FlexiLingo
Can the polygraph test really spot a lie?
- Crime & justice
From dating shows to police interrogation rooms, the polygraph test has long been marketed as a way to detect deception. But can it really? And who decided we needed a truth machine in the first place? In this episode, a Throughline listener sends us on a quest to uncover the story of the lie detector. Guests: Ken Alder, professor of history at Northwestern University and author of The Lie Detectors: The History of an American Obsession Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks in...
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B2 · Upper-intermediate
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- 88% of the words are B1 or easier.
- 179 words a minute: natural, fairly fast speech.
- 133 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.
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President Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, and former President Obama all crisscrossing
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Is this episode right for you?
B2 · Upper-intermediate
Comfortable if you already follow TV news
- 88% of the words are B1 or easier.
- 179 words a minute: natural, fairly fast speech.
- 133 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.
Transcript
The opening of the episode. The whole transcript is in the player.
harder words (B2+)
This week on Up First, the midterms less than 15 days away. President Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, and former President Obama all crisscrossing the country, rallying voters in key races from Michigan to Georgia to North Carolina. Join us every morning as we guide you through the home stretch of this election season
up first on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. At springtime in Berkeley, California, 1921, a group of college-aged women are whispering to one another in the halls of their dormitory. A man named John Larson arrives on campus carrying his brand-new invention, the cardiognumopsychograph,
an early version of the polygraph machine. And there's been pulfyrin in the sorority, including a diamond ring's gone missing and a bunch of other stuff. And Larson is asked to solve the crime after, you know, the old school police guys just
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