If I asked you to name the worst year in your life, you’d probably be able to come up with a shortlist fairly quickly. But what about…the worst year ever to be a human on this planet? How do you even define that? In absolute terms? Relative to what could reasonably be expected at the time? Radiolab has answers — they make 2020 and 2021 look a bit better in comparison.

From Weekly Filet #377, in January 2022.