0:000:00
<h2>00:48 How the 18th-Century 'Great Fear’ spread across rural France</h2><p>In the late 1700s, rural France was beset with rapidly spreading rumours of aristocratic plots to suppress revolutionary ideas. But how, and why, these rumours were able to spread so quickly has puzzled historians. Now, using modern epidemiological modelling, a team suggests that a combination of high wheat prices, income and literacy level drove this period of French history known as the Great Fear.</p><br><p><em>Research Article: </em><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09392-2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Zapperi et al.</em></a></p><br><p><em>News: </em><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-02739-9" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>An abiding mystery of the French Revolution is solved — by epidemiology</em></a></p><br><p><br></p><h2>12:40 Research Highlights</h2><p>An unorthodox explanation for dark energy — plus, and how a tiny marsupi...