Little is known about how bacteria spread through different sections of a city. Now the most extensive study of its kind uncovers some critical answers of how bacteria move through Nairobi, lessons that could have implications for the wider world. After all, what is being seen in Nairobi today could easily be in New York or Paris by tomorrow morning.
Presenters Elliot Carleton and Brenda Coromina hear from ILRI scientists Dishon Muloi and Eric Fèvre as they find out how urbanisation could produce the next disease outbreak.
Read more:
A new model of pathogen transmission in developing urban landscapes

Music: Flute Song by Moby courtesy of mobygratis.com

If you're not a researcher, why should you care about science? Why does science communication matter to research?
In the second of a two-parter featuring ILRI Emeritus Fellow Susan MacMillan, Brenda Coromina and Elliot Carleton question what the difference is between science communication, and science advocacy, finding out how the International Livestock Research Institute's (ILRI) communications have changed over the years, and why.

"We're not science for science's sake," says Susan of ILRI. "We have a mission. We have to go further than just the science."

They discuss how social media can be a positive force for science, and what science writing has in common with storytelling. It's not enough to simply put the information out in easy-to-understand terms. Science communication is a big responsibility, and can have a tremendous impact on the world. So whose voice should be heard - and who should be doing the storytelling?

Susan MacMillan knows why livestock matter. An ILRI Emeritus Fellow, she has led public awareness and advocacy communications at ILRI for nearly 33 years.
In the latest episode of The Boma, Elliot Carleton and Brenda Coromina find out how Susan went from being an Ohio native who had never even glimpsed a living cow, to becoming one of the most passionate advocates for livestock farming in developing countries today. In a wide-ranging and informative talk she explains how the modern stigma against livestock farming in some countries was born from good intentions, her respect for vegetarians and vegans, and why livestock matter for countless people in the world today and tomorrow. Listen to the episode to find out what Susan thinks the future of livestock will look like.
And listen to Susan Macmillan and Lora Iannotti go deeper into the nutritional benefits of livestock-derived foods in Season 1 Episode 6 of The Boma: 'Animal-source foods for people and the planet'.
Further reading:
ILRI's Jimmy Smith on the livestock controversies holding back greater use of milk, meat and eggs to nourish the undernourished
Livestock and livelihoodsLivestock and the rural poor
Music: Atakte 3 by Moby courtesy of mobygratis.com

Livestock provide vital nutrition and income for numerous households in developing countries. And it's often women who do the bulk of the work caring for the animals. But this doesn't mean they reap the benefits. In many communities, women are excluded from making management decisions about livestock, like when to sell them, or how to treat them. They also don't get to control the income that the livestock generate, or the valuable livestock products made. And this is particularly the case for the larger, more valuable animals, like cattle.
How can livestock farming help build gender equality in such communities, instead of repeating traditional and unequal gender norms? ILRI’s research is part of many worldwide efforts to empower women and girls. The second season of The Boma kicks off with an episode for International Women's Day 2022, taking a close look at ILRI's Women in Business project, which empowers women to benefit from chicken farming in Ethiopia and Tanzania.
Presenters and Princeton-in-Africa Fellows Brenda Coromina and Elliot Carleton talk to Alessandra Galiè, Gender Team Leader at ILRI, Upendo Ramadhani Simba, a university graduate of animal sciences who began as a chicken vendor through the project, and Adolf Jeremiah, a research field coordinator at ILRI with a background on gender and youth programming.

If sub-Saharan Africa produces just 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and the livestock sector just a fraction of those, why should the governments of these countries be concerned?

Because there's much more to the story. The intensity of the emissions is higher in these countries than in others, and the livestock sector is growing in size every year. In the second part of a mini-series on climate change and livestock, presenter Tim Offei-Addo speaks to ILRI scientists Polly Ericksen and Klaus Butterbach-Bahl to find out what makes these emissions so important, and what can be done about it.

Ericksen and Butterbach-Bahl explain how ILRI helps to collect data about greenhouse gas emissions in sub-Saharan Africa, equipping countries with the means to tell an accurate story of their climate emissions to the international community.

And they warn that as developed countries vilify livestock as a major producer of greenhouse gases, this could prevent crucial investments in livestock in the developing world. Investing in livestock in sub-Saharan Africa could help mitigate emissions, help poor farmers earn a livelihood and produce more food. Is there a place for livestock to be part of the solution, and not the problem, for climate change?
Scripted by Tim Offei-Addo