Technologies

Cicadas Are Coming, and So Are the Cicada Salad Recipes

Twice the cicada buzz is due in 2024, and some people are already seeing signs of the winged critters. Here come the recipes.

Hungry? Hungry enough to eat a cicada salad? The Audubon Insectarium in New Orleans is prepping for «cicada-geddon» by testing out some buggy recipes. The Associated Press reports that the museum is trying out cicada recipes, including a green salad with apple, almonds and blueberry vinaigrette, with fried cicada nymphs scattered on top.

Recipes or not, the noisy cicadas are about to hit many parts of the US, and some people are already reporting seeing the loud winged insects. Early visitors are already here. One Reddit user in Missouri shared a photo of cicada nymphs beginning to dig their way out from underground from beneath a plastic pool. And in Chicago, residents are organizing a citywide, summer-long art project called Cicada Parade-a, featuring cicada sculptures.

Cicadas have a weird life cycle. They grow underground, but we humans mostly pay attention to them when they emerge into our above-ground world. And this year is a doozy for the buzzy little guys — in an Associated Press story, University of Connecticut cicada expert John Cooley called it «cicada-geddon.»

There are annual cicadas, which emerge from their underground life every year at various times. Then there are periodical cicadas, which emerge only every 13 or 17 years. Those groupings are called broods and are numbered. Because of their trackable schedule, these broods of periodical cicadas tend to steal all the headlines from their annual cicada comrades.

This summer, it’s a double-brood year. That’s rare. According to ScienceAlert, the last time it happened was in 1803. One brood on a 13-year cycle — called Brood XIX — and another on a 17-year cycle — called Brood XIII — are expected to pop out of the ground in 2024.

Here’s what to know before they take over your neighborhood between May and June, including how to protect your hearing from all that cicada noise — and whether climate change could be responsible for be disrupting the cicada cycle.

What’s expected in 2024

Brood XIX

Brood XIX, also called the Great Southern Brood, is the biggest brood of 13-year periodical cicadas, if you go by geographical distribution. It was last seen in 2011 in the Southeast US. Most periodical cicadas are on a 17-year cycle, but Brood XIX is on a 13-year cycle. The two other surviving 13-year broods are expected to return in 2027 and 2028.

This brood is expected to re-emerge in mid-May and stay around through late June. The cicadas tunnel to the surface, mate, lay their eggs and then die off. Look (and listen) for them in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

Brood XIII

Brood XIII is known as the Northern Illinois Brood. Illinois seems to appeal to cicadas more than any other state. Experts at the University of Connecticut say that the Land of Lincoln «contains both 13- and 17-year life cycles, all seven currently recognized species, and five separate broods, some of which include disjunct populations.» Talk about the Big Noise from Illinois.

This is one of the 17-year cicada broods. It was last seen in 2007 and should be back from mid-May to late June, just like Brood XIX. They are expected to appear in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin and possibly Michigan.

The basics about cicadas

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, cicadas are about 1 to 1.5 inches long, with a wingspan twice that length. They have black bodies, red-brown eyes and membranous wings with orange veins. The noise that makes them famous is the loud courting sound of the adult males.

The name of the species is pronounced differently in the US, where most people say «suh-KEI-duh,» than it is in the UK, where people tend to say, «suh-KAA-dah.»

What to do about the cicadas

Live and let live — they’re temporary and harmless. Cicadas may be noisy, but they don’t bite or sting. And unlike termites, they won’t chew their way into your house, though they could enter through open doors and windows as other insects can. In fact, pest-control experts say that pesticides don’t work on cicadas.

«It’s a waste of (pesticide), and it’s a danger to the environment just to spray down because you’re afraid of the cicadas,» one expert told CNET in 2021.

How can you manage the cicada noise?

The main problem with the cicadas is obvious: their constant buzzing noise. They’re around only for about six weeks, however, so experts have some ideas for how to keep the sound from driving you buggy.

These aren’t cicada-specific remedies, but they work. You might try noise-canceling headphones, white-noise machines or simple earplugs. You can also try some DIY soundproofing, such as weather-stripping foam tape.

Climate change and cicadas

Climate change brings rising global temperatures, and the cicadas aren’t working with a calendar, they’re reacting to temperatures. So it’s unsurprising that scientists believe climate change affects the cicadas as well.

Chris Simon, a professor in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Connecticut, has studied and researched cicadas for years.

«Warmer winters and earlier springs will cause cicadas to come out earlier,» Simon told CNET. «Warming climates also increase the growing season in a given area so that cicadas may be ready to emerge from the ground years earlier — generally four years earlier — turning 17-year cicada populations into temporary 13-year cicadas. If this happens repeatedly, we hypothesize that 17-year cicadas could become permanent 13-year cicadas.»

But that change wouldn’t reduce the number of cicadas, Simon told CNET, just adjust their schedule. And it shouldn’t affect the food chain, because «the animals that eat them above ground would see them more often, and the animals that eat them underground would still do so,» Simon said.

While it’s possible that climate change could force the cicadas to move farther north, that won’t be an immediate change. Simon notes that periodical cicadas can move only as adults, and that can happen only for about for weeks every 13 or 17 years. While periodical cicadas can fly, they tend not to move much or migrate long distances. Human-made asphalt and cement obstacles could also prevent the cicadas from taking off to the great white north.

How you can help cicada researchers

Want to help scientists learn more about periodical cicadas?

«Citizen scientists are critical for filling in the parts of the distribution that we do not have time to visit or unknown parts of the distribution that we can later verify,» Simon told CNET.

To help you can download Cicada Safari for iOS or Android, a free app developed by Simon’s colleague Gene Kritsky. The app asks people to take a cicada photo using their phone, with geolocation allowed.

«(Kritsky’s) team will verify photos and log the data and share it with us,» Simon said.

How to protect new, small trees from cicadas

While cicadas shouldn’t hurt large, mature trees, new young trees may be vulnerable. Female cicadas like to lay their eggs on trees where new leaves are located, puncturing the branches and possibly causing leaves to wither, turn brown and even snap. So if you live in a cicada territory, hold off on planting any new trees until they’re gone, which should be in late June.

If you have new small trees and are worried about cicada damage, you may want to loosely wrap their trunks and the areas where twigs meet the branches. You can use cheesecloth, foil tape, barrier tape or sticky tape. You could also use landscaping nets around smaller trees. CNET has a guide to tree protection against cicadas.

People eat cicadas?

The New Orleans museum isn’t alone. You can actually eat cicadas. Don’t even try it, though, if you have seafood allergies, because cicadas are related to shrimp and lobster.

If you’re made of tough stuff and don’t get easily queased-out by unusual foods, there are plenty of simple cicada recipes on the web. An expert from Johns Hopkins University says they’re «quite tasty» but admits «the yuck factor» might keep most of us from even trying.

The good news, though, is that if your dog wolfs a few down — and dog owners know some pups will eat literally anything — cicadas shouldn’t harm them. Just watch that they don’t choke from eating too many at once.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Wednesday, July 16

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for July 16.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s Mini Crossword was pretty loopy, and it took me longer than usual. I was clueless about the Harry Potter clue for 1-Down. Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

The Mini Crossword is just one of many games in the Times’ games collection. If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Keeps in the loop, in a way
Answer: CCS

4A clue: They’re kept in the loop
Answer: BELTS

6A clue: Love to pieces
Answer: ADORE

7A clue: Craze
Answer: MANIA

8A clue: Single weightlifting unit
Answer: REP

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Type of wood in Horace Slughorn’s wand in the Harry Potter books
Answer: CEDAR

2D clue: What might have you seeing double?
Answer: CLONE

3D clue: Cartoonist’s creation
Answer: STRIP

4D clue: «Ka-POW!»
Answer: BAM

5D clue: The Caribbean, e.g.
Answer: SEA

Technologies

Data Centers Are ‘AI Factories.’ Google and Meta Are Spending Big Bucks to Build Them

It’s not just the spending that will be big. Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg envisions a single data center, the footprint of which would occupy as much acreage as a good chunk of Manhattan.

Tech giants Google and Meta have a lot riding on the growth and success of AI, and to support those efforts, they’re also committing significant sums of money to build the data centers they’re going to need to run that power-hungry technology.

On Tuesday, Google announced that it plans to invest $25 billion in data centers and other AI infrastructure tied to the PJM Interconnection, the biggest electric grid in the US. The PJM Interconnection reaches across 13 states in the eastern half of the US. The new data centers are expected to be in and around Pennsylvania.

To help meet the energy demands of the new data centers, Google also said it will invest $3 billion in hydropower. That use of a renewable energy source fits in with Google’s goal to become carbon-free by 2030. (Similarly, Meta is aiming to achieve net-zero emissions by 2030.)

«I think there is a race on to co-locate data centers close to reliable, plentiful and inexpensive sources of energy,» Ramayya Krishnan, professor of management science and information systems at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College.

The advent of generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Meta AI is accelerating the demands on data centers, which also support everyday cloud computing tasks like photo sharing and movie streaming.

«Data centers are a critical part of the AI production process and its deployment,» said Krishnan. «Think of them as AI factories.»

Google already operates dozens of data centers worldwide.

Google’s announcement comes on the same day that President Donald Trump is attending an energy summit at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where investment in AI is a key topic.

On Monday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that his company will invest «hundreds of billions of dollars» in the computing needed to build superintelligence, a lofty aspiration to create AI that surpasses human capabilities.

Zuckerberg said that Meta has «several multi-[gigawatt] clusters» in the works, referring to the power consumption of the data centers. «We’re calling the first one Prometheus, and it’s coming online in ’26. We’re also building Hyperion, which will be able to scale up to 5GW over several years.» Earlier this year, Zuckerberg introduced one of Meta’s newest data centers, a 2GW facility being built in Louisiana.

These facilities could be mammoth. In a post on Threads, Zuckerberg showed the outline of a single data center that would cover «a significant part of the footprint of Manhattan.»

As the big new data centers get built, that could bring both opportunities and stresses to the communities near them

In a recent Airedale by Modine survey of 600 Americans, 70% of respondents said they wouldn’t mind living near a data center and remained hopeful that the facilities would positively impact their community. Among those who opposed data centers being built near their homes, their top concerns involved increased energy demand, noise pollution and hits to property value.

Krishnan noted the potential pluses and minuses. Data centers could raise energy prices for residential customers if the energy supply is limited, and they also use significant amounts of water, which could create environmental concerns.

«On the positive side,» Krishnan said, «data centers could create an eco-system of partners increasing employment opportunities in the region and [consequential] growth.»

Technologies

How to Watch Pokemon Presents 2025 for Legends: Z-A, TCG Pocket and More

July’s Pokemon Presents stream will likely provide updates for Pokemon live service games, mainline titles and the upcoming Netflix series.

It’s that time again, trainers: Grab your Pokedex and get ready to catch some new pocket monsters, because we’re about to hear everything about the latest developments in the world of Pokemon.

The Pokemon Presents July 2025 stream is the first one since Pokemon Day in February. That stream ended up being pretty massive, featuring game announcements and content updates that we heard whispers about from GameFreak’s infamous 2024 data breach.

While we don’t know what to expect this time around, it’s safe to assume that we’ll hear about the next mainline games, mobile titles, live service updates and more.

Here’s how you can watch the upcoming Pokemon Direct — and what you can expect to see once you tune into the stream.

How to watch July 2025’s Pokemon Presents stream

The upcoming Pokemon Presents stream will take place on Tuesday, July 22 at 6 a.m. PT (9 a.m. ET, 2 p.m. BST, 11 p.m. AEST). The stream will go live on the official Pokemon YouTube channel. We don’t know exactly how long the event will run, but previous Pokemon Presents streams have ranged from 10 to 20 minutes long, depending on how many announcements are prepared for the stream.

What can you expect from Pokemon Presents July 2025?

This Pokemon Presents stream is positioned at a strange time — Pokemon Legends: Z-A for the Nintendo Switch 2 has already been announced and we have plenty of info and gameplay footage available for that game. We might still get a segment that expands on new gameplay mechanics and Pokemon that players will be able to find in this version of the Kalos region, especially Mega forms that we haven’t yet seen.

The official Pokemon Company Japan X account teased this Pokemon Direct with a rather foreboding photo of Pikachu standing in front of some DJ equipment, so we might hear about a Pokemon rhythm game. Between that, New Pokemon Snap and the return of Mystery Dungeon, I’m loving the reintroduction of bizarre offshoot games.

It’s also possible that generation 10 will be announced during the presentation. There are usually three years between mainline Pokemon titles, and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet released in 2022. Unless GameFreak is looking to polish the next big games with some extra development time, we’re probably due to hear about the next generation of Pokemon games extremely soon.

Pokemon Day 2025 featured an announcement for Pokemon Champions, a dedicated Pokemon battling game, but we haven’t heard much about the game since. We could very well get an update about that game during this stream, explaining more about how the game will integrate the series’ long list of battle mechanics and giving us a better idea of when we’ll see a full release.

Otherwise, the backbone of this presentation will very likely be composed of routine updates and new features for Pokemon mobile and live service games. We can expect to hear about new Pokemon coming to Pokemon Cafe Mix, Pokemon Masters Ex and Pokemon Sleep, with the potential for new playable Pokemon to be revealed for Pokemon Unite.

With Pokemon Go changing hands from Niantic to Scopely, it’s possible that the extremely popular AR game will have announcements that shake up core gameplay features for Pokemon trainers worldwide. The recent addition of the Gold Bottle Cap was already a massive change for the status quo.

I’d be willing to bet that the next Pokemon TCG Pocket set will be revealed during this Pokemon Presents as well. New expansions are usually teased at the end of each month, which lines up with this stream. The last Pokemon Presents included info about a massive set expansion, too, so the precedent is already set for this reveal.

If you’re excited for non-gaming Pokemon content, there’s also a chance we’ll see some Pokemon Concierge during the Pokemon Presents July stream. The second season for this slice-of-life Pokemon hotel series is set to release on Netflix in September, so we might catch a scene or two teasing the show and get an official release date.