IN TOO MANY CORNERS OF THE WORLD, THE SUM-mer skies now arrive with a sepia haze, telltale smoke that signals both burning forests and systems under strain. First responders rush into wildfires knowin

Lizzie Wade Apocalypse How catastrophe transformed our world and can forge new futures 320pp. William Collins. £20. Luke Kemp Goliath’s Curse The history and future of societal collapse 592pp. Viking.

It sounds like the stuff of conspiracy theories or a disaster movie: a series of volcanic eruptions kicks off a deadly pandemic. But new research suggests that such an event may indeed have happened.

Take a peek behind the scenes of our latest issue with the writers and photographers who made it happen

As the incidence of extreme weather increases, Patrick Pollock FRCVS explains what horse owners need to know about climate change, floods and wildfires

CAROL McGIFFIN