Tick populations are on the rise in parts of Connecticut, and scientists say acorns are to blame. More acorns lead to more rodents, which ticks feed on in their early stages. Two years later, tick numbers surge. That’s what researchers at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station are tracking now. Blacklegged ticks carry Lyme disease—but experts are more concerned about a new emerging virus which they describe as a rare but deadly illness that can be transmitted in seconds.