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Slack.com slash DHQ. What you're hearing right now is a love song. Okay, you're right.

There's cicadas. Actually, male cicadas to be exact. But stay with me, because this

isn't an episode just about a really loud swarm of bugs. It's actually a crazy tale about

an ancient underworld, sex, drugs, and fine zombies. And it starts with this sound.

This massive chorus of male cicadas, think millions of cruning Frank Sinatra's, and they're

all desperately competing with each other to attract a mate in their very few last weeks

of life. And their species depends on them finding a love connection.

They're calling in the females, and when the females get close, they even change their

song. This is Chris Simon. She's a professor at the University of Connecticut, and one of

the world's top cicada experts. And she studied these cicadas songs closely.

And so it's like three parts. So when the female clicks to the male, and then he'll change

his song, and he'll just start going like...

And then the female come closer, and then they sort of touch their front feet, facing

each other.

Ah, it sounds kind of sweet when you put it like that. So the Frank Sinatra cicada, who's

the female cicada, and they mate and have babies and, you know, cue the happy ending music.

Not so fast, because there's a parasitic fungus lurking, and the fungus is waiting for

...