🦗 Stat of the Day: The Cicada-pocalypse Has Begun

Another year, another Marvel movie batch of screaming cicadas.

After a historic synchronized hatching event last spring featuring two different insect broods, a new wave of periodical cicadas is set to emerge this May and June.

• Known as Brood XIV, it marks America’s second-largest periodical cicada brood by area. The insects’ once-every-17-year emergence is typically spread across the eastern and midwest US.
• Brood XIV is the same one that was first recorded in 1634 by the pilgrims in the Plymouth colony, earning it the nickname of “original brood.”

What to expect: Cicadas are the Type-A personalities of the insect world. Their collective songs can clock in at 100 decibels, similar to a loud lawn mower or motorcycle—but they don’t pose any danger to humans or pets outside of potential hearing damage.

Looking ahead…While cicadas are already appearing in warmer states, the insects might not show up in cooler Midwest or Northeast states until June. Upon emerging from the ground, cicadas live for ~30 days.

🤔 Did You Know? In 1959, the US Postal Service conducted an experiment where it delivered mail via a cruise missile shot from a submarine, in a not-so-subtle signal to Cold War adversaries that America possessed state-of-the-art missile guidance systems.

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