Ep. 249: The Coming Cicada Swarm

An extraordinarily rare event is going to happen in 2024:  Two periodical cicada broods will be emerging at the same time, covering both the South and the Midwest in large, droning insects for six weeks this summer.  How rare are we talking here?  How about once every 221 years level of rare?  The last time these two broods came out at the same time, Thomas Jefferson was president.  He even wrote about them in his garden notes!  This week I sit down with cicada expert Dr. Gene Kritsky and we discuss what makes these guys so special.  Is it that they spend 13 or 17 years underground sucking on tree roots?  Is it that the females lay eggs with what amounts to a hollow steak knife?  Or maybe it is that their survival strategy consists of emerging in such large numbers that predators get sick of eating them in a week and a half?  I saw it is all three.  Listen and learn how YOU can be a part of this historic event. Articles We Mentioned The Mind Altering Parasite That Turns Cicadas Into Mindless Sex Bots Cicadas Molting Gene on Social Media Website Purchase “A Tale of Two Broods” Fascinating Nouns on Social Media Facebook Twitter YouTube