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Pretty much anything you can make with shrimp, you can make with cicadas.

NEW ORLEANS — As the nation prepares for trillions of red-eyed bugs known as periodical cicadas to emerge, it's worth noting that they're not just annoying, noisy pests — if prepared properly, they can also be tasty to eat. Blocks away from such French Quarter fine-dining stalwarts as Antoine's and Brennan's, the Audubon Insectarium in New Orleans has long served up an array of alternative, insect-based treats at its “Bug Appetit” cafe overlooking the Mississippi River. “Cinnamon Bug Crunch,” chili-fried waxworms, and crispy, cajun-spiced crickets are among the menu items. Periodical cicadas stay buried for years, until they surface and...

The last time Brood XIX and Brood XIII emerged from underground at the same time, Thomas Jefferson was president.

ABC legal analyst Sunny Hostin said Monday on ABC’s “The View” that eclipses, earthquakes and cicadas could “lead one to believe” that “climate change exists.” Partial transcript as follows: HOSTIN: I know, right? I have to say, one of our wonderful makeup artists…when the earthquake was happening, she put her coat on and she was, like, Jesus is coming. I’m out. I’m leaving. We got a solar eclipse. We’ve got an earthquake. She ran down the hallway. GRIFFIN: The Rapture is here! HOSTIN: The Rapture is here. Also, I learned that the cica-ah-das are coming.

Trillions of cicadas will emerge across several U.S. states this spring in an event one expert dubbed "cicada-geddon." Not only are more cicadas than usual expected this year, but some of them will be "zombie cicadas" that are infected by a sexually transmitted fungus that makes them hyper-sexual. Periodical cicadas spend most of their lives underground and only emerge after 13 or 17 years. This year, two broods of cicadas will emerge: Brood XIX, which comes out every 13 years, will emerge in the Georgia and Southeast, and Brood XIII, which emerges every 17 years, will appear in Illinois. With...

A team has discovered that a diet containing wheat can increase the severity of multiple sclerosis (MS). This is due to the amylase trypsin inhibitors (ATI), natural proteins in wheat, while the gluten proteins did not influence the inflammatory reaction. The studies confirm that diet and gut health can influence the course of chronic inflammatory diseases, including MS. What is special, is that a specific ingredient can promote this inflammation. Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system. Amylase trypsin inhibitors (ATI) are natural proteins found in cereals such as wheat, barley and rye. As the scientists...

It’s official: 2024 belongs to the cicadas. This spring, two different broods of cicadas — one that lives on a 13-year cycle and the other that lives on a 17-year cycle — will emerge at the same time from underground in a rare, synchronized event that last occurred in 1803. Billions of the winged insects will make an appearance across the Midwest and the Southeast, beginning in some places in late April, for a raucous mating ritual that tends to inspire fascination and annoyance in equal measure. This year’s dual emergence is a once-in-a-lifetime event. While any given 13-year brood...

Many Marylanders are already over this cicada emergence. But, some families are making the best of it — including a Maryland family that enjoyed the insects on pizza. Anything is good on pizza, right? In a TikTok video, Alyssa Lighter and her family fried up some cicadas, adding a sprinkle of Old Bay and topping them on a pizza. The video shows each child trying it and their reactions. Lighter said her 7-year-old was the first to want to try a cicada. So the rest of the family got on board. The kids thought it tasted like ham or normal...

WASHINGTON — The plane set to carry dozens of journalists to Europe to cover President Joe Biden’s first trip abroad was on the runway, ready to take off. The cicadas had other ideas. Somehow, the flying insects had filled the plane’s engines, grounding it and forcing Biden’s aides to scramble for another way to ferry the reporters overseas. What was supposed to be a 9 p.m. departure was delayed until 11. And then until 2:15 a.m. Perhaps it was inevitable, with billions of cicadas flying around much of the eastern United States in recent weeks. In the nation’s capital, where...

VIDEOThey're here already! TRILLIONS OF THEM!!! The Killer Cicadas! They will kill again and again! You're next! You're next! YOU'RE NEXT!!!

Journalists due to accompany Joe Biden on his first overseas trip as president were delayed on their outbound flight to England on Tuesday night - because of cicadas. A swarm of the noisy flying insects - part of the billions-strong Brood X which appears across the United States every 17 years - filled the engines of the White House press plane as it was on the runway at Dulles International Airport, reported The New York Times. The pilots were forced to turn the aircraft back to the departure gate. The insects were responsible for the delay, a spokesperson for Delta...

The 17-year “Brood X” cicadas are hatching in such high numbers that they’re being picked up by weather radar in Virginia. “THIS is not rain, not ground clutter,” NBC meteorologist Lauryn Ricketts tweeted on Monday. “So likely CICADAS being picked up by the radar beam.” Pallozzi said the NWS has a weather radar located in Sterling, Virginia, in the same region as the radar map that Ricketts posted, and explained that the beams the radar devices send out rise the further they travel from the machine. So the beams are picking up the newly emerged cicadas on the ground near...

**SNIP** Air-fried felt like a safe place to start, especially once I noticed the flurry of Old Bay seasoning being sprinkled onto each batch. I grabbed a set of two on a toothpick, declining the extra roll in even more Old Bay (I’m at work here). The cicadas, once pale, were now golden and browned, their signature eyes turned black from the heat. I popped one into my mouth. Not bad! Certainly not buggy. The entire critter crackled in my mouth like a piece of earthy popcorn. I caught a subtle nuttiness underneath the crunch, almost reminiscent of a roasted...

Every 17 years the billions of constituents of Brood X tunnel up from their subterranean lairs to spend their final days partying in the sun. This generation got its start back in 2004, when Facebook existed only at Harvard University and Friends aired its last episode. The newly hatched cicada nymphs fell from the trees and burrowed into the dirt. They have been underground ever since, feeding on sap from the rootlets of grasses and trees and slowly maturing. All of that preparation has been leading up to this moment when they surface in droves—up to 1.4 million cicadas per...

Depending on where you live, it might be warm enough for periodical cicadas to start moving around underground, or start digging tunnels to the surface and building cicada “chimneys” above their holes. Report cicada nymph or adult sightings to Cicadas @ UCONN (formerly Magicicada.org) so cicada researchers will know where they are. What to look for: 1) Animals can hear the cicadas stirring underground, and will try to dig them up and eat them. Look for holes (about the size of a walnut or larger) made by animals digging for cicadas. 2) Look for cicadas under stones and slates. Some...

In one of nature’s mysteries, 15 states will soon witness the reemergence of Brood X — or the Great Eastern Brood — of periodical cicadas. These “large, winged, kind of scary-looking but mostly harmless flying insects known for their almost deafening buzz” emerge in-unison every 17 years. Periodical cicadas have “black bodies and bold red eyes,” and spend 17 years lying underground in “wingless nymph form,” feeding on sap. While most cicadas travel as individuals or in small groups after reaching adulthood, periodical cicadas follow a strict schedule... “The end of May through June, it can get pretty loud —...

After lying dormant for nearly 20 years, the cacophonous 17-year cicadas will soon emerge from their subterranean slumber pods, ready to bring their “head-splitting” noise to the East Coast. “The end of May through June, it can get pretty loud,” said Howard Russell, an entomologist at Michigan State University, told USA Today of the groundbreaking phenomenon. The winged, black insects are classified in “broods” according to when they emerge from underground and raise hell. This spring, we’ll be hearing from millions of Brood Xers — one of largest broods in the US — who will likely be surfacing in 15...

West Virginia University researchers have discovered that a cicada fungus called Massopora contains chemicals similar to those found in hallucinogenic mushrooms. The fungus causes cicadas to lose their limbs and eccentric behavior sets in: Males try to mate with everything they encounter, although the fungus has consumed their genitals and butts. Despite the horrid physical state of infected cicadas, they continue to roam around freely as if nothing's wrong, dousing other cicadas with a dose of their disease. Kasson and his team are buzzing along on additional cicada research. They recently collected cicadas from this year's emergence in Pennsylvania and...

One evening in January last year, Joel Eriksson, a 34-year-old computer analyst from Uppsala in Sweden, was trawling the web, looking for distraction, when he came across a message on an internet forum. The message was in stark white type, against a black background.

Eat a bug and save a tree: that is the message being sent to the residents of an east China city where an annual explosion in cicada numbers is having a devastating effect on the local greenery. The earnest appeal was made by Sun Xiaoping, the official in charge of green spaces in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, according to a report by local newspaper Dushi Kuaibao. Cicadas reproduce in huge numbers in July and August, with the average female producing about 100 eggs at a time. When the young insects emerge they gorge on the sap of the willow...