Radiolab has a new episode available for your auditory pleasure. The theme of this episode is “Patient Zero.” Hosts Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich trace diseases and ideas back to their places of origin. I help tell the story of the origin of HIV along with David Quammen (who’s got a book coming out soon on animal diseases) and some of the pioneering scientists who have figured out how viruses spill over from animals to us.)
Originally published November 15, 2011. Copyright 2011 Carl Zimmer.