Today, Explained - CICADAPOCALYPSE 2021

Episode Date: April 9, 2021

Or maybe, after listening to this episode, it’ll be more like CICADAPALOOZA! Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Visit connectsontario.ca. Terima kasih telah menonton! Welcome to Today Explained Live. I'm Sean Ramos from Today Explained Live is a lot like the usual show, but with more video conferencing and less sound quality. I'm going to cede the floor here right off the bat because we have a very rare guest, a once-in-a-blue-moon booking. He only gives interviews like every 17 years. Please welcome a cicada. Hey, Sean, thank you so much for letting me on the show today. You know, sometimes I reflect about my life as a periodical cicada.

I've been living underground for 17 years in a COVID-like existence. You know, I've been social distancing with my broodmates underneath there. I've been sucking on the sap of tree roots for 17 years. It's been a pretty dismal existence, but you know what? Hey, my time is coming. I'm about to make a jail break. I've already built my tunnel to the world. I've climbed up there a couple times to take a look at things. The sun is shining, you know. In a couple weeks, I'm coming up. I'm going to shed my skin. I'm going to grow wings. I'm going to turn into an adult periodical cicada. I'm 17 years old. I'm climbing up to the treetops. There's going to be a big boy band up there. It's going to be a cicada palooza.

I'm going to find my mate. I'm going to woo her and, hey, we're going to hook up. Then she's going to lay eggs in the treetops. And unfortunately, I'm going to tumble to the ground and die. But for now, I'm getting up and out of here. Wow. Here we go. Michael Rao, Professor Emeritus of Entomology at the University of Maryland. Some people know you as the bug guy. And for everyone who just saw that, they now know why. It looks like you really love cicadas out there. But I got to tell you, people out there, especially on the East Coast right now, they're scared.

They're scared. They're just getting over one plague. And there's another one right around the corner. Could you tell everyone who doesn't know what is about to happen to the eastern United States? This is going to be what I call the cicada palooza. And the best part about this is between Georgia to New York State, then west to the Mississippi, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana. It's going to be a big cicada palooza. We are going to have billions, if not trillions, of periodical cicadas. And guess what?

They're going to intersect with tens of millions of human beings, and it's going to be pretty special. It's going to be like having a National Geographic special in your own backyard. You're going to be able to go out. You're going to be able to witness an event that only happens once every 13 or 17 years in a specific location. You're going to see birth. You're going to see death. You're going to see romance in the treetops. Hey, it's going to be better than an episode of Game of Thrones. So get out, enjoy this thing. It is special. Why just the Eastern United States? What did we do? Well, you know, we got lucky. That's what we did. We got really lucky. You know, we only see polar bears in the polar regions up north. We only see most of the penguins in the Antarctic and down

south. But lucky us, this is the only place on planet Earth, or probably anywhere else in the universe, that we have 13 and 17 year periodical cicadas that are right here in our neighborhoods. So for all the people who weren't on the Eastern United States, you know, 17 years ago, or who have never, you know, even been aware of this phenomenon to begin with, how do you know a cicada from a cricket, let's say? Okay. Well, there's a lot of misinformation out there and misunderstanding. Our early colonists thought that these creatures coming up out of the ground were locusts. So the name locust became attached to periodical cicadas, but guess what? Locusts are grasshoppers. These insects are much more closely related to some of their relatives like aphids. I think what

happened when the colonists saw these billions of creatures coming up out of the ground, remember they had just escaped religious persecution back in the old world. They got here and oh my god, here's a whole bunch of things coming out of the earth. It's the eighth biblical plague again. So I think that's how locusts got attached, but they're not locusts. These are little sucking insects about the size of my thumb, more closely related to their cousins, the aphids. And I guess one other distinctive thing about these guys is their sound. Tell me about their sound. They're very loud. I hear my at-home studio isn't going to work anymore because they're going to be so loud. Well, you know, Sean, they are going to be loud. The hear my at-home studio isn't going to work anymore because they're going to be so loud.

Well, you know, Sean, they are going to be loud. The males have a special organ on the sides of their abdomen. It's called the timbrel organ. It acts like a drum head. So they can vibrate the timbre organ. Their abdomen is hollowed to act like a reverberation chamber. And when you get several thousand up in the treetop, all basically joining the big boy band, it's only the males that sing, and it's all about romance. They're trying to woo their mates. The sound up there, Sean, is going to reach somewhere between 80 and 100 decibels, the sound of a lawnmower going by or a jet aircraft overhead. So they are going to make quite a chorus up in the treetops.

And it sounds like, unlike some people, you're really stoked about this. You can't wait. How could I not be? This is our Super Bowl. You know, we study tiny creatures. Some of the things I study are only a millimeter long. I'm going to get the chance to see something that's as big as my thumb, and it's not going to be one or two. In my backyard right now, in a square foot, I have 30 cicada holes. They're getting ready. That's going to translate into something like 1.3 million cicadas per acre. So there are going to be a lot of these rascals up and out of the ground everywhere, up and down the East Coast. You're

going to have the intersection of billions, maybe trillions of cicadas with tens of millions of human beings here in the United States. That's going to create some very, very interesting situations. Yeah, I mean, I feel like it's Team Cicada Palooza out here versus Team Cicada Apocalypse. The people who are terrified versus people like you who are just so thrilled. I mean, to be fair to team Cicada Apocalypse, aren't there also something called zombie cicadas out there? And should we

be afraid? No, they're not going to suck your brains out. There is a very curious fungus. It's called Massospora. It's been laying away for 17 years. As the cicadas emerge, it's going to infect those cicadas. It's going to basically produce a fruiting body, spewing out spores on the abdomen of the cicadas. As the males try to mate with the female cicadas, it's going to infect them. Then it becomes an STD, and it also feminizes the male cicada. Normally, the male cicada will court. He'll use courtship songs to woo his mate. If she likes his performance, hey, she's going to flick her wings, make a little clicky noise. The massospora fungus makes the male cicada that's infected flick his wings, it's mind control, then other male cicadas will attempt to mate with what they think is a female cicada, further spreading the dispersal

of Massospora through the population of cicadas. It's dismal. It's very clever on the part of Massasquara, but it will take mind control, kind of zombie eyes, male cicadas. Let's talk about those zombie eyes for a second. You held up a cicada photo at the beginning of the show. Those eyes don't look that inviting. Does it work for the cicada ladies out there? It's got to be the same way with the female cicadas, it's not probably going to be so much the eyes, I think it's probably that song. That performance has got to be spot on for it to work. And he's going to do his best to convince that female that she should be the mother of his nymphs. So it's going to be pretty romantic in those treetops when the big boy band cranks it up. But yeah, those red eyes are pretty cool. A lot of insects will have red eyes.

Drosophila fruit flies have red eyes too. But I've heard one rumor that the 17 years they're underground, the cicada nymphs actually may be gazing into the fires of Hades. And this turns their eyes red. So when they emerge, they've got those red eyes. I guess if you believe in Hades, that could be so, but I think it's probably just the pigment. Okay, cool. So if you're not into really loud, horny bugs that have been staring into the fires of hell for 17 years that are now coming out in the billions, maybe trillions.

I suppose if that were your situation, you are extending your lockdown through the fall. However, for all the people like you who are thrilled about this once, twice, thrice in a lifetime event right here, how do you get up close? Do the cicadas, are they skittish? Do they run away? Or can you observe the hellscape? Yeah, these are great questions. For people that fear the cicada, what I suggest to do right now is learn as much about cicadas as you possibly can.

There are wonderful websites out there. We have one, it's called the Cicada Crew UMD. Also, Cicada Mania. Great websites. Lots of information. Understand that cicadas are not going to bite. They're not going to sting. They're not going to carry away small children and dogs like the monkeys in The Wizard of Oz. That's not happening. You can hold these things. Children will be very fascinated by this. If you're still struggling with this, I suggest you seek counseling. I take this seriously. You might want to talk to somebody. And finally, if you just can't take it, I've already advised several people, just get out of town. If there were cicadas there in 04, you're going to have them in 2021. Here in Maryland,

head for Ocean City. They're not going to be at the beach. Go to upstate New York, go down to Florida, go to California, no cicadas in those places. You might just want to plan a little vacation if you think this is going to be too much to bear. I get it. It's been a pretty dreary and difficult couple of years to get through. So sure, if this is going to be too much, just take a little vacation, I think. And on the flip side of that, what if you want to get up close? Are they going to run away? Are they going to welcome the attention? Nah, they're going to be easy.

Like I said, hey, in my backyard, densities are going to be amazing. Throughout my neighborhood, there are simply going to be tens of thousands of cicadas everywhere. They're going to come out of the ground at dusk sometime in those second, third, and fourth weeks of May. They're going to make a mad dash for the treetops. You can go out at dusk and literally see thousands of cicadas coming out of the ground. They're going to shed their skins. The males are going to be present in the morning and the females. You'll see these on vegetation. They're going to be flying around. People will say, oh, they get in my hair. They land on me. They're attacking. They're not really. They're just kind of bumbling. It's the guys and the gals. They're just trying to get up into the

big party in the sky. Remember, they're teenagers. they're 17 years old, they want to party in the sun. You might be in the way, they might land on you. If they do, just pick them off and say, hey you're pretty cute, but hey I'm not your mate. You just throw them up in the air, they're going to take off and head for the big party in the sky. So try not to fear the cicada, go out and enjoy them. Kids are going to love to collect the shells. My granddaughters are going to be holding these things to look at them. You can put them on your clothes. They make great living jewelry. You can put them on your ears or on your head. It's pretty cool. You're going to have some fun with cicadas. Michael Routt, thank you so much for preparing us for Cicada Palooza or Cicada Apocalypse, depending on what floats your boat. We really appreciate it. We're going to take a quick break and we'll be back with more. And to keep us company on the break, none other than the mysterious Breakmaster Cylinder. Support for Today Explained comes from Aura.

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Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have any questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Julian, you're the founder of a foraging company called Arcadia Venture in Northern Virginia. And this might surprise people, but you have a solution to the coming cicada apocalypse,

especially if you're team cicada apocalypse and not team cicada palooza. What is your solution? Yes. My solution is to eat them. To eat them? Yes. My solution is to eat them. To eat them? Yes. So if the red eyes staring into hell aren't enough, put them in your mouth. Yes.

Tell me, how do you go about eating cicadas? What's the first step? You really want to get them early in the morning. When they come out early in the morning, they're slowly going up into the treetop. You have time to get them before they sort of shut in and have wings and start flying about. When they pop out early in the morning, you can just grab them with your hands. Make sure that they're still alive.

You have to be careful that you only pick them from clean areas. Don't pick them off the side of the highway or in the middle of a city. If they come out in your backyard and if you don't really spray your lawn with chemicals, then you can pick them there. You can pick them in your local park. You just have to make sure that you don't pick them in spots where chemicals might be around. Okay, and you're also a chef, so that makes you a great person to ask, what do I do next? So I got a cicada, just a little salt, a little Tabasco. What's your preparation of choice?

You have to wash them. You have to clean them. When you get them as nymphs, which is when before they sort of form their wings, they're ready to go pretty much. When you get them older, sort of form their wings and their legs, you really have to take them off because they become too hard.

What I would suggest is you would boil them for like a couple of minutes to sort of soften them up a little bit and also get rid of any excess stuff on the outside. And then after that, you have sort of a canvas. So supposedly they taste like shrimp or like other shellfish. They're in the same family or related family. You also have to be careful to make sure that if you have a shrimp allergy, you may have an allergy to cicadas. So watch out for that. I would suggest that you

fry them up. When they come out, I'm going to try out a lot of different recipes. Tacos, I'm also going to try to make baking flour out of it. So right now, there's so many different options of baking flours from different types of plants. So why not have it with an insect? I mean, I'm sure some people out there could think of a few reasons why not to do that. But let's just go back a minute to cicada tacos, please. Tell me more about your dream cicada taco. You got a little salsa in there. You got some like cabbage. You have fish.

You can just substitute that. So you'd have like a tempura batter and you sort of batter and fry the cicadas instead of fish. Hmm. And you mentioned back there that supposedly they taste like shrimp. Why did you say supposedly? Well, supposedly it's because the last time they came out, I didn't really have a chance to eat them. So I don't know exactly what they're going to be like.

I have an idea, but I haven't tried them before. Oh. Hmm. If only we knew someone who's eaten cicadas before. Michael, welcome back. Hey, thank you. Yeah, great to be back. Have you eaten cicadas before? Yeah, I'll be snacking on cicadas. They really are a delicacy. I will eat a few. They have, as I said, I was basically invited to feed some cicadas to Jay Leno on The Tonight Show. And I told Jay, and this is so, when you eat the soft-shelled cicada just after it molts from its skin. And usually what I'll do, Sean, is I'll try to find one.

A lot of times they are not able to get out of their exoskeleton or they get dislodged from the tree and they're on the ground. So they're not going to make it anyway. So you can eat these just like you might eat an oyster or a clam. They have kind of a buttery texture and a little bit of a nutty flavor. Of course, you know, you can prepare them. I was going to say, if you're going to prepare them, please go ahead and collect your cicadas, wash them, but then go ahead and maybe put them in the freezer. So it's not going to be like the lobster going into a pan of boiling water. Let's go ahead and give these guys a little bit of break before we snack on them. And then you can add them to your recipes, whether you're going to eat the nymphs. There are several wonderful recipes.

If you go to the Cicada Crew website, which I mentioned, go to the resources, you will find the Cicadalicious Cookbook. This was a cookbook put together by Jenna Jaden back in 2004, part of our Cicada Maniac crew. And it's chock-a-block full of wonderful recipes for how to prepare cicadas so you can give them a try. Certainly every other creature in the world is going to want to eat a cicada. The foxes are already out in my backyard excavating cicadas. I had a call yesterday from somebody whose dog was digging up their yard to eat cicadas. A month ago, someone called me about the raccoons in her yard excavating the galleries, so much so they actually had to call an exterminator to trap those raccoons and relocate them. So in a couple of weeks, hey, cicadas will very much be on the menu for many creatures in the natural world. Birds are

going to love these squirrels. All kinds of vertebrate and invertebrate creatures will be eating cicadas soon. Including Julian, who can't wait. I wonder, Julian, as a chef, do you think this is an opportunity to normalize eating shrimpy looking bugs? I think so. I think that there's been, certainly since the last cicadas 17 years ago, there's been a lot more push for insects as food, as human food. I think this is a great way to sort of introduce people to something that they may want to try that they don't really have other opportunity to try. There's many different cultures around the world that eat insects on a regular basis. This culture doesn't yet, but this is a great way to sort of introduce that aspect of food to people.

And Michael, last question to you before we go. I know you mentioned that there's going to be billions, maybe trillions. I'm getting the vibe that there's no risk here, that we're going to over forage the good cicadas. Yeah, I think we're going to be okay. I think the dent that a few people that actually try cicadas make as delicacies, they're probably going to make it. So I'm not terribly concerned that if you want to give these a try, again, in one of the many recipes, and as Julian said, he'll be fixing some, I'll be eating some for sure. This is a good opportunity. He's absolutely right. Throughout the world, there's a protein shortage in many other cultures. Insects are very much on the diet. And I think as we move forward, we're going to have to consider these as insects as a wonderful protein source.

So no question about it. And this is a good chance to kind of tinker with us a little bit. It could be part of the fun experience that we're all going to have here in the eastern United States in just a few short weeks. So go for it. Eat a couple. But enjoy those cicadas. It's going to be spectacular. Michael Raup, thank you so much. Professor Emeritus of Entomology at the University of Maryland. Chef Julian Fortu, founder of Arcadia Venture in Northern Virginia.

Happy hunting, Julian. Thank you to Amina Alsadi and Afim Shapiro for producing today's live episode. Thanks to On Air Fest. Thanks to the still mysterious Breakmaster Cylinder for providing some sweet original sounds. You can listen to a whole week of glorious programming about planet Earth and solutions to the climate crisis on Today Explained beginning April 19th. In fact, there's going to be programming about planet Earth

all across Vox Podcast this month. April is Earth Month over at Vox Podcast, and it won't just be stuff that bums you out. We're going to celebrate the wonder of this rock all over our pods. Learn more about all the shows at vox.com slash earthmonth. Thanks.