In the middle of the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan, the night sky glows orange from a crater 70 meters across that has burned relentlessly for over half a century. Locals call it the Door to Hell. Is it an apocalyptic natural phenomenon or a catastrophic human error nobody knew how to fix?

This episode dives into the Darvaza gas crater, sitting at the intersection of murky Soviet history, extreme exploration, and modern climate science. We cover the disputed origins, the first descent to its floor, the search for heat-loving microbes, and the recent attempt to extinguish it. It matters because the cleanup reveals a stark lesson: the burning fire was actually a shield, and putting it out unleashed an exponentially worse climate problem.

• Explorer George Kourounis became the first person to reach the crater floor in 2013, in an alu ...