SCIENCE CORNER: CICADA PEE

If you live along the east coast where the cicada Brood-X has emerged, and you’re walking under some trees and you feel little drops of water, don’t worry – it’s only cicada pee. According to science, Cicadas pee a lot, particularly during warm days. And when thousands of cicadas are perched overhead on tree branches, their pee falls to the ground like a gentle rain shower. Their pee is also called honeydew, and it’s loaded with sugar. It’s slightly sticky and gummy, but it’s harmless, just like the cicadas that squirt it out. Paula Shrewsbury, a professor of entomology at the University of Maryland, wrote in an email, “It feels like when a rain just starts, and you get a small drop or two and say, ‘Is it starting to rain?’”
* Just don’t ask what is it when you say, “Is it starting to hail?”
* Who the hell calls their urine “honeydew”? Bear Grylls?
* The pee gets really stinky after they gorge themselves on a field of asparagus.
* These things suddenly appear uninvited, eat everything in sight, have horrible bathroom habits, and then disappear leaving a huge mess. It’s like when family visits at Christmas.
* We’re about two days away from a story about someone making Cicada Pee Pale Ale – the craft beer with a real buzz.