SYMHC Classics: Year Without a Summer

This 2021 episode covers smallpox, a viral disease that has existed for millennia. But it’s now one of only two diseases that’s been eradicated through human activity, and a global plan was enacted to do it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 

Holly talks about the lack information about Pinel’s family, and how much she’d like to see Oscar Wilde use social media. Tracy discusses the way the Cooley episode narrowed down the scope of her originally planned topic.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the impact of the eruption of Mt Tambora, in 1815, on the Indonesian island of Sambawa. This was the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history and it had the highest death toll, devastating people living in the immediate area. Tambora has been ...  Show more

On April 10, 1815 the most powerful volcanic eruption in human history was recorded on an island in Indonesia. The ash cloud that formed by its explosion was as large and the entire United States and hovered 12 miles above the earth, reaching the stratosphere. The results were ca ...  Show more

After the first eruption of Krakatoa on August 26th, 1883, the citizens of the Sunda Strait may have assumed the worst was over. But they were about to experience a tsunami that would be the first of many over the next 24 hours. On top of this, pyroclastic flows were on their way ...  Show more

When Mount Tambora erupted it spewed ash across the globe; blotting out the sun; poisoning crops; and bringing starvation, illness and death to millions. It may also have helped inspire great scientific and cultural advances - including the horror masterpiece Frankenstein. How we ...  Show more