It just figures that this is the year a weird cicada story would appear. I mean those guys are underground for 17 years and now they're popping up with some sort of strange fungus. It's their covid-19. Scientists say the insects are under the influence of a psychedelic fungus called Massospora. The fungus has compounds like the ones found in hallucinogenic or "magic" mushrooms. The infected cicadas unknowingly trick other insects which leads to effective disease transmission. The Massospora causes infected male cicadas to move their wings in the way females do during a mating invitation. This tempts other male cicadas into being infected.
If that isn't enough for you, and you have had your own run in with noisy cicadas, you can read the whole thing right here.
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