Learning to love the cicada swarm

Don’t let yourself become a cicada hater, said Isabella Isaacs-Thomas in PBS.org. Very soon, parts of 15 states in the East and Midwest will be inundated by the harmless but noisy bugs that emerge only once every 17 years. Between now and early July, billions will climb out of burrows as nymphs, shed their exoskeletons, mate, and then die. But don’t cower. Make the 2021 emergence more memorable by participating. Using the app Cicada Safari, adults and children can log their sightings to aid researchers. You can learn to distinguish the songs of the three active species at the website Cicada Mania. Cicadas are also edible, and brave eaters can find cooking instructions online. Later, the intricately patterned wings of the carcasses invite craft projects, such as preserving them in resin to make earrings.