The End of the World!

In 1979, the US government commissioned a fictional account of the aftermath of nuclear war…set in Charlottesville, Virginia. George Perkovich (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace) says the report inspired The Day After – one of the most popular made for TV movies of all time.

Remember when fears of the Y2K computer bug sent everyone into a frenzy at the turn of the year 2000? Matthew Gabriele says a similar apocalyptic panic took place at the end of the first millenia. He studies how early Christians thought about the end of the world.

Matt Pryal watched live as NASA successfully completed the DART mission back in 2022. DART stands for Double Asteroid Redirection Test. He says it was a massive undertaking that may help save humanity in the distant future.

During the Cold War, tensions between the US and Russia were at an all time high. A kind of existential fear seeped into many aspects of society – including the silver screen. Todd Sechser charts the shifting anxieties over nuclear war reflected in movies from the 1960’s to the 80’s.

Heat waves, flooding, drought and other extreme weather have become the norm. It sometimes feels like we’re in the throes of a climate apocalypse. But Frances Flannery says we should avoid using that word – apocalypse – when we talk about the climate crisis.