Our podcast follows the story of Hershey, a fictional dog infected with ticks and as a result the tick borne illness Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF). RMS can only be transmitted to animals and humans via an infected tick's bite, but in the podcast Hershey acts as a vector for the disease spreading it to other dogs and people impacting communities at the US-Mexico border, Arizona, and Los Angeles. Our podcast aims to shed a light onto this lesser known tick borne illness to highlight exactly what the disease can entail, how it affects marginalized communities, intersects both canine and humanhealth, is influenced by changes to our Earth's climate, and what current steps and treatments exist to help mitigate its impact. We hope. that you learn something new about RMSF as well as a greater understanding for how all of our health from ticks to dogs to humans and th eEarth's is interconnected.

These podcast episodes were created by members of the 2024 Spring Capstone course in the Human Biology and Society major at UCLA's Institute for Society and Genetics (https://socgen.ucla.edu/). The faculty sponsor is Christopher Kelty. For questions or concerns email ckelty@ucla.edu. For more information about any of these diseases please consult the US Centers for Disease Control (https://www.cdc.gov/) .

Leptospirosis is an infection in the blood by a bacteria called Leptospira. Biologically, the main route of infection for humans is through contact with animal urine or soil that is infected with Leptospira. This usually occurs through contact with waterways contaminated with urine. However, it is difficult to distinguish this disease from others as this disease does not have any unique symptoms.

Our podcast examines the political, economic, biological, and social or cultural factors that should be taken into account when developing a proposal for a solution to combating the impact of leptospirosis. Whether the solution should be developing a vaccine, establishing public service campaigns, or a particular governmental policy will be debated throughout the greatest thirty minutes in history!

Produced by Mark Botros, Nayra Gharpetian, Olivia Nguyen, Siddhant Watwani

These podcast episodes were created by members of the 2024 Spring Capstone course in the Human Biology and Society major at UCLA's Institute for Society and Genetics (https://socgen.ucla.edu/). The faculty sponsor is Christopher Kelty. For questions or concerns email ckelty@ucla.edu. For more information about any of these diseases please consult the US Centers for Disease Control (https://www.cdc.gov/) .

For our podcast we share an in-depth exploration of Brucellosis, starting with its historical background and tracing its development up to its prevalence in modern times. We focus on Brucellosis in Yellowstone, examining how it affects the ecosystem and the animals within the park. Additionally, we highlight other significant case studies in order to create a better understanding of the disease. Towards the end , we spread new information on potential treatments and solutions that could be implemented in the future to combat Brucellosis in the best way.

Produced by Gisell Gochman, Vivan Nguyen and Vicky Vu.

These podcast episodes were created by members of the 2024 Spring Capstone course in the Human Biology and Society major at UCLA's Institute for Society and Genetics (https://socgen.ucla.edu/). The faculty sponsor is Christopher Kelty. For questions or concerns email ckelty@ucla.edu. For more information about any of these diseases please consult the US Centers for Disease Control (https://www.cdc.gov/) .