&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;What was the worst year to be alive on planet Earth?  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;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;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&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;&lt;em&gt;Thanks to reporter Ann Gibbons whose Science article "&lt;a href="https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.362.6416.733"&gt;Eruption made 536 ‘the worst year to be alive&lt;/a&gt;"&lt;strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;em&gt;got us interested in the first place. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;In case you want to learn more about 536, here are some other sources: &lt;br&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;Timothy P. Newfield, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/978-1-137-43020-5_32"&gt;“The Climate Downturn of 536-50”&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span&gt; in the &lt;/span&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span&gt;Palgrave Handbook on Climate History&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;span&gt;Dallas Abbott et al., &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/D81V5DCR"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;“What caused terrestrial dust loading and climate downturns between A.D. 533 and 540?”&lt;br&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span&gt;Joel Gunn and Alesio Ciarini (editors),&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348577900_THE_AD_536_CRISIS_A_21ST_CENTURY_PERSPECTIVE"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;strong&gt; “The A.D. 536 Crisis: A 21st Century Perspective”&lt;br&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span&gt;Antti Arjava, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4128751"&gt;“The Mystery Cloud of 536 CE in the Mediterranean Sources”&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;strong&gt; &lt;br&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;And for more on the composer Yared, watch Meklit Hadero’s TED talk &lt;strong&gt;“&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/meklit_hadero_the_unexpected_beauty_of_everyday_sounds/transcript?language=en"&gt;The Unexpected Beauty of Everyday Sounds”&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Credits: &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;This episode was reported by Latif Nasser and Lulu Miller, and produced by Simon Adler.  With sound and music from Simon Adler and Jeremy Bloom.&lt;br&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Special Thanks:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;em&gt;Thanks to Joel Gunn, Dallas Abbott, Mathias Nordvig, Emma Rigby, Robert Dull, Daniel Yacob, Kay Shelemey, Jacke Phillips, Meklit Hadero, and Joan Aruz.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Support Radiolab by becoming a member today at &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href="https://pledge3.wnyc.org/donate/radiolab/onestep/"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span&gt;Radiolab.org/donate&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;strong data-stringify-type="bold"&gt;Radiolab&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong data-stringify-type="bold"&gt; is on YouTube!&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;/strong&gt;Catch up with new episodes and hear classics from our archive. Plus, find other cool things we did in the past — like miniseries, music videos, short films and animations, behind-the-scenes features, Radiolab live shows, and more. Take a look, explore and subscribe!&lt;/p&gt;

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Worst. Year. Ever.

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