Thinking about joining the cicadas this summer and just screaming for six weeks straight. You? This spring and early summer, two groups of cicadas—known as “broods”—will be waking up during the same season to serenade us. How nice. What’s the buzz? One brood lives on a 13-year cycle, and the other lives on a 17-year cycle. The broods will emerge at the same time in a rare, synchronized event that last occurred when Thomas Jefferson was in the White House. You might say, it’s been a bit. Brood XIII cicadas will appear in the Midwest, mostly centered in Illinois but also stretching into Wisconsin, Ohio, and Iowa. Brood XIX cicadas have been spotted over a much larger geographic area that includes Missouri, Illinois, Louisiana, North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland. When the cicadas emerge, they’re not exactly quiet about it. They’re heeerrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeee! Cicadas emit a high-pitched buzz, or mating song, that can reach up to 100 decibels—rroughly equivalent to a lawn mower or jackha...