In 1979, the US government commissioned a fictional account of the aftermath of nuclear war…set in Charlottesville, Virginia. George Perkovich says the report inspired The Day After - one of the most popular made for TV movies of all time. And: Remember when fears of the Y2K computer bug sent everyone into a frenzy at the turn of the year 2000? Matthew Gabriele (Virginia Tech) 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. Also: 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.

Later in the show: 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. Plus: 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.