This year's poster insect

+ socializing once you're vaccinated US Edition - Today's top story: Billions of cicadas may be coming soon to trees near you [View in browser]( US Edition | 13 March 2021 [The Conversation]( Academic rigor, journalistic flair It sounds like the plot of a new Marvel movie – Brood X is emerging! But this is real: the return of [one of the largest groups of 17-year cicadas in North America](. Brood X last appeared in 2004. Starting sometime in April, the next generation of cicadas will fill trees with rasping, buzzy trills across a dozen Eastern and Midwestern states. University of Connecticut ecologists John Cooley and Chris Simon study cicadas to learn about the evolution, natural history and geographic distribution of life. And if you live in Brood X territory, they welcome your help documenting where and when the cicadas emerge. Of course, [there’s an app for that](. This week we also liked articles about [daylight saving time and the importance of getting enough sleep](, [a reason healthy, affordable food options are limited in many low-income and Black neighborhoods]( and the [social and cognitive benefits of playing video games](. Jennifer Weeks Senior Environment + Energy Editor Periodical cicada in Washington, D.C., May 2017. Katha Schulz/Flickr [Billions of cicadas may be coming soon to trees near you]( John Cooley, University of Connecticut; Chris Simon, University of Connecticut One of the largest groups of 17-year cicadas, Brood X, last emerged from underground in 2004. The next generation will arrive starting in April. Nurse Nicole Chang celebrates after receiving one of the first injections of the COVID-19 vaccine Dec. 16 at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Westwood, California. Brian van der Brug/Getty Images [Vaccinated and ready to party? Not so fast, says the CDC, but you can gather with other vaccinated people]( William Petri, University of Virginia Millions of vaccinated people have been waiting for guidelines on what they can do safely. The CDC says it's OK to gather with other vaccinated people, but it's still best to avoid travel. Sleep loss was an issue even before COVID-19. Thurston Hopkins/Picture Post/Hulton Archive via Getty Images [Daylight saving time could be especially hard this weekend because of COVID-19 sleep loss]( Michael S. Jaffee, University of Florida Springing forward for daylight saving time will be especially hard this year due to sleep loss from COVID-19. Why does the US keep doing this? - [How urban planning and housing policy helped create ‘food apartheid’ in US cities]( Julian Agyeman, Tufts University Discriminatory zoning and housing policies have concentrated poverty in urban America along racial lines. As a result, healthy, affordable food options are limited in many low-income and Black neighborhoods. - [Is gaming good for kids?]( John Velez, Indiana University Research shows multiple social and cognitive benefits of playing video games. - [Holding on to hope is hard, even with the pandemic’s end in sight – wisdom from poets through the ages]( Rachel Hadas, Rutgers University - Newark Hope does not ride alone. It has a companion: anxiety. A classics scholar who is a poet notes that, at what may be the end of a long and dark pandemic year, both are in evidence. - [New Jersey State Police’s first 100 years characterized by racial prejudice]( - [Pollen can raise your risk of COVID-19 – and the season is getting longer thanks to climate change]( - [US army chaplain Emil Kapaun advancing toward sainthood]( - [How Black Americans used portraits and family photographs to defy stereotypes]( - [Economists: Biden’s $1,400 COVID-19 checks may be great politics, but it’s questionable economics]( You’re receiving this newsletter from [The Conversation](. Not interested anymore? [Unsubscribe](. 303 Wyman Street, Suite 300 Waltham, MA 02451