Cicada Detector

Patches of the East Coast are buzzing with the return of the 17-year cicadas. They're carpeting spots from GA to CT, and filling the air with a 7 kHz mating buzz. Alert scientists when you see them emerge — or help predict their arrival with a home-built sensor!

• From Georgia to Connecticut, baby magicicadas, or "nymphs," have been sleeping and feeding on the juice of tree roots underground for 17 years. They emerge when the soil temperature reaches a steady 64° F.

• Build a detector to monitor the soil 8" down. . .

• . . . and use the nine LEDs on the detector to report your temperature to Radiolab. A steady 64° F indicates the cicadas should arrive!

• A week after emerging from underground, the male magicicada begins its mating call. The female magicicada responds by flicking its wings. A mating ritual ensues to spawn the next brood of magicicada!

• You can hear the magicicada's call. You won't miss it!

• Once they have emerged, it takes about a week for magicicadas to shed their final "skin" and reach adulthood.

When you see or hear cicadas emerge, we want to hear about it — and so do bug scientsts! Fill out the report form, and we'll send your data to research scientist John Cooley and professor Chris Simon at the University of Connecticut Ecology & Evolutionary Biology department. They're tracking this once-in-a-17-year event for science.

Magicicada Brood II will make its 17-year appearance when the ground 8" down is a steady 64° F. Help predict the arrival by planting a homemade temperature sensor in the ground and reporting your findings back to to Radiolab. We'll put them on a map and share your observations with the world.

The whole detector costs about $80 in parts and takes about 2 hours to build. You'll want it in the ground by mid-April, the earliest the cicadas are likely to emerge.

Parts List

Finished Detector

• diagram
• Photo

Assembly Guide