cicadas news stories on Newser

Missouri Health Officials Nix Cicada Ice Cream

Rob Quinn — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 05:04:26 CDT

The 13-year cicadas are out in Missouri but an ice cream parlor's attempt to turn the bugs into a seasonal treat has been thwarted. Health officials descended on Sparky's Homemade Ice Cream after its first batch of cicada ice cream sold out and told them not to make any more,...

Coming Soon: 13-Year Cicadas

Matt Cantor — Thu, 19 May 2011 17:28:47 CDT

We saw their parents in 1998; now the 13-year cicadas are emerging again from underground. Get ready for raucous mating calls and shells everywhere, advises the Herald-Review of Decatur, Illinois. (The 13-year cicadas stay mostly in the South but hit parts of Illinois and Indiana.) “They are out in...

Cyborg Bugs Could Warn of Fires, Chemical Attacks

Drew Nelles — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 18:04:07 CDT

Cyborg bugs may sound like creatures in a Michael Bay movie, but they could save your life, New Scientist reports. The Pentagon is trying to implant electrodes in crickets and cicadas—which communicate via wingbeats—and program them to “speak” differently around certain chemicals. “The insect itself might not even...

Cicadas Are Almost Gone

NewsDude — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 20:01:09 CDT

The Brood XII cicadas have almost finished their every 17 year breeding frenzy. And what a mess and odor they are leaving in their wake. Chicago Tribune writer Ted Gregory describes the odor of dead cicadas as "somewhere between rotting raccoon and cut grass."

They're Here

NewsDude — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 19:52:49 CDT

The Brood XIII cicadas are emerging throughout the Midwest in an every-17-year fit of Darwinian survival. Scientists theorize that their abundance — they emerge by the millions per acre—is an evolutionary advantage: Because of their numbers, predators (primarily birds, insects and fish) cannot possibly eat all of them.