Patient Zero
Radiolab

Patient Zero

B2Upper-intermediateAugust 21, 202651 min

The greatest mysteries have a shadowy figure at the center—someone who sets things in motion and holds the key to how the story unfolds. In epidemiology, this central character is known as Patient Zero—the case at the heart of an outbreak. This hour, Radiolab digs up an episode we first produced in 2011 and hunts for Patient Zeroes from all over the map. We start with the story of perhaps the most iconic Patient Zero of all time: Typhoid Mary. Then, we dive into a molecular detective story to pinpoint the beginning of the AIDS, and we re-imagine the...

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Hey, it's me, Matt Kiltee. Join Radiolab on Wednesday, August 26th for a live

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B2 · Upper-intermediate

Comfortable if you already follow TV news

A1 53%A2 32%B1 11%B2 3%C1 1%
  • 96% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 173 words a minute: natural, fairly fast speech.
  • 181 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

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0:00

rotten eggs, volcanic gas, death and decay. What do all these things have in common? Hey, it's me, Matt Kiltee. Join Radiolab on Wednesday, August 26th for a live podcast taping of Vissera, gripping tales of the human body, where we will grab a hold of a long overlooked, much maligned chemical element, an element that can be found from the

0:16

hospital room to the outer space. Join us Wednesday, August 26th at 7pm at caveat in New York City to learn how the smell of death might actually be the surest sign of life. Find out more at caveat.nyc.nysl.com. Hey, this is Radiolab, I'm Soren Wheeler, and I have a show for you today that I want

0:35

to play for a couple of reasons. First of all, it's one of my favorites of all time. And secondly, despite the fact that we produced this story originally back in 2011, it is weirdly and unfortunately perennially relevant, like every year.

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