Cricket Chirps
Many people realize they can tell the temperature by counting the chirps a cricket makes. But how does the cricket know what temperature it is?
———- from Brian W. of Laramie, Wyoming
Brian, while you’re out on the veranda swatting mosquitos and complaining to your friends about how hot it is, the cricket sits in air-conditioned comfort watching the evening news. Out of bordome, perhaps, or a genuine need to give us information, the cricket communicates this weather data to you. The cricket will also click out (in Morse code) the final sports scores, national headlines and such phrases as “Now this”, “Coming up at 11,” or “Our White House Correspondent filed this report.” Some scientists call the cricket the Ted Koppel of the insect world, which is accurate but somewhat silly. After all, you’ll never see Ted Koppel rubbing his legs together. At least I hope you won’t.
Brian, while you’re out on the veranda swatting mosquitos and complaining to your friends about how hot it is, the cricket sits in air-conditioned comfort watching the evening news. Out of bordome, perhaps, or a genuine need to give us information, the cricket communicates this weather data to you. The cricket will also click out (in Morse code) the final sports scores, national headlines and such phrases as “Now this”, “Coming up at 11,” or “Our White House Correspondent filed this report.” Some scientists call the cricket the Ted Koppel of the insect world, which is accurate but somewhat silly. After all, you’ll never see Ted Koppel rubbing his legs together. At least I hope you won’t. 