Bug Music: How Insects Gave Us Rhythm and Noise

In the spring of 2013, the cicadas in the Northeastern United States emerged from their seventeen-year cycle—the longest gestation period of any animal. Those who experienced this great sonic invasion compared their sense of wonder to the arrival of a comet or a solar eclipse. This unending rhythmic cycle is just one unique example of how the pulse and noise of insects has taught humans the meaning of rhythm, from the whirr of a cricket's wings to this unfathomable and exact seventeen-year ...