From Georgia to New York and west to the Mississippi River, billions of cicadas are beginning to emerge from the ground.
Over the next four weeks, the Brood X cicada nymphs will molt into adults and mate. Why does this happen every 17 years, why do so many cicadas emerge… and why are they so loud?
The PBS NewsHour’s William Brangham took your cicada questions to Mike Raupp of The University of Maryland and Jessica Ware of the American Museum of Natural History.
Watch their conversation in the player above.
READ MORE: How to turn cicada season 2021 into a science project
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