Cicadas Are Coming: Rare ‘Dual Emergence’ Could Bring One Trillion of the Bugs This Year

The 13-year and 17-year broods that will emerge from underground this spring will be appearing together for the first time in 221 years

Jan 22, 2024

Billions of cicadas from two different broods will emerge this spring in a rare, buzzy natural phenomenon that hasn’t happened since 1803.

The insects belong to two distinct populations of periodical cicadas: one that surfaces from underground every 13 years and another that emerges every 17 years. The last time these specific groups—called Brood XIII and Brood XIX, respectively—lined up their cycles and appeared at the same time, Thomas Jefferson was president, reports NBC News’ Denise Chow.

Though some cicadas surface every year, periodical cicadas spend most of their lives underground before emerging en masse every 13 or 17 years to mate and start the cycle over again.

Any pair of broods may occasionally overlap and emerge in the same year. But these specific groups—Brood XIII (also known as the Northern Illinois Brood) and Brood XIX (or the Great Southern Brood)—only appear simultaneously once every 221 years, making 2024 an especially exciting period for entomologists and bug aficionados alike.

The next time the broods align again will be in 2245.

“Nobody alive today will see it happen again,” says Floyd W. Shockley, an entomologist and collections manager at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, to the New York Times’ Aimee Ortiz. “That’s really rather humbling.”

The two broods will also overlap geographically: Though at least some of the cicadas will emerge across the Midwest and Southeast, members of both groups are expected to converge in parts of central Illinois and eastern Iowa.

All told, scientists estimate more than one trillion cicadas will be buzzing around a 16-state area, with the greatest numbers emerging in forested regions and urban green spaces.Lined up end-to-end, one trillion cicadas would span 15,782,828 miles—long enough to cover the distance to the moon and back 33 times, per the New York Times.

Cicadas typically appear above ground once soil temperatures reach 64 degrees Fahrenheit. In some places, that could occur as early as late April, and the insect spectacle will likely continue on a rolling basis through May and June.

Once they crawl onto the surface, the nymphs will ditch their exoskeletons—leaving crunchy cicada-shaped shells in their wake—and start flapping their wings. They’ll spend the next six weeks or so making their cacophonous mating calls so they can lay their eggs before they die. In the meantime, they’ll also provide a smorgasbord for birds—and give caterpillars a brief respite from predation in the process. Later, when the cicada eggs hatch, nymphs will emerge and tunnel underground to start the broods’ cycles anew.

The rare, synchronized event should be finished by early July, meaning residents of affected states will once again be able to enjoy some peace and quiet.Cicadas’ mating songs can reach nearly 100 decibels, which is similar to the sound intensity of a chainsaw or a motorcycle.

“It’s pretty much this big spectacular macabre Mardi Gras,” says Jonathan Larson, an entomologist at the University of Kentucky, to NPR’s Clare Marie Schneider. “It’s a lot of singing, lots of paramours pairing up and then lots of dying.”

The broods are expected to draw some bug-curious travelers to the overlapping emergence areas in the Midwest. But some residents of those regions may be less than enthusiastic about the multi-week onslaught of bugs.

“I’ve talked to half a dozen people already who want to go on vacation and come into the area to seek the cicadas,” says Gene Kritsky, a biologist at Mount St. Joseph University and the author of A Tale of Two Broods: The 2024 Emergence of Periodical Cicada Broods XIII and XIX, to NBC News. “In years past, I’ve also helped people plan vacations to leave while the cicadas are here.”

Some of those tourists will be scientists hoping to study everything from the bugs’ range to their reproductive behaviors. For instance, entomologists are curious to know whether the two groups will interbreed, which could possibly lead to the creation of an entirely new brood.

As for people living in the emergence zones, scientists recommend simply leaving the cicadas alone—and, if possible, cherishing this once-in-a-lifetime spectacle. Cicadas don’t carry diseases, bite or sting, and their presence benefits the broader ecosystem. For example, when they tunnel up from underground, they help aerate the soil. When they shed their exoskeletons and, later, die, their bodies provide nutrients to plants. They also naturally prune trees when laying eggs in their branches.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/cicadas-are-coming-rare-dual-emergence-could-bring-one-trillion-of-the-bugs-this-year-180983635/

Big Pharma Ignores Biden, Raises Prices On 775 Brand-Name Drugs

Jan. 19, 2024

Top pharmaceutical companies have raised the list price on around 775 brand-name drugs, in spite of President Joe Biden’s publicized efforts to keep prices low.

The Wall Street Journal reports that theseprice hikes have taken place in just the first half of January 2021. According to data collected by 46brooklyn Research and acquired by the WSJ, the median price increase for these drugs is around 4.5%, with some drugs seeing hikes of 10% or more. Notably, the increase is in contrast to the 3.4% year-on-year inflation rate observed in December 2020.

President Biden has adopted policies to control the soaring drug prices, which have been an ongoing problem in the United States. However, pharmaceutical companies seem undeterred by these policies. (Bidan told them to do it this article is to cover his ass)

The president has implemented automatic rebates to Medicare for drugmakers who raise their prices more rapidly than the price of inflation. The rebate mechanism was implemented in December and has affected 48 drugs that come under Medicare Part B. This step towards controlling drug prices has not, however, prevented the top pharmaceutical companies from raising them.

The drugs that have seen the price hikes include several that are typically used by people globally, such as Ozempic and Mounjaro, according to the Wall Street Journal report. Novo Nordisk, a leading pharmaceutical company, has stated that the changes to the list prices are in response to factors like market conditions and rising costs from inflation.

The increase in drug prices is happening despite the COVID-19 pandemic, which has put a tremendous economic burden on individuals around the world. The pandemic-induced financial crisis has increased the burden on people who need to purchase drugs and has made healthcare unaffordable for many. The vaccine rollout has given hope to the people of a better future, but rising drug prices can have a negative impact on the optimism around the same.

The pharmaceutical companies’ disregard for the policy changes implemented by the Biden administrationbegs the question of who is going to enforce the regulations in place to control drug prices. Pharmaceutical companies have a monopolistic hold on the drug industry, and the solution to this problem may lie outside the government’s hands. It requires a global effort to ensure that essential drugs remain affordable to everyone.

https://www.offthepress.com/big-pharma-ignores-biden-raises-prices-on-775-brand-name-drugs/

NATO General Secretary Goes Rogue – Says No Threat of Russian Expansion Beyond Ukraine

January 24, 2024 | Sundance |

NATO Secretary General JensStoltenberg always reminds meof former ODNI James Clapper. Both men, a little ordinary,had a tendency to say the obvious non-political ordinary thing accidentally, and that would seemingly frustrate the political narrative engineers.

Stoltenberg did it again recently when he was questioned about the horrific and horrible likelihood that terrible Russia would expand their military conflict beyond Ukraine. Surely, given the intensity of the common western narrative, this Russian expansion was only a matter of timing. Nope….

According to the NATO Secretary General, “…we don’t see any direct or imminent threat against any NATO Ally. And therefore, we, of course, monitor closely what Russia does, we have increased our vigilance, our presence in the eastern part of the Alliance, but the whole idea of that is to prevent an attack on a NATO Ally.” {LINK}

What Stoltenberg said was transparently true and confirmable simply by looking beyond the preferred western talking points. However, no doubt his tracked and monitored cell phone was immediately receiving apoplectic calls from the U.S. State Dept for going off script.

Another transparently true thing is, the eastern Ukraine killing stops as soon as President Trump wins the 2024 general election. (And Stoltenberg knows not to piss Trump off. Their biggest fear is he will immediately withdraw from NATO. And NATO are still not contributing 2%)

https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2024/01/24/nato-general-secretary-goes-rogue-says-no-threat-of-russian-expansion-beyond-ukraine/