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A cicada warning system with Arduino

Zoe RomanoApril 2nd, 2013

cicadas

This spring, patches of the East Coast will turn buzzy and crunchy because of … bugs.  Periodical cicadas (or Magicicadas) usually live underground but after 13 or 17 years, they emerge synchronously and in tremendous numbers to look for a mate.  Radiolab launched a campaign to predict their arrival with a bit of DIY science and using an Arduino UNO.

 

cicada detector

You can follow the instructions of the  simple tutorial on how to monitor soil temperature until it reaches 64° F (17,7 C°) — when the cicadas should start to emerge. The homemade temperature kit will be reporting the findings back to to Radiolab so they can  put them on a map and share crowdsourced observations with the world. Get ready for Swarmageddon, watch the video below!

Categories:Arduino