Cicada Song at the Garden

Posted in Around the Garden on May 13 2013, by Ann Rafalko

In case you haven’t heard: The cicadas are coming! The cicadas are coming! To New York City at least, where they haven’t been seen, en masse, since 1996. Cicadas of the Brood II type hibernate underground for 17 years, waiting for the soil to warm to a balmy 64°F before emerging in the millions to mate. Then, they disappear again for another 17 years. We haven’t seen, or heard, them yet at the Garden, but there have been scattered sightings throughout the greater New York City area.

And it turns out, cicadas have not only a sense of rhythm, but also a sense of timing and will have emerged in time for the World Science Festival! We’ll be celebrating with a special Festival program on June 1, Cicada Serenades: Music, Mating, and Meaning. The panel will be moderated by ABC News’ Good Morning America co-anchor Dan Harris, and will feature musician, philosopher, and author David Rothenberg (recently featured on WNYC’s SoundCheck); environmental scientist John Cooley; professor and neurobiologist Ronald Hoy; and author, biologist, and professor Marlene Zuk. Discussion of the cicada’s song, mating rituals, and scientific importance will be punctuated by a “musical performance between the bugs and their human collaborators.”

Each ticket to Cicada Serenades includes one All-Garden Pass which includes access to Wild Medicine: Healing Plants Around the World, The Edible Garden, and Science Open House behind-the-scenes tours (on a first-come, first-served basis). Full details on this and dozens of other World Science Festival events are available here. They’re spread out all over New York City and run the gamut from computer chess, to quantum physics, the science of art, a hackathon, and so, so much more!