Plague to coronavirus: how pandemics have transformed history

Coronavirus is nothing new: for centuries, infectious diseases have spread across the world. Their deadliness has been well documented - but have they altered the path of history?

From the Plague of Justinian to the Black Death to the spread of cholera and the eventual eradication of smallpox, pandemics have made a profound impact.

Did plague weaken the Byzantium Empire? Did the Black Death cause a social revolution in England? And what role did smallpox play in the birth of the United States?

We speak to the historians Sir Richard J. Evans, Rebecca Rideal, Michael Bennett, Michael McCormick, Elizabeth Fenn, and Andrew Bailey.

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10 Best Places to Visit in Spain

Splendid beaches, delicious cuisine, vibrant nightlife and lively fiestas all make Spain one of Europe’s best getaways. Because Spain encompasses several autonomous regions and islands, the country boasts one of the most widely diverse cultures and landscapes on the continent. Here’s a look at the top places to visit in Spain.

Coronavirus tests: how they work and what they show

There's a lot of talk about coronavirus testing at the moment, but some people are getting confused about what they actually are. How is the antibody test different to the PCR antigen test? What do they do? And why are they important? Josh Toussaint-Strauss speaks with Professor David Smith to answer some of these covid-19 questions.

YELLOWSTONE SUPER VOLCANO

What is a super volcano? A super volcano is the most destructive force on this planet. Only a few exist in the world and when they erupt they do so with a force tens of thousands of times greater than other eruptions. They lie dormant for hundreds of thousands of years as a vast reservoir of magma builds up inside them before finally they unleash their apocalyptic force, capable of obliterating continents. They threaten the survival of mankind. What happened during the last eruption of a super volcano? The last eruption of a super volcano was in Toba, Sumatra, 75,000 years ago. It had 10,000 times the explosive force of Mount St. Helens and changed life on Earth forever. Thousands of cubic kilometres of ash was thrown into the atmosphere - so much that it blocked out light from the sun all over the world. 2,500 miles away 35 centimetres of ash coated the ground. Global temperatures plummeted by 21 degrees. The rain would have been so poisoned by the gasses that it would have turned bla...

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