Oh, hello, this is Smologies. I feel like, what is that? Smologies are digests of classic episodes.

We've taken a classic episode that was for adults sometimes, and we've cut them down so they're shorter,

their kids safe, they're g-rated. Okay, they're just for you.

This one about cicadas, love this one, cicadas are back, and so we're making the seismologies

for you. So do enjoy. If you want the full length, all the details, including some swearing, you can find the original full length version at the link in the show notes.

But for now, this is just a shorty, Smologies.

Oh, hey, it's your friend's older sister.

Allie Ward, back with an episode.

I have waited most of my life for, no exaggeration.

When I first came up with ologies as a concept, it was partly just to trick an expert into talking

to me about cicadas.

Okay, let's get to cicadology.

cicata in Latin means tree cricket, but your Appalachian friends may call them jar flies,

I just found out. I have only seen a cicada in the

wild maybe three times in my life and each time I crowded around it and gasped and

took pictures like an American at the Eiffel Tower. I have never even seen a periodical

cicada, the ones that emerge in the trillions every 13 or 17 years in the U.S. So this year we're getting ahead of their emergence and

thisologist who is the authority on periodical cicadas. He hails from North Dakota,

he's written multiple bug books and authored scores of

papers on insects. He is the Cacada guy. So he typically appears in the news.

Sometimes maybe you've seen him in all khaki field gear and a tan sun hat and he has a

gentle silver beard with kind of a tidy upturned mustache like a friendly smile and we hopped on a call to record and I just screwed it up so

...