Patient Zero - Updated

Radiolab

WNYC Studios

Natural Sciences, History, Documentary, Science, Society & Culture

4.6 • 44.5K Ratings

🗓️ 13 November 2014

⏱️ 68 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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—Patient Zero. This hour, Radiolab hunts for Patient Zeroes of all kinds and considers the course of an ongoing outbreak. 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 epidemic, and we re-imagine the moment the virus that caused the global pandemic sprang to life. After that, we update the show with a quick look at the very current Ebola outbreak in west Africa. In the end, we're left wondering if you can trace the spread of an idea the way you can trace the spread of a disease and find ourselves faced with competing claims about the origin of the high five.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Okay, today we are repodcasting a show with something extra, an update. This show, which we did a
0:08.5	couple years back, is called Patient Zero, which sort of took a look at the origins of things,
0:15.0	not surprisingly a disease, but also other things too. And, you know, you hear all that. But I wanted
0:20.5	to step in and say that in the
0:22.0	middle of the show, we're going to slip from looking back at a disease that started away long
0:27.7	time ago to examining a disease that, you know, as I speak this is happening right now. Our senior
0:35.0	editor, Sorin Wheeler, will bring you that. In the meantime, here's the show.
0:39.4	Wait, you're listening.
0:40.5	Okay.
0:41.8	All right.
0:43.0	Okay.
0:44.4	All right.
0:45.8	You're listening to Radio Lab.
0:48.8	Radio Lab.
0:49.3	From W. N. Y.
0:51.2	C.
0:52.2	See?
0:52.5	Yeah.
0:53.7	And NPR.
0:58.1	So if we said where we are, I ain't on tape yet?
1:02.9	Starting us off today are our producers Lynn Levy and Sean Cole.
1:07.5	Very pretty day to be on an abandoned island where victims of contagious disease were quarantined.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from WNYC Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of WNYC Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.