Exploring the intricate world of cicadas, including their unique year-based memory, distribution patterns, and historical interconnections among broods. The chapter emphasizes the difficulties researchers face due to cicadas' long life cycles and generational behavior, urging collaborative efforts for comprehensive study, and touches on the innovative 'Cicada Safari' app by Dr. Gene Kritzky as a tool for future exploration.
Right now, across much of the midwestern and eastern US, trillions of cicadas are crawling out from the soil. And this year is extra special, because two broods are erupting from the ground at once. The first brood hasn’t been seen for 13 years, the other for 17 years and the last time they emerged together Thomas Jefferson was president. Ian Sample speaks to entomologist Dr Gene Kritsky to find out what’s going on, why periodical cicadas emerge in cycles of prime numbers and how they keep time underground. Help support our independent journalism at
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