BUZZING TRIVIA

How Long Do Cicadas Live? 10 Facts About These Noisy Friends!

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Cicadas are fascinating living beings. They spend years slowly developing underground, only to die shortly after emerging. They sing loud and mesmerizing summer symphonies that can be heard from miles away.

Join us as we unravel the many mysteries of cicadas!

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Cicadas have one of the longest lifespans among insects, with certain broods surviving up to 17 years underground before emerging as adults.

This extended period spent feeding on sap from tree roots allows them to develop slowly, conserving energy for their brief life above ground.

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Cicada nymphs are adept tunnelers, using their strong front legs to burrow through the soil in search of tree roots to feed on. They construct vertical tunnels that can extend as much as 2 feet underground, where they remain until it's time to emerge as adults.

This subterranean lifestyle protects them from predators and environmental fluctuations until their time to emerge to the surface comes. While tunneling out, they produce chemicals that act as a sort of glue, holding the tunnel’s shape for long periods of time.

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Cicadas feed primarily on xylem sap, the nutrient-rich fluid found in plant vascular systems. Using their specialized mouthparts, they tap into tree roots (or branches during adulthood) to access this vital sustenance.

While their feeding habits may cause minor damage to trees, cicadas more than make up for it by helping aerate the soil with their tunnels and contributing nitrogen to the soil after they die.

Credit: Ian Hutchinson

North American periodical cicadas have a unique lifecycle, spending either 13 or 17 years underground before emerging. This lengthy span isn't random, it's thought to be an evolutionary strategy to avoid synchronization with predator populations.

Emerging in prime-numbered cycles makes it difficult for predators to anticipate their arrival.

Credit: Ian Hutchinson

If you are a fan of cicadas, this year you might have the chance to witness a very rare phenomenon. Periodical cicadas are classified into groups called broods according to the length of their cycles and their location.

Sometimes, two or more broods synchronize and emerge all at once in the same year, swarming wooded areas with billions of the chanting insects. In 2024, Brood XIX and Brood XIII will emerge at the same time in the Midwest, something we have not seen since Thomas Jefferson was president!

Credit: Jacinto Diego

Mass emergences of cicadas can sometimes coincide with the outbreak of a fungal pathogen known as Massospora cicadina. This fungus infects cicadas, causing them to lose control of their bodies and engage in bizarre behaviors.

Infected cicadas are often noticeable because they lose part of their abdomen to a soft mass of fungal spores. Despite these gruesome effects, the fungus only affects a small percentage of the total population.

Credit: Yuri Vasconcelos

Like all insects, cicadas undergo ecdysis, the process of shedding their exoskeletons as they grow. However, cicadas take this to the extreme, shedding their nymphal exoskeletons en masse once they emerge as adults.

This transformation process, known as molting, leaves behind the ghostly exoskeletons of their nymphal stages clinging to trees and other surfaces.

Credit: Deb Dowd

Once above ground, adult cicadas spend their short-lived adulthood focused on one mission: reproduction. Males produce their characteristic buzzing calls to attract mates, with some species capable of reaching volumes exceeding 100 decibels.

Unlike crickets, which rub their legs together to make noise, cicadas repeatedly expand and contract a membrane called a tymbal. Their cacophonous chorus serves as a mating call that can be heard from miles away.

Credit: Joshua J. Cotten

On top of their lengthy cycles and simultaneous hatching, cicadas have evolved various adaptations to survive predation. From cryptic coloration to mimicry of toxic species, they employ a range of strategies to evade hungry predators.

Males soften or stop their singing altogether when a predator approaches so that their attention goes to nearby louder singers. Some species even display bright colors on their wings when threatened.

Credit: Harish Shivaraman

Celebrated for their crunchy texture and nutty flavor, in many cultures cicadas are considered prized delicacies. Among Native Americans, specimens from the 17-year brood were highly sought after, while in South Asia, they are often eaten deep-fried, or in a similar fashion to shellfish and other crustaceans.

Rich in protein and low in fat, cicadas can be a healthy and sustainable food source.

LINGUISTIC JOURNEY

Check Out These 10 Words You Probably Didn't Know Came From Arabic!

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Arabic may seem a world apart from English, but you may be surprised to learn that many of the words you use every day have Arabic roots! While English is spoken by over 1.4 billion people worldwide, our language has been in contact with many others throughout history. This interesting past has helped enrich its vocabulary in ways you wouldn't imagine.

Today, we’re sharing 10 English words you probably didn't know come from Arabic!

Credit: MARIOLA GROBELSKA

Despite being among the most impressive and beautiful animals in the world, giraffes are not native to the Americas. Likewise, the word for this unique animal doesn't originate from English but from Arabic. The Arabic zarāfah can be translated as "fast-walker," a meaning probably related to the animal's extensive limbs.

Zarāfah was first adapted into Italian as giraffaand then into French as girafe. Finally, English adopted it in the 16th century, turning it into the word we use today.

But that's not all! Before the word "giraffe" was established, there was a very different expression. Archaic English used the term "camelopard," based on the belief that the giraffe was a hybrid of a camel and a leopard! Weird, right?

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While algebra can be a challenge for many of us, understanding the origin of this word may be a bit easier.

TheArabic wordal-jabrmeans "completion" or "reunion of broken parts." This word was first used in a text from 820 CEentitled Kitab al-Jabr wa-l-Muqabala ("The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing"). This text, one of the fundamental pillars of algebra, was translated into Latin around the 12th century, and the word al-jabr -with its very appropriate meaning, we have to say- passed into Latin as algebra.

Spanish, Italian, and French took the word from Latin without major modifications, and so did English when it borrowed the term.

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There's nothing like a delicious cup of coffee in the morning, right? Or in the afternoon, or even in the evening! Yes, like many Americans, we love coffee.

We have Ethiopia to thank for this beverage that enriches our days and wakes up our brains, and the Arabs for giving us the word to name it. Although coffee was discovered in the Kaffa region of Ethiopia, it was the Arabs who commercialized and distributed this delicacy to the rest of the world.

The word the Arabs had for coffee was qahwa, which originally meant "wine" or "elixir." This term evolved to kahve in Turkish and qahveh in Persian. When coffee arrived in Europe in the 16th century, the Italians called it caffè, and the Dutch koffie. Finally, it was adapted to café in Spanishand "coffee" in English.

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You know what to do if life gives you lemons, but what if it gives you laymūn? Well, it'd be pretty much the same!

The lemon tree is believed to have been first cultivated in Asia. Once it reached the Middle East, the Arabs did an excellent job with its propagation in the Middle Ages.

Just like the yellow citrus fruit, the word to call italso had a big journey across continents. The Arabic laymūn, used specifically to refer to lemon, was first adapted to Old French limun and Italian limone.

Probably during the Norman conquest of England, limun was adapted to Middle Englishas lymon and then to the familiar "lemon." When Europeans arrived in America in the 15th century, they brought not only the term but also the fruit and eventually established lemon groves in different parts of the continent. Lucky us!

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Sugar, so common today, was once a luxury that only a few could enjoy.

As with many other products, the Arabs brought sugar from the Middle East and Asia to Europe, with their own word for it: sukkar. That term was, in turn, derived from the Sanskrit śarkarā and the Persian shakar, which can be translated as "grit" or "gravel."

Medieval Latin adapted the Arabic term to succarum, which then mutated into the Old French sucre and eventually into the English word "sugar."

At first, "sugar" referred to various sweet substances from different types of plants, and over time, it came to designate the product derived from sugarcane, i.e., the sugar we all know!

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What would you say if we told you that, in ancient times, the word "alcohol" designated makeup? Well, the truth is that the Arabic term al-kuhlwas used to refer to a type of antimony powder that some groups used as an eyeliner!

Over time, al-kuhl began to expand its meaning and was used to designate any product obtained through distillation, which included spirits.

Later, when the word came in contact with Latin, it was adapted to alcohol. Through this change, the word began to refer to ethanol, the alcohol present in beverages. By the 16th century, the word was already established in English, Spanish, and other languages.

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Magazines are still an important part of our lives, whether in digital or analog format. Surprisingly, the Arabic word that gives origin to "magazine" didn't refer to what you're probably thinking.

Makhzan referred to a storehouse or a warehouse. In the 14th century, Old French adopted it as magasin, and this word passed into English as "magazine" in the 17th century. However, its meaning was still linked to the original sense given by the Arabs.

The modern meaning of the word began to take shape in the 18th century when publications similar to today's magazines became widespread. With topics such as science, literature, philosophy, and many others, magazines came to be seen as a "storehouse of information" or a place where knowledge is kept. Poetic, don't you think?

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Nothing like spending a night on the sofa watching a movie and eating some tasty treats, right? Well, it seems that, back in ancient times, the Arabs did that too - without the movie part, of course.

Ṣuffaor soffah is the word the Arabs used to describe a raised platform covered with blankets, carpets, and cushions, designed for people to sit or lie on comfortably.

This word evolved into Italian as sofà and Old French as sofa. Finally, those terms were adapted to our beloved "sofa" that graces the living rooms of many Americans and people around the world.

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Hard candies, gummy bears, chocolate bars; with so many delicious options, it's impossible to pick just one! While these treats are everywhere today, there was a time when your favorite candies didn't exist, and the word we use to designate them was different from the one we know today.

Our "candy" comes from the Arabic qandi, meaning "made with sugar."When qandi encountered Latin, it evolved into candi, which then became candie in Old French.

Finally, Middle English adopted the word as "candy," originally referring to crystallized sugar. Over time, its definition expanded to reach its current meaning.

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In the Middle Ages, people in the Middle East used mats or cushions that were thrown on the floor to sleep or rest on. The term for them was matrah, which can be translated as "something thrown down."

In the 12th century, during the Crusades, Europeans not only adopted the Arabic practice but also the word, which was incorporated into Latin as matratium. Later, the word evolved into Old French as materas.

In the 14th century, the word entered Middle English as matresse, which evolved into today's "mattress."