Brood X: A Drug-fueled Cicada Orgy

Science Vs

Spotify Studios

Education, Science, Health & Fitness

4.4 • 12.4K Ratings

🗓️ 12 March 2021

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Parts of the U.S. are about to see a surge of cicadas — masses of flying bugs, popping up all over the place. After 17 years underground, a crap ton of Brood X cicadas will emerge for a giant chorusing orgy — and it’s all for sex and drugs. So what does this cicada storm mean for us? Should we be bugging out? We speak to biologist Dr. John Cooley, ecologist Dr. Louie Yang, mycologist Dr. Matt Kasson, and evolutionary biologist Prof. Chris Simon. Check out the transcript right here: http://bit.ly/3cnpD95 You can help scientists map out the 2021 Brood X emergence by snapping photos of the cicadas with your smartphone! – To join in, check out the Cicada Safari app at www.cicadasafari.org To learn more and see if Brood X is going to pop up in your area, check out: https://cicadas.uconn.edu/brood_10/ This episode was produced by Michelle Dang with help from me, Wendy Zukerman, as well as, Nick DelRose, Taylor White, Meryl Horn, and Rose Rimler. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Fact checking by Erica Akiko Howard. Mix and sound design by Bumi Hidaka. Music written by Bumi Hidaka, Haley Shaw, Peter Leonard, Marcus Bagala, Emma Munger, and Bobby Lord. A huge thanks to all the researchers we got in touch with for this episode, including Dr. DeAnna Beasley, Prof. Donald Steinkraus, and Prof. Marten Edwards. And to all folks we spoke to about their cicada experiences: Martin, Carrie Engel, Maureen Hoffmann, Ryan Hampel — and thanks to Brad Bolton for the cicada recording. And special thanks to Emmanuel Dzotsi, the Zukerman family and Joseph Lavelle Wilson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Wendy Zuckerman and you're listening to Science Versus from Gimlet.
0:06.0	This is the show that pits facts against a flood of flying insects.
0:15.6	In just a few months, an army of bugs is heading for millions of us.
0:21.1	And this army hasn't hit us for 17 years.
0:25.3	For those who have seen it though, they'll never forget it.
0:29.6	Like Ryan, he was 14 and living in Cincinnati.
0:33.6	And one spring day, he saw the first signs of the cicadas, their shells.
0:40.2	I go outside and on the step, I see maybe five cicadas shells.
0:44.8	The next day, I see 20 and then the next day, like 100 and you're like, what is going
0:48.8	on here?
0:49.8	Before the week was done, he starts seeing all these cicadas.
0:54.1	Basically, giant cockroaches with skeletal wings and big, baby red eyes.
1:00.1	They're flying around his face and getting caught in his hair.
1:03.2	There are just so many of them that it just seems so awful.
1:06.3	And they just kept coming.
1:08.9	So many bugs.
1:10.2	And coming.
1:11.2	You look out the window, you see them all flying around.
1:13.9	Just thousands and thousands of little points just constantly moving and
1:18.4	fluttering and flying and humming.
1:21.1	It's absolutely apocalyptic.
1:23.8	We talked to a bunch of people who remember this army of cicadas over the years, like
	...

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