervolcano. The disappearance of shadows. A failure of bread. Plague rats. Using evidence painstakingly gathered around the world - from Mongolian tree rings to Greenlandic ice cores to Mayan artifacts - we paint a portrait of what scientists and historians think went wrong, and what we think it felt like to be there in real time. (Spoiler: not so hot.) We hear a hymn for the dead from the ancient kingdom of Axum, the closest we can get to the sound of grief from a millennium and a half ago.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;The horrors of 536 make us wonder about the parallels and perpendiculars with our own time: does it make you feel any better knowing that your suffering is part of a global crisis? Or does it just make things worse?" &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;This week we're sharing a bonus episode from &lt;a href="https://radiolab.org/podcast/worst-year-ever"&gt;Radiolab: Worst. Year. Ever. &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Learn more about sponsor message choices: &lt;a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices"&gt;podcastchoices.com/adchoices&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy"&gt;NPR Privacy Policy&lt;/a&gt;</description>" class="jsx-4145644783 jsx-2435782980"/><meta property="og:image" content="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/03/22/worstyearever_episode-image-1-_sq-0bcd27619ad6f482b88f4239cbedc0aff620028c.jpg?s=3000&c=66&f=jpg" class="jsx-4145644783 jsx-2435782980"/><meta property="og:url" content="https://app.podcastguru.io/podcast/throughline-1451109634/episode/radiolab-worst-year-ever-489d3664da2621fe6dd98b9473c352fa" class="jsx-4145644783 jsx-2435782980"/><meta name="twitter:title" content="Radiolab: Worst. Year. Ever | Podcast Guru" class="jsx-4145644783 jsx-2435782980"/><meta name="twitter:description" content="<description>What was the worst year to be alive on planet Earth? We make the case for 536 AD, which set off a cascade of catastrophes that is almost too horrible to imagine. A supervolcano. The disappearance of shadows. A failure of bread. Plague rats. Using evidence painstakingly gathered around the world - from Mongolian tree rings to Greenlandic ice cores to Mayan artifacts - we paint a portrait of what scientists and historians think went wrong, and what we think it felt like to be there in real time. (Spoiler: not so hot.) We hear a hymn for the dead from the ancient kingdom of Axum, the closest we can get to the sound of grief from a millennium and a half ago.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;The horrors of 536 make us wonder about the parallels and perpendiculars with our own time: does it make you feel any better knowing that your suffering is part of a global crisis? Or does it just make things worse?" &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;This week we're sharing a bonus episode from &lt;a href="https://radiolab.org/podcast/worst-year-ever"&gt;Radiolab: Worst. Year. Ever. &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Learn more about sponsor message choices: &lt;a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices"&gt;podcastchoices.com/adchoices&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy"&gt;NPR Privacy Policy&lt;/a&gt;</description>" class="jsx-4145644783 jsx-2435782980"/><meta name="twitter:image" content="https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/03/22/worstyearever_episode-image-1-_sq-0bcd27619ad6f482b88f4239cbedc0aff620028c.jpg?s=3000&c=66&f=jpg" class="jsx-4145644783 jsx-2435782980"/><meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image" class="jsx-4145644783 jsx-2435782980"/><meta name="twitter:image:alt" content="Radiolab: Worst. Year. 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class="jsx-4145644783 jsx-2435782980 podcast-banner"><div class="jsx-4145644783 jsx-2435782980 podcast-image"><img src="https://us-central1-podcastguru-217d6.cloudfunctions.net/gcf_get_image?image_url=https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/05/15/throughline_tile-art_sq-b72bcfb6d8705d7761d4f421f0be3047631b709c.jpg?s=1400&c=66&f=jpg&width=300&height=300&api_key=xqFmUFX5BHLBTA" alt="<description>What was the worst year to be alive on planet Earth? We make the case for 536 AD, which set off a cascade of catastrophes that is almost too horrible to imagine. A supervolcano. The disappearance of shadows. A failure of bread. Plague rats. Using evidence painstakingly gathered around the world - from Mongolian tree rings to Greenlandic ice cores to Mayan artifacts - we paint a portrait of what scientists and historians think went wrong, and what we think it felt like to be there in real time. (Spoiler: not so hot.) We hear a hymn for the dead from the ancient kingdom of Axum, the closest we can get to the sound of grief from a millennium and a half ago.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;The horrors of 536 make us wonder about the parallels and perpendiculars with our own time: does it make you feel any better knowing that your suffering is part of a global crisis? Or does it just make things worse?" &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;This week we're sharing a bonus episode from &lt;a href="https://radiolab.org/podcast/worst-year-ever"&gt;Radiolab: Worst. Year. Ever. &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Learn more about sponsor message choices: &lt;a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices"&gt;podcastchoices.com/adchoices&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy"&gt;NPR Privacy Policy&lt;/a&gt;</description>"/></div><div class="jsx-4145644783 jsx-2435782980 podcast-title-container container pt-md pb-md"><div class="jsx-4145644783 jsx-2435782980 podcast-title"><a class="jsx-4145644783 jsx-2435782980" href="/podcast/throughline-1451109634"><h3 class="jsx-4145644783 jsx-2435782980 light">Throughline</h3></a><p class="jsx-4145644783 jsx-2435782980 podcast-artist">NPR</p></div></div></div><div class="jsx-4145644783 jsx-2435782980 container pt-lg pb-lg"><div class="jsx-4145644783 jsx-2435782980 episode-information"><div class="jsx-1877041120 episode-title-container pb-lg"><h3 class="jsx-1877041120 episode-title mb-sm">Radiolab: Worst. Year. Ever</h3><div class="jsx-1877041120 episode-date-and-length"><span class="jsx-1877041120 episode-date mr-md">MAR 19, 2024</span><span class="jsx-1877041120 episode-length">38 MIN</span></div></div><div class="jsx-4145644783 jsx-2435782980 episode-player-container"><div class="jsx-4145644783 jsx-2435782980 episode-artwork mb-lg"><img src="https://us-central1-podcastguru-217d6.cloudfunctions.net/gcf_get_image?image_url=https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2024/03/22/worstyearever_episode-image-1-_sq-0bcd27619ad6f482b88f4239cbedc0aff620028c.jpg?s=3000&c=66&f=jpg&width=300&height=300&api_key=xqFmUFX5BHLBTA" alt="Throughline"/></div><div class="jsx-4145644783 jsx-2435782980 episode-right-desktop"><div class="jsx-2470245504 episode-title-container pb-lg"><h3 class="jsx-2470245504 episode-title mb-sm">Radiolab: Worst. Year. Ever</h3><div class="jsx-2470245504 episode-date-and-length"><span class="jsx-2470245504 episode-date mr-md">MAR 19, 2024</span><span class="jsx-2470245504 episode-length">38 MIN</span></div></div><div class="jsx-4145644783 jsx-2435782980 button-and-player-container"><div class="jsx-4145644783 jsx-2435782980"><button type="button" class="jsx-4145644783 jsx-2435782980"><img class="mr-xs" src="/img/icons/play-dark.svg" alt="play" width="24px"/><span class="jsx-4145644783 jsx-2435782980">Play Episode</span></button></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="jsx-1632631828 details-banner pt-lg pb-sm"><div class="jsx-1632631828 container"><h3 class="jsx-1632631828">Description</h3><div class="jsx-1632631828 details mt-md mb-sm">What was the worst year to be alive on planet Earth? We make the case for 536 AD, which set off a cascade of catastrophes that is almost too horrible to imagine. A supervolcano. The disappearance of shadows. A failure of bread. Plague rats. Using evidence painstakingly gathered around the world - from Mongolian tree rings to Greenlandic ice cores to Mayan artifacts - we paint a portrait of what scientists and historians think went wrong, and what we think it felt like to be there in real time. (Spoiler: not so hot.) We hear a hymn for the dead from the ancient kingdom of Axum, the closest we can get to the sound of grief from a millennium and a half ago.<br/><br/>The horrors of 536 make us wonder about the parallels and perpendiculars with our own time: does it make you feel any better knowing that your suffering is part of a global crisis? Or does it just make things worse?" <br/><br/>This week we're sharing a bonus episode from <a href="https://radiolab.org/podcast/worst-year-ever">Radiolab: Worst. Year. Ever. </a><br><br/><br/>Learn more about sponsor message choices: <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a><br/><br/><a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a></div><button class="jsx-1632631828 btn-text">Read More</button></div></div></div><footer class="jsx-2402283764 footer-wrapper"><div class="jsx-2402283764 container pt-md pb-md"><div class="jsx-2402283764 footer-wrapper-inner"><div class="jsx-2402283764 footer-left"><img height="64px" src="/img/podcastguru-logo.svg" alt="Podcast Guru Logo"/><div class="jsx-2098791354 language-select"><select class="jsx-2098791354"><option value="en" class="jsx-2098791354" selected="">English</option><option value="tr" class="jsx-2098791354">Türkçe</option><option value="ru" class="jsx-2098791354">Pусский</option></select><div class="jsx-2098791354 select-icon-container"><img src="/img/icons/down-light.svg" alt="down"/></div></div><a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/podcast-guru/id1535235039" target="_blank" class="jsx-2402283764"><img src="/img/apple-appstore-badge.png" alt="Apple App Store Badge" class="jsx-2402283764 google-play-badge"/></a><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.reallybadapps.podcastguru&referrer=utm_source%3Dapp.podcastguru.io%26utm_medium%3Dfooter" target="_blank" class="jsx-2402283764"><img src="/img/google-play-badge.png" alt="Google Play Badge" class="jsx-2402283764 google-play-badge"/></a></div><div class="jsx-2402283764 footer-right"><h3 class="jsx-2402283764 light mb-md">Company</h3><div class="jsx-2402283764 footer-link-container"><a rel="noreferrer" href="https://podcastguru.io/about-podcast-guru" target="_blank" class="jsx-2402283764 footer-link">About</a></div><div class="jsx-2402283764 footer-link-container"><a rel="noreferrer" href="https://podcastguru.io/contact-us" target="_blank" class="jsx-2402283764 footer-link">Contact Us</a></div><div class="jsx-2402283764 footer-link-container"><a rel="noreferrer" href="https://podcastguru.io/terms-and-conditions" target="_blank" class="jsx-2402283764 footer-link">Terms and Conditions</a></div></div></div></div></footer></div><script id="__NEXT_DATA__" type="application/json">{"props":{"pageProps":{"episodeUrl":"radiolab-worst-year-ever-489d3664da2621fe6dd98b9473c352fa","podcastUrl":"throughline-1451109634","episode":{"author":"NPR","contentEncoded":"What was the worst year to be alive on planet Earth? 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