Short Wave is going outside every Friday this summer! In this second episode of our series on the National Park system, we head to Big Thicket National Preserve in Texas. Among the trees and trails, researchers like Adela Oliva Chavez search for blacklegged ticks that could carry Lyme disease. She's looking for answers as to why tick-borne illnesses like Lyme disease are spreading in some parts of the country and not others. Today: What Adela's research tells us about ticks and the diseases they carry, and why she's dedicated her career to understanding what makes these little critters... tick.

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