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Save The Earth

As already said, this springs will bring swarms of cicadas to U.S. East Coast, from North Carolina up to Connecticut. Yet, it's a mistery how cicadas got stuck in 13 and 17 year life cycle.

Cicadas spend most of their living time underground, by surviving on bacteria and tree roots. When the ground reaches 18 °C, in the 13th or 17th year ( depending on their species), they leave their colonies to search for a mate.

In 2004 a Brazilian study suggested that cicadas didn't just settle on a random number, but instead found that intervals based on prime numbers, offered the best breeding strategy of stayng alive.

Now researchers in Japan and U.S. reveal a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academies  of Science thet breeding on intermittent cycles has changed the insect's DNA over time. The study showed that cicadas of different species, despite the similiar way they emerge in different timelines, evolved independently over millions of years. 

The discovers came from analyzing DNA from 30 years of samples kept at University of Connecticut.