The city of London breathed in the heat of summer, 1858. But it was not merely the sun that parched the metropolis. An even more detestable force infested its very heart: the River Thames. Years of industrial effluents had transformed London's lifeblood into a nauseating odor. The stench was all-consuming, a miasma that clung to every cobblestone a

On a blustery January in 1919, disaster struck Boston. A massive reservoir filled with sticky, sweet molasses gave way sending a tidal wave of the thick liquid crashing through the streets. The impact was catastrophic, smashing buildings and burying citizens in a treacly mire. Dozens of people were fatally injured, and many more suffered. Boston